Newsroom OS – Google Discover, Google News, Schema & Editorial Workflow for WordPress

Trend Radar — Google Trends + Google News RSS in the editor sidebar (localized by country)

Breaking news mode — faster IndexNow/Google ping, LiveBlog schema, optional “developing story” badge

Search Console clicks — real Discover and Google News traffic via GSC sync (separate from the editorial Discover Score)

Newsroom OS vs Yoast SEO & Rank Math Yoast SEO / Rank Math excel at meta titles, descriptions, XML sitemaps, and general on-page SEO.

Newsroom OS adds the newsroom layer they do not cover:

Google Discover readiness scoring in the editor

Google News + Discover Search Console analytics per writer

NewsArticle / LiveBlogPosting publisher schema graph

Editorial workflow — tasks, My Inbox, chief dashboard, Chief Insights

Author performance coaching tied to real traffic

Smart tags, duplicate-tag guard, archive internal links, GSC traffic-drop alerts

Use both together — Newsroom OS reads your SEO plugin meta and adds publisher-specific signals.

Update 2.9 — All Pro features included + install registry Newsroom OS 2.9 unlocks every Pro feature without a license key (GSC sync, Chief Insights, Author Performance, AI Assist BYOK, IndexNow, Auto-Timeline, task messaging, and more). A lightweight anonymous install/upgrade ping helps NewsOS count active sites. To restore paid license gating later, set NEWSAI_PRO_UNLOCKED to false in wp-config.php — all license code stays in place.

Update 2.8 — Schema performance for megasites + nightly warm Newsroom OS 2.8 keeps JSON-LD on high-traffic sites without daytime CPU spikes: Lite Mode no longer runs the schema backfill cron, Background schema warm is optional, and Nightly schema warm runs migration only in an off-peak window (default 02:00–06:00, site timezone). New/edited posts still get full schema on save. On cache miss under Megasite mode, visitors get a slim NewsArticle graph while full caches backfill overnight. Also: Unicode-safe word counts (Greek), story-cluster accessibility contrast, and safer warm scheduling (hourly / 15-min only with backlog).

Update 2.7 — Classic command center (stable) + parked React UI Newsroom OS 2.7 ships a premium classic admin redesign: vertical sidebar shell, bento Dashboard (Kanban-first), refreshed Chief Insights and Author Performance, and a cleaner Settings workspace. Classic is the default on all sites. An experimental React admin remains in the codebase for a future opt-in release — it is off by default; the Settings banner shows Coming Soon until the redesign is ready.

Desk workflow: AI Content brief from Trend Radar now lives on the Dashboard (chief plans → assigns task → writer sees brief in the editor). The editor Radar tab stays lightweight (live trends/news + copy headline).

Update 2.3 — Desk workflow + Chief command upgrades (Pro) Newsroom OS 2.3 adds brief → editorial task, AI desk overview (Author Performance), Kanban drag-and-drop, War room live KPIs (AJAX), CrUX / Core Web Vitals (PageSpeed Insights), GSC device channel toggle, and category-aware AI prompts. No database migration. Configure CrUX under Settings → Instant Indexing (PageSpeed API key).

Update 2.2 — AI Assist SEO pipeline (Pro BYOK) Newsroom OS 2.2 upgrades AI Assist (Pro) for newsroom SEO: shared article analysis (keywords, entities, intent), stronger headline, optimize, and trend suggestions, meta description generation with one-click apply to Yoast SEO / Rank Math (or excerpt), smarter tag match, and Discover Score entity signals when analysis is saved on the post. Editor blocks (story timeline, key takeaways, FAQ) use semantic HTML, dedicated CSS (story-cluster.css, newsai-content-blocks.css), and no empty DOM nodes in published markup.

Big update 2.1 — Chief Insights, AI Daily Brief, and indexing diagnostics Newsroom OS 2.1 adds Chief Insights (desk-wide KPIs, channel tables, top categories/articles), AI Daily Brief (Morning/Evening), and Print to PDF. Clear Last attempted vs Last successful diagnostics for Google Indexing API and IndexNow.

Preview the product at newsos.io.

Big update 2.0 — Google Search Console meets your newsroom Newsroom OS 2.0 connects your editorial desk to real Google traffic. Writers get Focus (article quality) and Discover readiness (distribution checklist) in the editor — separate from Search Console clicks (Discover, Google News, and web search). Chiefs see who publishes well and who earns traffic, in one dashboard.

(From 2.9 onward, GSC sync and all former “Pro” modules ship unlocked in the same plugin — no license key.)

Classic Editor & Gutenberg (Block Editor) Newsroom OS is built for real newsroom setups — including sites that still use Classic Editor, sites on full Gutenberg, and hybrid installs (block editor with the classic Tags metabox).

Gutenberg / Block Editor

Publication Readiness sidebar (Editorial + Discover twin gauges, Next Best Action)

REST-aware duplicate tag guard (snackbar + “Use existing” / “Keep anyway”)

Breaking news mode, live H3 update insertion via blocks

Trend Radar, Smart Tags, AI Assist (BYOK) in the editor sidebar

JS strings via wp_set_script_translations (el, en, de, es)

Classic Editor

Same Publication Readiness panel and scores (TinyMCE / #content hooks — no block editor APIs on classic screens)

Classic Tags metabox duplicate guard (AJAX before the tag chip is added)

Breaking mode, live updates, and smart tag insert via Classic UI

Stability: Gutenberg-only APIs (wp.data.subscribe, getEditedPostContent) run only when block-editor-page is present — prevents Classic Editor blocks.min.js stack overflows on large sites

Works with any theme (Astra, GeneratePress, Newspaper, NewsMag, Flavor, etc.) and alongside Yoast SEO, Rank Math, WooCommerce, and SureCart.

WordPress 7.0: Tested through WordPress 7.0 (Classic Editor, Gutenberg, and wp-admin dashboard). Requires PHP 7.4+ (PHP 8.1+ recommended).

Six pillars (2.0) 1. Discover optimization

Publication Readiness — twin scores in the editor: Editorial (Focus) and Discover readiness. They are separate on purpose.

Discover Score — Google-aligned checklist: hero 1200px+, 16:9, 300k pixels, alt; clear 55–70 headline (anti-clickbait); topic/tags; optional trend fit; saved OG image when available.

Breaking news mode — one toggle: LiveBlogPosting schema, faster IndexNow/Google ping, optional “developing story” badge, auto-expire, live-update workflow (H3 headings).

Trend Radar — Google Trends + Google News in the sidebar, localized per country.

2. Google Search Console traffic

Service account sync — connect Search Console with webmasters.readonly; separate token from the Indexing API.

Discover, Google News, and web search — per-post clicks, impressions, CTR, and average position stored in your database (wp_newsai_gsc_performance).

Sync now in settings plus daily cron (04:00 site time) when GSC is enabled.

Author Performance — real clicks per writer, top articles by traffic, coaching tab, 7d / 30d / 90d windows.

Posts list — GSC (30d) column for chiefs (edit_others_posts).

My Inbox — writers see their own GSC totals when sync is enabled.

Clear labeling — Discover Score = editorial readiness; GSC numbers = measured Google clicks (not the same metric).

3. Semantic schema & entities

NewsArticle / LiveBlogPosting JSON-LD — @graph with Organization, WebPage, author Person, geo, about / mentions.

Entity tags — Wikidata Q-IDs, coordinates, entity types woven into schema; lazy enrichment when tags are used (1.9+).

Richness presets — Minimal / Balanced / Full; optional articleBody modes (omit, full, first N words).

Works with Yoast SEO & Rank Math — reads your meta; does not replace them.

4. Editorial workflow

Tasks & assignments — deadlines, keywords, briefs, reference links.

Dashboard — active / overdue / completed, KPIs, SEO health.

Roles — chiefs see the full desk; writers see My Inbox only.

GSC traffic-drop alerts — surfaces articles losing Search Console clicks vs the prior period.

5. AI newsroom (BYOK — your API key)

OpenAI, Gemini, or Groq — your API key stays on your site; free tiers supported (Groq / Gemini).

Discover-optimized titles (55–70 chars, five angles), targeted optimization hints, trend-aware keywords, AI Tag Match from your site taxonomy.

Geo-aware language — answers in the language of your configured region (40+ locales).

6. Knowledge layer

Smart Tag Suggester — weighted, confidence-scored tags from your taxonomy; one-click insert; duplicate-tag guard.

Story timelines — archive clusters + internal-link blocks + CollectionPage schema.

Archive link finder — semantic internal links from your own back catalog (accent-aware scoring).

Author E-E-A-T — profiles, schema Person, performance analytics.

UI in Greek, English, German, and Spanish (per-site language picker). See languages/README.txt for gettext catalogs.

Everything included (2.9+) — 100% free, no license Newsroom OS 2.9 ships the complete newsroom stack in one plugin. No signup, no license key, no paywall inside WordPress. The only optional cost is AI Assist (BYOK) — you bring your own OpenAI, Gemini, or Groq API key if you want in-editor AI; Groq and Gemini offer generous free tiers.

Editorial & Discover (free)

Publication Readiness — Editorial score + Discover Score, Next Best Action, detailed checklists

Breaking news mode — LiveBlog schema workflow with auto-expire

Smart Tag Suggester — confidence levels, one-click insert, duplicate-tag guard

Editorial dashboard — tasks, deadlines, keywords, briefings, Kanban, My Inbox

Trend Radar — Google Trends + Google News in the editor

Auto-story timeline + archive internal-link finder

NewsArticle JSON-LD — entities, geo, E-E-A-T author signals, megasite-safe caching

SEO auditor, 4-step wizard, 4-language UI (el, en, de, es)

Analytics & desk command (free since 2.9)

Google Search Console sync — Discover, Google News, and web search clicks per post and author

Chief Insights — desk-wide KPIs, channel breakdown, top categories/articles, AI Daily Brief, PDF export

Author Performance — team cards, GSC coaching tabs, 7d / 30d / 90d windows

GSC traffic-drop alerts — in Chief Insights and weekly desk email

Posts list GSC column — 30-day clicks for chiefs

Seasonal radar — YoY keyword forecasting from GSC queries

War room — live desk KPIs (AJAX refresh)

AI & indexing (free since 2.9; AI is BYOK)

AI Assist — headline suggestions, optimize hints, trend keywords, tag match, meta description, content brief, floating toolbar, GEO summary, auto alt text

IndexNow + Google Indexing API — async pings on publish

Task threads + email alerts — chief ↔ writer messaging per assignment

Privacy: GSC data and AI cache stay in your database. Newsroom OS does not proxy article text or API keys through newsos.io. An anonymous install/upgrade ping (site URL, version, locale) helps NewsOS count active installs — no post content included.

Feature reference (formerly “Pro”) 📊 Google Search Console integration Stop guessing which writers earn traffic. Newsroom OS pulls Search Analytics into WordPress:

Three channels — Discover clicks, Google News clicks, and web search clicks (plus impressions, CTR, position where available).

Per-post storage — map GSC page URLs to posts and authors; aggregate by 7 / 30 / 90 days.

Settings → Indexing — paste your service account JSON, set the property (sc-domain:example.com or URL-prefix), test connection, Sync now.

Automatic daily sync — when GSC is enabled with valid credentials.

Privacy — data stays in your database; we do not proxy GSC through newsos.io.

📈 Author Performance Redesigned chief dashboard (Editorial Control → Author Performance):

Your performance card for chiefs who also write — same expand/collapse UX as the team grid.

Compact team cards — posts, Focus readiness, web clicks at a glance; expand for full detail.

Tabs inside each author — Summary (editorial quality + categories + GSC totals), Articles (latest posts + top traffic), Coaching (Discover weak spots + action links).

GSC coach tips on low click counts (hero image, headlines, timeliness).

Search & sort — filter by name; sort by posts, web clicks, Focus, or A–Z.

7d / 30d / 90d — live AJAX refresh without reloading the page.

Cached aggregates with smart invalidation on publish, task completion, score change, and GSC sync.

🧭 Chief Insights + AI Daily Brief (NEW in 2.1) Built for editor-in-chief oversight in one screen:

Chief Insights tab — summary-first KPI strip + channel performance + top categories + top articles + top keyword/entity signals.

Live desk data — real GSC-backed metrics when sync is configured.

AI Daily Brief — one click executive summary with Morning mode (planning) and Evening mode (retrospective + next actions).

Print to PDF — export the current chief view for standups and editorial meetings.

Indexing diagnostics polish — Google + IndexNow now show Last attempted and Last successful URL/ping, plus health badge (Healthy / Degraded / Unknown).

🤖 AI Assist (BYOK – Bring Your Own Key) Bring your own API key for OpenAI, Google Gemini, or Groq. Newsroom OS never proxies AI traffic through our servers — your key stays on your site.

💸 Free AI tier supported: Groq offers fast hosted open-weight models with API keys from the same dashboard. Recommended default: openai/gpt-oss-120b; alternative: qwen/qwen3.6-27b. Deprecated Groq model IDs like llama-3.3-70b-versatile should be replaced. The settings page links directly to:

https://platform.openai.com/api-keys (OpenAI)

https://aistudio.google.com/apikey (Google Gemini — free tier available)

https://console.groq.com/keys (Groq — free tier, no card required)

You can write your first AI-assisted article with $0 of API spend.

Direct in-editor actions:

🎯 Discover-optimized Title Suggestions — five alternative headlines per run (facts / impact / aftermath / authority / Discover hook), 55–70 characters, live validation.

✨ Targeted Content Optimization — non-rewrite suggestions per paragraph (readability / seo / eeat / structure / factcheck).

🔥 Trend-Aware Keywords — regional Google Trends fit with placement hints.

🏷️ AI Tag Match — semantic tag picks from your taxonomy pool.

FAQ Block generation in valid FAQPage JSON-LD

Key Takeaways block

Per-user daily rate limits + transient caching

🌍 Geo-aware language output — 40+ locales; filter newsai_ai_geo_to_locale for custom multilingual newsrooms.

💬 Editorial Comms (Task Threads + Email)

Two-way messaging thread per task — chief ↔ assignee, with unread badges

Capability-aware …