Ground News growth playbook

Give /extension a title and description built around one name ("Ground News Bias Checker: browser extension for Chrome, Firefox and Safari"), a canonical, current store ratings and three recent reviews. Then build a dedicated Search landing page for extension intent ("bias checker extension", "compare news sources extension") with one install button per browser and a path from install to the 7-day trial. Run a small Search campaign to it and measure installs and trials.

People searching for a tool to check sources are ready to install, and an extension install is a cheap first step into the subscription. Fixing the page first means every ad dollar lands on a page Google can read and users trust.

[ ] <title> with one product name
[ ] Meta description and social preview image
[ ] Canonical to /extension
[ ] Store ratings and 2026 reviews
[ ] One install button per browser
[ ] Install-to-trial path
[ ] Search campaign on extension terms with its own landing page

• Install does not lead to paying

  Measure install-to-trial and adjust the offer.

• Store listing differs from the page

  Update the store copy at the same time.

• Your websiteBrowser extension page (/extension, fetched twice on October 22, 2026): the page has no title tag, no meta description and no canonical in its head, so search results and link previews have nothing to show but what Google guesses. The page calls the product both "Bias Checker" and "Media Bias Tracker extension", and its three reviews are dated September to November 2020.Source
• HiringPerformance Marketing Manager, Google & YouTube (Revenue Growth & Analytics, remote Canada, posted October 2, 2026): "Google is a growth lever we haven't fully tapped yet. Today it's a small piece of our paid budget"; "a build-from-zero mandate" across "Search, Performance Max, Demand Gen, and YouTube"; "take spend from its current low base to a major share of total paid budget, holding CAC and subscriber payback"; "Own Google landing pages"; build "conversion tracking, Enhanced Conversions, app + web attribution, incrementality testing"; work "with external agencies to build the YouTube creative engine". Bonus: CTV/OTT, AppsFlyer and SKAN, Firebase.Source
• HiringGround News in its job posts: "a news comparison platform" with a "mobile app, web app, and browser extension"; "we don't rely on algorithms to keep users on our platform to sell ads. We are supported by our readers who pay for a subscription". Highlights: "#1 on Product Hunt" (the Ground News Bias Checker), "#2 on 2025 Apple Design Awards in the Social Impact category", "3-time winner of US App of the Day", "Winner of Mobile Apps Showdown at CES".Source
• HiringStaff Engineer, Web (posted October 2, 2026): owns "the web properties that convert curious visitors into paying subscribers" in the "Growth & Monetization pod alongside Revenue Growth, Marketing, Sponsorships, and CRO"; "The marketing-tech stack (currently Unbounce, likely migrating to Framer)"; "The web experimentation program end-to-end"; "Web performance, accessibility, SEO, and Core Web Vitals for a consumer property serving millions of readers". Success in 90-180 days: "a marketing or growth teammate can ship a landing-page change, a modal, or a pricing experiment without an engineer in the loop".Source

Pick one verifiable figure (App Store rating and count, plus Google Play), show its source, and update it monthly from the store APIs on every page.

Consistent, sourced proof suits a product built on checking sources, and Google Ads policies favour claims that can be verified.

• Lower-looking number

  Use rating plus count, which is strong.

• Your websiteSubscribe page: one plan, Vantage, at "$8.33 /month (billed annually)"; "50,000+ sources • 53,000+ 5-star reviews"; FAQ: bias and factuality ratings are "averaged from three third-party independent news monitoring organizations": AllSides, Ad Fontes Media and Media Bias Fact Check; "you don't need to download the Ground News app". Checkout: "Vantage Plan $8.33 /month Billed as $99.99 /year", "Downloads 2M+", "App Store 4.7", sign-in with Google or Apple.Source
• Your websiteGroup subscriptions page: "Get Ground News Vantage for your classroom, organization, or institution"; "Group subscriptions between 2 and 9 are discounted at 40 %, and orders between 10 and above are discounted at 50 %"; codes are emailed after purchase; the page says "10,000+ 5-star reviews".Source
• App StoreiOS app: 4.71 stars from 48,710 ratings, updated October 20, 2026 (Apple lookup). The /app page shows three reader reviews dated August to October 2022.Source

Replace the static card with a live, non-partisan top story (science, business, sport or weather) showing its source count and coverage bar, and test it against the static page.

A live example shows the product working today, which is the reason to start a trial.

• A sensitive story appears

  Limit the card to non-political categories.

• Your websiteFree trial landing page (/free-trial-landing): "Get 7-days of Vantage for FREE. Then $99.99 billed annually"; its sample story card is a 2022 headline about a social network acquisition, with "2 / 111 sources". The page title is "Ground News | Over 50,000 News Sources | See Media Bias".Source
• Your websiteHomepage: title tag just "Ground News", no canonical tag; a Daily Briefing ("7 stories • 1252 articles • 7 m read"), For You, Local and Blindspot feeds, US and International editions; footer links to three newsletters (Daily Ground, Blindspot Report, Burst Your Bubble), Gift, Group Subscriptions, Free Trial, Affiliates and a Referral Code. The homepage HTML alone is about 2 MB.Source
• HiringPerformance Marketing Manager, Google & YouTube (Revenue Growth & Analytics, remote Canada, posted October 2, 2026): "Google is a growth lever we haven't fully tapped yet. Today it's a small piece of our paid budget"; "a build-from-zero mandate" across "Search, Performance Max, Demand Gen, and YouTube"; "take spend from its current low base to a major share of total paid budget, holding CAC and subscriber payback"; "Own Google landing pages"; build "conversion tracking, Enhanced Conversions, app + web attribution, incrementality testing"; work "with external agencies to build the YouTube creative engine". Bonus: CTV/OTT, AppsFlyer and SKAN, Firebase.Source
• HiringStaff Engineer, Web (posted October 2, 2026): owns "the web properties that convert curious visitors into paying subscribers" in the "Growth & Monetization pod alongside Revenue Growth, Marketing, Sponsorships, and CRO"; "The marketing-tech stack (currently Unbounce, likely migrating to Framer)"; "The web experimentation program end-to-end"; "Web performance, accessibility, SEO, and Core Web Vitals for a consumer property serving millions of readers". Success in 90-180 days: "a marketing or growth teammate can ship a landing-page change, a modal, or a pricing experiment without an engineer in the loop".Source

Rewrite the feature list to stand alone, add a gift preview, let buyers choose a delivery date clearly, and give the page its own Search and YouTube campaigns for gift seasons.

Gifts bring in subscribers who would not have searched for the product and need clear, self-contained copy.

• Low recipient renewal

  Send a welcome series to recipients.

• Your websiteGift page: Vantage "$99.99 for one year", delivered on a chosen date, with "twelve months to activate"; the feature list says "All features from the Premium plan", though no Premium plan is offered on the subscribe or checkout pages.Source
• Your websiteSubscribe page: one plan, Vantage, at "$8.33 /month (billed annually)"; "50,000+ sources • 53,000+ 5-star reviews"; FAQ: bias and factuality ratings are "averaged from three third-party independent news monitoring organizations": AllSides, Ad Fontes Media and Media Bias Fact Check; "you don't need to download the Ground News app". Checkout: "Vantage Plan $8.33 /month Billed as $99.99 /year", "Downloads 2M+", "App Store 4.7", sign-in with Google or Apple.Source
• HiringPerformance Marketing Manager, Google & YouTube (Revenue Growth & Analytics, remote Canada, posted October 2, 2026): "Google is a growth lever we haven't fully tapped yet. Today it's a small piece of our paid budget"; "a build-from-zero mandate" across "Search, Performance Max, Demand Gen, and YouTube"; "take spend from its current low base to a major share of total paid budget, holding CAC and subscriber payback"; "Own Google landing pages"; build "conversion tracking, Enhanced Conversions, app + web attribution, incrementality testing"; work "with external agencies to build the YouTube creative engine". Bonus: CTV/OTT, AppsFlyer and SKAN, Firebase.Source

Give the homepage a descriptive title, add canonicals site-wide, add a Sitemap line to robots.txt, and check that story, source and topic pages are in the sitemap and indexed.

Clear signals let paid and organic search reinforce each other and stop duplicate pages competing.

• Index bloat

  Keep low-value pages out of the sitemap.

• Your websiteHomepage: title tag just "Ground News", no canonical tag; a Daily Briefing ("7 stories • 1252 articles • 7 m read"), For You, Local and Blindspot feeds, US and International editions; footer links to three newsletters (Daily Ground, Blindspot Report, Burst Your Bubble), Gift, Group Subscriptions, Free Trial, Affiliates and a Referral Code. The homepage HTML alone is about 2 MB.Source
• Your websiterobots.txt (October 22, 2026) has rules for several crawlers but no Sitemap line pointing search engines to a sitemap.Source
• HiringStaff Engineer, Web (posted October 2, 2026): owns "the web properties that convert curious visitors into paying subscribers" in the "Growth & Monetization pod alongside Revenue Growth, Marketing, Sponsorships, and CRO"; "The marketing-tech stack (currently Unbounce, likely migrating to Framer)"; "The web experimentation program end-to-end"; "Web performance, accessibility, SEO, and Core Web Vitals for a consumer property serving millions of readers". Success in 90-180 days: "a marketing or growth teammate can ship a landing-page change, a modal, or a pricing experiment without an engineer in the loop".Source
• Your websiteBrowser extension page (/extension, fetched twice on October 22, 2026): the page has no title tag, no meta description and no canonical in its head, so search results and link previews have nothing to show but what Google guesses. The page calls the product both "Bias Checker" and "Media Bias Tracker extension", and its three reviews are dated September to November 2020.Source

Define one trial and paid event across web, iOS, Android and extension, send it to the warehouse and to Google (Enhanced Conversions, offline conversion import with payment value), and report CAC and payback by channel from the same model.

Google's bidding is only as good as the conversions it receives; scaling spend "holding CAC and subscriber payback" needs this first.

• Privacy limits on app data

  Use modelled conversions and incrementality tests.

• HiringPerformance Marketing Manager, Google & YouTube (Revenue Growth & Analytics, remote Canada, posted October 2, 2026): "Google is a growth lever we haven't fully tapped yet. Today it's a small piece of our paid budget"; "a build-from-zero mandate" across "Search, Performance Max, Demand Gen, and YouTube"; "take spend from its current low base to a major share of total paid budget, holding CAC and subscriber payback"; "Own Google landing pages"; build "conversion tracking, Enhanced Conversions, app + web attribution, incrementality testing"; work "with external agencies to build the YouTube creative engine". Bonus: CTV/OTT, AppsFlyer and SKAN, Firebase.Source
• HiringSenior Data Engineer (posted September 23, 2026): build "conformed data models and analytical layers that serve experimentation and company KPIs" for the "Growth & Monetization, Core Experience, and Content Intelligence pods", on BigQuery and dbt, so "analysts answer their own questions". A Senior Mobile Engineer (posted October 22) and a Senior Back End Engineer (October 5) are also open.Source
• Your websiteSubscribe page: one plan, Vantage, at "$8.33 /month (billed annually)"; "50,000+ sources • 53,000+ 5-star reviews"; FAQ: bias and factuality ratings are "averaged from three third-party independent news monitoring organizations": AllSides, Ad Fontes Media and Media Bias Fact Check; "you don't need to download the Ground News app". Checkout: "Vantage Plan $8.33 /month Billed as $99.99 /year", "Downloads 2M+", "App Store 4.7", sign-in with Google or Apple.Source

Make a format: one story, many headlines, the coverage bar and the Blindspot view, in 15 and 30 seconds. Test hooks on non-partisan stories first, keep a weekly testing cadence and measure cost per trial.

A neutral demo shows the mechanism without making the ad itself look partisan, which widens the audience and reduces policy friction.

• Story ages quickly

  Keep a template for weekly refresh.

• HiringPerformance Marketing Manager, Google & YouTube (Revenue Growth & Analytics, remote Canada, posted October 2, 2026): "Google is a growth lever we haven't fully tapped yet. Today it's a small piece of our paid budget"; "a build-from-zero mandate" across "Search, Performance Max, Demand Gen, and YouTube"; "take spend from its current low base to a major share of total paid budget, holding CAC and subscriber payback"; "Own Google landing pages"; build "conversion tracking, Enhanced Conversions, app + web attribution, incrementality testing"; work "with external agencies to build the YouTube creative engine". Bonus: CTV/OTT, AppsFlyer and SKAN, Firebase.Source
• HiringGround News in its job posts: "a news comparison platform" with a "mobile app, web app, and browser extension"; "we don't rely on algorithms to keep users on our platform to sell ads. We are supported by our readers who pay for a subscription". Highlights: "#1 on Product Hunt" (the Ground News Bias Checker), "#2 on 2025 Apple Design Awards in the Social Impact category", "3-time winner of US App of the Day", "Winner of Mobile Apps Showdown at CES".Source
• Your websiteHomepage: title tag just "Ground News", no canonical tag; a Daily Briefing ("7 stories • 1252 articles • 7 m read"), For You, Local and Blindspot feeds, US and International editions; footer links to three newsletters (Daily Ground, Blindspot Report, Burst Your Bubble), Gift, Group Subscriptions, Free Trial, Affiliates and a Referral Code. The homepage HTML alone is about 2 MB.Source

Run separate app (with in-app trial events) and web trial campaigns, compare 90-day payback by surface, and shift budget to the better one each month.

Knowing which surface pays back faster decides where the new Google budget should go.

• Attribution noise on iOS

  Use geo holdout tests.

• #6 One subscriber conversion record across web, app and extension

• HiringPerformance Marketing Manager, Google & YouTube (Revenue Growth & Analytics, remote Canada, posted October 2, 2026): "Google is a growth lever we haven't fully tapped yet. Today it's a small piece of our paid budget"; "a build-from-zero mandate" across "Search, Performance Max, Demand Gen, and YouTube"; "take spend from its current low base to a major share of total paid budget, holding CAC and subscriber payback"; "Own Google landing pages"; build "conversion tracking, Enhanced Conversions, app + web attribution, incrementality testing"; work "with external agencies to build the YouTube creative engine". Bonus: CTV/OTT, AppsFlyer and SKAN, Firebase.Source
• App StoreiOS app: 4.71 stars from 48,710 ratings, updated October 20, 2026 (Apple lookup). The /app page shows three reader reviews dated August to October 2022.Source
• Your websiteSubscribe page: one plan, Vantage, at "$8.33 /month (billed annually)"; "50,000+ sources • 53,000+ 5-star reviews"; FAQ: bias and factuality ratings are "averaged from three third-party independent news monitoring organizations": AllSides, Ad Fontes Media and Media Bias Fact Check; "you don't need to download the Ground News app". Checkout: "Vantage Plan $8.33 /month Billed as $99.99 /year", "Downloads 2M+", "App Store 4.7", sign-in with Google or Apple.Source

Build a kit of approved sections (live story card, coverage bar, reviews, pricing, FAQ), tracking and consent wired in, and a checklist for launch. Move the top five landing pages first and track speed and conversion.

The more pages marketing can test each month, the faster paid channels improve.

• Speed drops

  Check Core Web Vitals before each launch.

• HiringStaff Engineer, Web (posted October 2, 2026): owns "the web properties that convert curious visitors into paying subscribers" in the "Growth & Monetization pod alongside Revenue Growth, Marketing, Sponsorships, and CRO"; "The marketing-tech stack (currently Unbounce, likely migrating to Framer)"; "The web experimentation program end-to-end"; "Web performance, accessibility, SEO, and Core Web Vitals for a consumer property serving millions of readers". Success in 90-180 days: "a marketing or growth teammate can ship a landing-page change, a modal, or a pricing experiment without an engineer in the loop".Source
• HiringPerformance Marketing Manager, Google & YouTube (Revenue Growth & Analytics, remote Canada, posted October 2, 2026): "Google is a growth lever we haven't fully tapped yet. Today it's a small piece of our paid budget"; "a build-from-zero mandate" across "Search, Performance Max, Demand Gen, and YouTube"; "take spend from its current low base to a major share of total paid budget, holding CAC and subscriber payback"; "Own Google landing pages"; build "conversion tracking, Enhanced Conversions, app + web attribution, incrementality testing"; work "with external agencies to build the YouTube creative engine". Bonus: CTV/OTT, AppsFlyer and SKAN, Firebase.Source
• Google PageSpeedChrome UX Report for ground.news (real visitors, October 2026): LCP 2.2 s, INP 177 ms, CLS 0.04, all within Google's "good" limits, so the site passes Core Web Vitals today.Source

A/B test adding a monthly price (higher per month) next to annual, and measure trial-to-paid, 90-day revenue and churn. Keep annual as the default.

A lower first payment can lift conversion from cold traffic, and the test shows whether it adds or replaces annual revenue.

• Annual share falls

  Show the annual saving clearly.

• Your websiteSubscribe page: one plan, Vantage, at "$8.33 /month (billed annually)"; "50,000+ sources • 53,000+ 5-star reviews"; FAQ: bias and factuality ratings are "averaged from three third-party independent news monitoring organizations": AllSides, Ad Fontes Media and Media Bias Fact Check; "you don't need to download the Ground News app". Checkout: "Vantage Plan $8.33 /month Billed as $99.99 /year", "Downloads 2M+", "App Store 4.7", sign-in with Google or Apple.Source
• Your websiteFree trial landing page (/free-trial-landing): "Get 7-days of Vantage for FREE. Then $99.99 billed annually"; its sample story card is a 2022 headline about a social network acquisition, with "2 / 111 sources". The page title is "Ground News | Over 50,000 News Sources | See Media Bias".Source
• HiringStaff Engineer, Web (posted October 2, 2026): owns "the web properties that convert curious visitors into paying subscribers" in the "Growth & Monetization pod alongside Revenue Growth, Marketing, Sponsorships, and CRO"; "The marketing-tech stack (currently Unbounce, likely migrating to Framer)"; "The web experimentation program end-to-end"; "Web performance, accessibility, SEO, and Core Web Vitals for a consumer property serving millions of readers". Success in 90-180 days: "a marketing or growth teammate can ship a landing-page change, a modal, or a pricing experiment without an engineer in the loop".Source

Create an educators page with three free lesson plans using public story pages, a class pack price, purchase-order support and a teacher trial. Promote through education newsletters and Google Search for media literacy lessons.

Teachers bring whole classes and repeat each school year, and students become future subscribers.

• Schools are slow to buy

  Offer teacher-paid class packs too.

• Your websiteGroup subscriptions page: "Get Ground News Vantage for your classroom, organization, or institution"; "Group subscriptions between 2 and 9 are discounted at 40 %, and orders between 10 and above are discounted at 50 %"; codes are emailed after purchase; the page says "10,000+ 5-star reviews".Source
• Your websiteDaily Ground newsletter page: "a daily newsletter shedding light on would be blindspots, trending stories and customized stories based off your interests". My News Bias (Vantage) analyses each reader's news diet, sources, ownership and factuality.Source
• HiringPerformance Marketing Manager, Google & YouTube (Revenue Growth & Analytics, remote Canada, posted October 2, 2026): "Google is a growth lever we haven't fully tapped yet. Today it's a small piece of our paid budget"; "a build-from-zero mandate" across "Search, Performance Max, Demand Gen, and YouTube"; "take spend from its current low base to a major share of total paid budget, holding CAC and subscriber payback"; "Own Google landing pages"; build "conversion tracking, Enhanced Conversions, app + web attribution, incrementality testing"; work "with external agencies to build the YouTube creative engine". Bonus: CTV/OTT, AppsFlyer and SKAN, Firebase.Source

Give every creator a unique link and code, record their trials and paid subscribers in the same warehouse model, and run holdout tests on the largest. Report CAC and payback by creator next to Google.

Comparable numbers let the team move money between creators and Google with confidence.

• Codes leak to coupon sites

  Rely on links plus a survey question.

• #6 One subscriber conversion record across web, app and extension

• Your websiteAffiliate program page: open to people with "a YouTube Channel, a newsletter or a blog with engaged followers", "earning commission for every subscriber you refer"; footer also links a Referral Code checkout (/checkout/referral).Source
• HiringStaff Engineer, Web (posted October 2, 2026): owns "the web properties that convert curious visitors into paying subscribers" in the "Growth & Monetization pod alongside Revenue Growth, Marketing, Sponsorships, and CRO"; "The marketing-tech stack (currently Unbounce, likely migrating to Framer)"; "The web experimentation program end-to-end"; "Web performance, accessibility, SEO, and Core Web Vitals for a consumer property serving millions of readers". Success in 90-180 days: "a marketing or growth teammate can ship a landing-page change, a modal, or a pricing experiment without an engineer in the loop".Source
• HiringPerformance Marketing Manager, Google & YouTube (Revenue Growth & Analytics, remote Canada, posted October 2, 2026): "Google is a growth lever we haven't fully tapped yet. Today it's a small piece of our paid budget"; "a build-from-zero mandate" across "Search, Performance Max, Demand Gen, and YouTube"; "take spend from its current low base to a major share of total paid budget, holding CAC and subscriber payback"; "Own Google landing pages"; build "conversion tracking, Enhanced Conversions, app + web attribution, incrementality testing"; work "with external agencies to build the YouTube creative engine". Bonus: CTV/OTT, AppsFlyer and SKAN, Firebase.Source
• HiringSenior Data Engineer (posted September 23, 2026): build "conformed data models and analytical layers that serve experimentation and company KPIs" for the "Growth & Monetization, Core Experience, and Content Intelligence pods", on BigQuery and dbt, so "analysts answer their own questions". A Senior Mobile Engineer (posted October 22) and a Senior Back End Engineer (October 5) are also open.Source

Add a personal "your week in coverage" block to the newsletters and a trial offer after 30 days of opens; send non-openers a re-engagement series.

Engaged free readers are the cheapest subscribers to win.

• Unsubscribes

  Limit offers to one a month.

• Your websiteHomepage: title tag just "Ground News", no canonical tag; a Daily Briefing ("7 stories • 1252 articles • 7 m read"), For You, Local and Blindspot feeds, US and International editions; footer links to three newsletters (Daily Ground, Blindspot Report, Burst Your Bubble), Gift, Group Subscriptions, Free Trial, Affiliates and a Referral Code. The homepage HTML alone is about 2 MB.Source
• Your websiteDaily Ground newsletter page: "a daily newsletter shedding light on would be blindspots, trending stories and customized stories based off your interests". My News Bias (Vantage) analyses each reader's news diet, sources, ownership and factuality.Source
• HiringSenior Data Engineer (posted September 23, 2026): build "conformed data models and analytical layers that serve experimentation and company KPIs" for the "Growth & Monetization, Core Experience, and Content Intelligence pods", on BigQuery and dbt, so "analysts answer their own questions". A Senior Mobile Engineer (posted October 22) and a Senior Back End Engineer (October 5) are also open.Source

On day one, ask for five favourite sources and topics to seed the dashboard; on day five, send a short report on what their week looked like and what they missed. Track trial-to-paid by dashboard use.

Seeing personal insight before the trial ends is the moment of value that converts.

• Users skip seeding

  Seed from first reads instead.

• Your websiteDaily Ground newsletter page: "a daily newsletter shedding light on would be blindspots, trending stories and customized stories based off your interests". My News Bias (Vantage) analyses each reader's news diet, sources, ownership and factuality.Source
• Your websiteFree trial landing page (/free-trial-landing): "Get 7-days of Vantage for FREE. Then $99.99 billed annually"; its sample story card is a 2022 headline about a social network acquisition, with "2 / 111 sources". The page title is "Ground News | Over 50,000 News Sources | See Media Bias".Source
• HiringSenior Data Engineer (posted September 23, 2026): build "conformed data models and analytical layers that serve experimentation and company KPIs" for the "Growth & Monetization, Core Experience, and Content Intelligence pods", on BigQuery and dbt, so "analysts answer their own questions". A Senior Mobile Engineer (posted October 22) and a Senior Back End Engineer (October 5) are also open.Source

Publish two posts a month on how to use the product and on media literacy (how ratings are averaged, how ownership data works, how to read a coverage bar). Retire or update old posts.

Evergreen guides earn search traffic for years and answer the questions paid visitors have.

• Posts read as partisan

  Keep guides about method, not outlets.

• Your websiteBlog, "Someone Else's News": the newest post listed is dated October 23, 2023, three years ago.Source
• Your websiteSubscribe page: one plan, Vantage, at "$8.33 /month (billed annually)"; "50,000+ sources • 53,000+ 5-star reviews"; FAQ: bias and factuality ratings are "averaged from three third-party independent news monitoring organizations": AllSides, Ad Fontes Media and Media Bias Fact Check; "you don't need to download the Ground News app". Checkout: "Vantage Plan $8.33 /month Billed as $99.99 /year", "Downloads 2M+", "App Store 4.7", sign-in with Google or Apple.Source
• HiringStaff Engineer, Web (posted October 2, 2026): owns "the web properties that convert curious visitors into paying subscribers" in the "Growth & Monetization pod alongside Revenue Growth, Marketing, Sponsorships, and CRO"; "The marketing-tech stack (currently Unbounce, likely migrating to Framer)"; "The web experimentation program end-to-end"; "Web performance, accessibility, SEO, and Core Web Vitals for a consumer property serving millions of readers". Success in 90-180 days: "a marketing or growth teammate can ship a landing-page change, a modal, or a pricing experiment without an engineer in the loop".Source

When a subscriber shares a story, add their referral link with a free-trial offer for the friend and a reward for them. Show their referral count in the account.

Sharing is already happening; attaching an offer turns it into acquisition.

• Spammy feel

  Keep the link optional.

• Your websiteAffiliate program page: open to people with "a YouTube Channel, a newsletter or a blog with engaged followers", "earning commission for every subscriber you refer"; footer also links a Referral Code checkout (/checkout/referral).Source
• Your websiteHomepage: title tag just "Ground News", no canonical tag; a Daily Briefing ("7 stories • 1252 articles • 7 m read"), For You, Local and Blindspot feeds, US and International editions; footer links to three newsletters (Daily Ground, Blindspot Report, Burst Your Bubble), Gift, Group Subscriptions, Free Trial, Affiliates and a Referral Code. The homepage HTML alone is about 2 MB.Source
• App StoreiOS app: 4.71 stars from 48,710 ratings, updated October 20, 2026 (Apple lookup). The /app page shows three reader reviews dated August to October 2022.Source

Run App Store product page tests (screenshots leading with the Daily Briefing, Blindspot and My News Bias), mention the Apple Design Award, and refresh /app with recent reviews.

Store page conversion multiplies every install campaign.

• Small samples

  Run tests for at least four weeks.

• App StoreiOS app: 4.71 stars from 48,710 ratings, updated October 20, 2026 (Apple lookup). The /app page shows three reader reviews dated August to October 2022.Source
• HiringGround News in its job posts: "a news comparison platform" with a "mobile app, web app, and browser extension"; "we don't rely on algorithms to keep users on our platform to sell ads. We are supported by our readers who pay for a subscription". Highlights: "#1 on Product Hunt" (the Ground News Bias Checker), "#2 on 2025 Apple Design Awards in the Social Impact category", "3-time winner of US App of the Day", "Winner of Mobile Apps Showdown at CES".Source
• HiringPerformance Marketing Manager, Google & YouTube (Revenue Growth & Analytics, remote Canada, posted October 2, 2026): "Google is a growth lever we haven't fully tapped yet. Today it's a small piece of our paid budget"; "a build-from-zero mandate" across "Search, Performance Max, Demand Gen, and YouTube"; "take spend from its current low base to a major share of total paid budget, holding CAC and subscriber payback"; "Own Google landing pages"; build "conversion tracking, Enhanced Conversions, app + web attribution, incrementality testing"; work "with external agencies to build the YouTube creative engine". Bonus: CTV/OTT, AppsFlyer and SKAN, Firebase.Source

Build a teams plan with an admin console, seat assignment, invoicing and a team view of coverage habits, sold to schools, newsrooms, communications teams and libraries.

Recurring seats from institutions steady a consumer subscription business.

• Long sales cycles

  Self-serve for small teams.

• #11 A media-literacy offer for teachers built on group subscriptions

• Your websiteGroup subscriptions page: "Get Ground News Vantage for your classroom, organization, or institution"; "Group subscriptions between 2 and 9 are discounted at 40 %, and orders between 10 and above are discounted at 50 %"; codes are emailed after purchase; the page says "10,000+ 5-star reviews".Source
• HiringSenior Data Engineer (posted September 23, 2026): build "conformed data models and analytical layers that serve experimentation and company KPIs" for the "Growth & Monetization, Core Experience, and Content Intelligence pods", on BigQuery and dbt, so "analysts answer their own questions". A Senior Mobile Engineer (posted October 22) and a Senior Back End Engineer (October 5) are also open.Source
• Your websiteSubscribe page: one plan, Vantage, at "$8.33 /month (billed annually)"; "50,000+ sources • 53,000+ 5-star reviews"; FAQ: bias and factuality ratings are "averaged from three third-party independent news monitoring organizations": AllSides, Ad Fontes Media and Media Bias Fact Check; "you don't need to download the Ground News app". Checkout: "Vantage Plan $8.33 /month Billed as $99.99 /year", "Downloads 2M+", "App Store 4.7", sign-in with Google or Apple.Source

After YouTube payback is proven, run a geo-split CTV test (YouTube on TV and one streaming platform) with a QR code to the trial and measure lift in trials and brand searches.

A measured test shows whether TV can scale reach without breaking payback.

• Hard to measure

  Use geo holdouts.

• #7 YouTube ads built on non-partisan stories

• HiringPerformance Marketing Manager, Google & YouTube (Revenue Growth & Analytics, remote Canada, posted October 2, 2026): "Google is a growth lever we haven't fully tapped yet. Today it's a small piece of our paid budget"; "a build-from-zero mandate" across "Search, Performance Max, Demand Gen, and YouTube"; "take spend from its current low base to a major share of total paid budget, holding CAC and subscriber payback"; "Own Google landing pages"; build "conversion tracking, Enhanced Conversions, app + web attribution, incrementality testing"; work "with external agencies to build the YouTube creative engine". Bonus: CTV/OTT, AppsFlyer and SKAN, Firebase.Source
• App StoreiOS app: 4.71 stars from 48,710 ratings, updated October 20, 2026 (Apple lookup). The /app page shows three reader reviews dated August to October 2022.Source

Build an edition landing page per country with local top stories and prices, run small Search and YouTube tests, and expand where payback matches the US.

English-speaking markets reuse the product and creative with little change.

• Fewer local sources

  Start where coverage is strongest.

• Your websiteHomepage: title tag just "Ground News", no canonical tag; a Daily Briefing ("7 stories • 1252 articles • 7 m read"), For You, Local and Blindspot feeds, US and International editions; footer links to three newsletters (Daily Ground, Blindspot Report, Burst Your Bubble), Gift, Group Subscriptions, Free Trial, Affiliates and a Referral Code. The homepage HTML alone is about 2 MB.Source
• HiringPerformance Marketing Manager, Google & YouTube (Revenue Growth & Analytics, remote Canada, posted October 2, 2026): "Google is a growth lever we haven't fully tapped yet. Today it's a small piece of our paid budget"; "a build-from-zero mandate" across "Search, Performance Max, Demand Gen, and YouTube"; "take spend from its current low base to a major share of total paid budget, holding CAC and subscriber payback"; "Own Google landing pages"; build "conversion tracking, Enhanced Conversions, app + web attribution, incrementality testing"; work "with external agencies to build the YouTube creative engine". Bonus: CTV/OTT, AppsFlyer and SKAN, Firebase.Source
• Company factsGround News is a Canadian news aggregation service founded in 2018 by siblings Harleen Kaur and Sukh Singh, based in Kitchener, Ontario (Wikipedia); the site footer reads "© 2026 Snapwise Inc".Source

Offer an academic data licence or API with aggregated story clusters and source metadata, with citation required. Publish a yearly report from it.

Academic citations build authority and backlinks, and licences add revenue without ads.

• Rights to article text

  Licence metadata only, not text.

• Your websiteHomepage: title tag just "Ground News", no canonical tag; a Daily Briefing ("7 stories • 1252 articles • 7 m read"), For You, Local and Blindspot feeds, US and International editions; footer links to three newsletters (Daily Ground, Blindspot Report, Burst Your Bubble), Gift, Group Subscriptions, Free Trial, Affiliates and a Referral Code. The homepage HTML alone is about 2 MB.Source
• Your websiteSubscribe page: one plan, Vantage, at "$8.33 /month (billed annually)"; "50,000+ sources • 53,000+ 5-star reviews"; FAQ: bias and factuality ratings are "averaged from three third-party independent news monitoring organizations": AllSides, Ad Fontes Media and Media Bias Fact Check; "you don't need to download the Ground News app". Checkout: "Vantage Plan $8.33 /month Billed as $99.99 /year", "Downloads 2M+", "App Store 4.7", sign-in with Google or Apple.Source
• HiringGround News in its job posts: "a news comparison platform" with a "mobile app, web app, and browser extension"; "we don't rely on algorithms to keep users on our platform to sell ads. We are supported by our readers who pay for a subscription". Highlights: "#1 on Product Hunt" (the Ground News Bias Checker), "#2 on 2025 Apple Design Awards in the Social Impact category", "3-time winner of US App of the Day", "Winner of Mobile Apps Showdown at CES".Source