The local sources are tagged and "identified automatically by looking at where a publisher has written about in the past and comparing that to the story location," Google News Product Manager James Morehead writes. The tag is already live on news.google.com and in Google's iOS and Android apps.

In the past Google has expanded their definition of news to include everything from press releases to message boards and relevant social media posts. In total, Google News currently draws on a roster of over 75,000 news sources, and while the local section can surface nearby news relevant to a local user, the new tag is designed spotlight the locally trusted sources on a story with national or international importance.