Google News app will display non-AMP content and send readers to publisher pages

As part of the page experience update, Google News will be displaying both AMP and non-AMP web content, the company announced in an email to publishers on Friday. The platform will also no longer render article text from RSS feeds in the Google News app; instead, it will send readers directly to publishers’ webpages.

AMP no longer required. “In the coming weeks the Google News app will improve its support for web content, displaying both AMP and non-AMP web content with more regularity from sites worldwide,” the company said in the announcement. 

The AMP framework was previously a requirement to be included in Google News. Now that Google has gotten rid of the requirement, the platform may be a more viable way to attract readers for publishers that didn’t adopt AMP.

“We’ll send readers directly to publishers’ web pages.” Google News will also no longer render article text provided via RSS feeds. As such, the platform is sending readers straight to the publisher’s content hosted on their own site.

The company is also removing functionality in Publisher Center related to feed-based article rendering, including custom Analytics tracking IDs, third-party tracking pixels, custom RSS styling and feed ads. These functionalities are scheduled to be removed in early November.

No change to the way you track traffic. “You will still be able to track and measure all of your Google News traffic through your web site’s existing analytics tracking,” the company said, “Google News performance reports in Search Console will also be unaffected.”

Why we care. We’ve known for some time that the Top stories carousel would be open to non-AMP content, but now we know the same will go for the Google News app. The AMP requirement for Google News may have been a barrier for some publishers, but now that it’s going by the wayside, those publishers may want to get their content onto the platform to potentially attract more readers.

And, as Google stated in the announcement, the Google News performance reports in Search Console are unaffected and your ability to track and measure traffic from Google News remains unchanged.