Google introduces the Indian Languages Program to assist local language publishers

The Google News project (GNI) today announced the start of the Indian Languages Program, a new Google project aimed at assisting local news publishers in India. The GNI Indian Languages Program is a comprehensive effort that aims to empower publishers by providing access to training, technical support, and money to help them enhance their digital operations and reach more readers. This program is Google's most diverse technology initiative for news publishers, with support for nine languages including English, Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Malayalam, Gujarati, and Marathi.

The GNI Indian Languages Program adheres to a defined style that contains a variety of components designed to help and empower publishers. This includes activities such as scaled inspiration series and virtual workshops. Guest speakers, success stories from former GNI program participants, and Google-led seminars on topics such as Core Web Vitals, website optimization, News Consumer Insights (NCI), YouTube, and more will be featured in these sessions.

Selected publications will also be subjected to a diagnostic process that will evaluate their page speed, core web vitals performance, and other pertinent factors. This review will provide uniform guidance on quality signals that are critical to providing a great web user experience. Publishers will also receive individualized direction and support in addressing highlighted areas for improvement, such as Core Web Vitals, schema, site manifests, mobile usability, content formats, and other revenue enhancement solutions.

In addition, a select group of publishers will receive personalized consulting and technical implementation assistance to ensure best-in-class user experience. This long-term partnership will entail close consultation with publishers to develop a roadmap tailored to their individual requirements.

Publishers must meet the following criteria to be eligible for the Indian Languages Program:

Be a small to medium-sized Indian language news organization based in India that creates original content.

Have a working website and at least 12 months of continuous operation.

Have a minimum of 50 full-time employees (FTE).

For-profit or nonprofit traditional news organizations, digital natives, and broadcasters are all eligible applicants.

The Google Project team and external experts will review applications for the GNI Indian Languages Program. The Project team will examine all submitted applications and, in some cases, collaborate with professional consultants to conduct additional analyses and provide recommendations for the final recipient decision. The Google Project team will identify and contact eligible applicants.

Applications for the Indian Languages Program are being accepted through June 30, 2023. Interested news organizations should apply on the GNI website.