It's no secret that a link on Google News will send a fire hose of traffic to your website or blog. But what determines the search giant's system for ranking the importance of, say, a New York Times article over a Huffington Post article? This is the question that keeps practitioners of the dark arts of S.E.O. up at night. As such, SEO specialists Perfect Market, Local SEO Guide and Newsknife released a new survey on how Google News ranks articles at the Online News Association conference in Boston today. They say these come from specialists at The New York Times Company, The Tribune Company, Time Warner and Conde Nast. The answers aren't only interesting to publishers but also the masses who rely on the search giant for news. Here are the top 10 factors that count against an article followed by the top 10 factors that help an article, according to the survey.

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John Hudson