Google News Publishers Should Use Standout Tags For Third-Party Sources Often

Back in September 2011, Google News introduced the standout tag, a way for publishers to say these
specific stories are really exceptional and Google News readers should really see it.
But did you know that it isn't only reserved to be used for your own stories and that Google encourages you to use it to point to third-party stories that are better than yours?
The Google News help article explains this and explains the standout tag as:
If your news organization breaks a big story, or publishes an extraordinary work of journalism, you can indicate this by using the standout tag. When determining whether to use this tag for your own article, consider whether that article meets the following criteria:

• Your article is an original source for the story.
• Your organization invested significant resources in reporting or producing the article.
• The article deserves special recognition.
• You haven't used standout on your own articles more than seven times in the past calendar week.

In addition, we strongly recommend citing standout articles from other publishers when your own article draws from that standout piece of journalism. When determining whether to use this tag to cite the work of others, consider the following criteria:

• The publisher's article was the original source for the story you are now reporting.
• The original source invested significant resources in reporting or producing the article.
• You know that the original article deserves special recognition.