The coronavirus pandemic has surely shaken the world. With it spreading across the globe at an alarming rate without the availability of a proven cure, people are constantly searching about COVID-19 to know more about the pandemic. However, a number of credible news sites have hidden such information behind a paywall, which is bothering some internet users.
With no intention of paying/subscribing to the site for reading news, these people are now asking Google to hide such sites from the search engine result pages (SERP). But it looks like the Tech Giant has no such intentions as Danny Sullivan clearly stated that Google won’t be adhering to these requests.
While replying to a Twitter user who suggested a no-pay-wall option in Google search to hide articles from sources such as Times and Telegraph, Danny Sullivan said it wouldn’t be happening. He added that Google wants to present the best information and in certain instances, such news is from subscription-based sites.
He continued by saying that a number of sites have been dropping paywalls so people have free access to the coronavirus (COVID-19) information.
It’s totally understandable that given its status, Google can’t simply hide certain sites from the search results page solely because they require their audience to subscribe to proceed. Still, it would be a nice gesture for credible news sites to make the pandemic-related news free for the audience to read, something that has already started happening!
Read next: Google and YouTube Introduces New Resource Pages to Help Teachers and Families to Educate Students At Home
With no intention of paying/subscribing to the site for reading news, these people are now asking Google to hide such sites from the search engine result pages (SERP). But it looks like the Tech Giant has no such intentions as Danny Sullivan clearly stated that Google won’t be adhering to these requests.
While replying to a Twitter user who suggested a no-pay-wall option in Google search to hide articles from sources such as Times and Telegraph, Danny Sullivan said it wouldn’t be happening. He added that Google wants to present the best information and in certain instances, such news is from subscription-based sites.
He continued by saying that a number of sites have been dropping paywalls so people have free access to the coronavirus (COVID-19) information.
It’s totally understandable that given its status, Google can’t simply hide certain sites from the search results page solely because they require their audience to subscribe to proceed. Still, it would be a nice gesture for credible news sites to make the pandemic-related news free for the audience to read, something that has already started happening!
We wouldn't do that. We want to present the best information. Some of that is from sites that depend on subscriptions. BTW, a lot of sites that do have paywalls have been kindly dropping them for COVID-19 / coronavirus coverage.— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) March 19, 2020
Read next: Google and YouTube Introduces New Resource Pages to Help Teachers and Families to Educate Students At Home
