URL Resolution

The problem

Google News RSS returns redirect URLs like:

https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMirwFBVV95cUx...

These are not real article URLs. Google requires JavaScript execution to resolve them — plain HTTP requests (requests.get, requests.head) cannot follow these redirects. This is a known Google behavior change since mid-2023.

Solution: Playwright extra

Install the optional Playwright extra to resolve URLs automatically:

pip install gnews[playwright]
playwright install chromium  # one-time setup, downloads ~150MB

Once installed, URL resolution is automatic — no code changes required:

from gnews import GNews

g = GNews(max_results=5)
articles = g.get_news("artificial intelligence")

print(articles[0]['url'])
# https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/15/...  ← real URL

Fallback behavior

If Playwright is not installed or resolution fails for a specific article, GNews silently returns the original Google URL — it never raises an error:

# Without gnews[playwright]:
print(articles[0]['url'])
# https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMi...  ← Google URL

Success rate

Based on community testing (~70-80% success rate):

Site type	Result
Standard news sites (BBC, Reuters, WSJ)	✅ Resolved
Sites with cookie consent gates	⚠️ May fail
Paywalled sites	⚠️ May fail

Production alternative

For 100% reliable real URLs without Playwright, use the SearchApi backend:

g = GNews(searchapi_key="YOUR_KEY")
articles = g.get_news("AI")
print(articles[0]['url'])  # always a real URL

Manual resolution

You can also resolve individual URLs directly:

from gnews.utils.utils import resolve_url

google_url = "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMi..."
real_url = resolve_url(google_url)
print(real_url)