TL;DR Summary of Bing PubHub Shutdown and New Bing News Indexing Strategy
Optimixed’s Overview: Bing Ends PubHub as It Moves to Automated News Indexing
Background and Reason for PubHub Retirement
Bing News PubHub, launched in 2016 and integrated into Bing Webmaster Tools in 2022, is officially closing its doors to new publisher applications. Microsoft announced this move to streamline operations and improve the efficiency of how news is featured on Bing News. The closure reflects Bing’s strategic pivot away from manual publisher submissions towards fully automated content evaluation.
What This Means for Publishers
- Pending submissions: Those already submitted via PubHub will still be reviewed and publishers will be notified of outcomes.
- No new applications: New publishers cannot apply through PubHub anymore and must rely on Bing’s automated news discovery.
- Publisher engagement: Bing’s system now automatically identifies news content based on key factors including authority, originality, freshness, location, and language — eliminating the need for manual submission.
- No preferential ranking: PubHub membership did not influence Bing News rankings; rankings depend on content quality and relevance.
Additional Details and Recommendations
Bing encourages publishers to verify their content indexing by performing site-specific searches. The platform also suggests using protocols like the Open Graph Protocol to manage thumbnail images, as PubHub agreements previously helped meet image size requirements for news presentation.
Interestingly, Bing’s announcement does not mention IndexNow, a tool designed to help with faster content indexing, which might have complemented the new automated approach.
Bing remains committed to providing comprehensive news coverage and keeping publishers informed throughout the transition.
Source: Search Engine Roundtable by barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz). Read original article.
