WebProNews

Google launched four new Arabic versions of Google News for Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. According to Google, there are over 40 million Arabic-speaking Internet users, so you might say these versions of Google News are long overdue.

"We understand the need to provide our users with the most relevant news for their region," says William Kanaan, Middle East and North Africa Product Manager on the Google News blog. "Like all Google News editions, our computer-generated Arabic editions aggregate headlines from thousands of news outlets around the world, group similar stories together and link directly to the original sources that publish these stories."

"This enables users to search for topics they're interested in, and read a wide variety of perspectives from different sources," he adds. "It also enables publishers to expand their reach to a wider audience, thus increasing traffic to their site."

Speaking of that, WebProNews has posted a collection of tips for Google News SEO to help publishers rank higher in news searches. These tips mostly come right from Google, though there are some factors from a recent Google Patent and links to some useful tips from Search Engine Strategies San Jose.

Google's not the only one expanding its Arabic offerings. Just last week, Yahoo announced its intent to acquire Maktoob.com, an Arab portal that reaches one in every three people online in its region. On top of that, Yahoo discussed plans to launch Arabic versions of Yahoo Mail, Messenger, Search, and the Yahoo home page, followed by local versions of its News, Sports, and Finance properties.