Google announced that it made changes to its algorithm to elevate original reporting. This could boost the visibility of more sites, and help people find the original sources of stories.
Google Search Results
In the digital news industry, there are instances when original stories quickly get overshadowed by other outlets reporting on its contents, and they get just as much web traffic as the original story. This is an issue that publishers tend to complain about, but now Google made changes to its algorithm that can change the way people get their digital news.
In a blog post, Google’s vice president of news, Richard Gingras, announced that they made changes to ranking updates and search rater guidelines to better recognize original stories. The 10,000 raters who assess the quality of search results are now tasked to give the highest grades to the reports with information that would not be known if the original article did not reveal it, while also keeping in mind the publisher’s overall reputation for original stories.
With the change, instead of Google showing mostly the latest and most comprehensive reports, the original stories will be highlighted and stay that way for longer periods of time. This also benefits the readers because it will be faster and easier to find the original stories.
Original Stories
“In today’s fast-paced world of news, the original reporting on a subject doesn’t always stay in the spotlight for long,” said Gingras. “This prominence allows users to view the original reporting while also looking at more recent articles alongside it.”
That said, Gingras notes that there is neither an absolute definition of original reporting, nor a standard for an article’s originality. Since it could mean very differently to every publisher, he notes that Google will continue to evolve its efforts.
With Google and other tech companies being scrutinized for the amount of influence they have over digital news, Google’s move shows that it is giving importance to original stories, whether they come from big or small outlets.
