A really common criticism that a lot of people tend to levy against Google is that the tech giant tends to make news coverage a lot harder than it needs to be. The Top Stories feature in particular has been targeted since it has the potential to make it so that only very large news organizations are going to be the least bit capable of getting their websites viewed by the various users that would be interested in that type of news in the first place.
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that a recent update that Google has implemented might result in all of that being changed at long last. This update has reworked the ranking algorithm in order to make it so that relevant local news sites will be given a bit of preference in Top Stories and that can do a fair bit to balance things out in that regard and tip the scales in the right direction for a change.
Google’s Showcase program is also getting a big change with more control being given to the publishers that are part of this program. Now, publishers will be able to single out stories that they feel are most relevant and these are the stories that would end up being shown in the top stories section. It’s great that Google is giving a bit of control back to local news and websites that try to disseminate news because the way things were going before could have ended up creating a very misinformation laden news environment.
Showcase publishers are also going to start getting real time updates regarding things like user interactions with their content. This can enable them to better understand the kind of interactions their content might be getting, thereby giving them the chance to improve their content wherever improvements might be helpful. It is also important to give these sites more information about how users feel about their articles and Google is the only company that can make the requisite steps in that regard, and chances are that other search engines will try to follow suit.
Read next: Are Emails Still Relevant? This Study Has an Answer
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that a recent update that Google has implemented might result in all of that being changed at long last. This update has reworked the ranking algorithm in order to make it so that relevant local news sites will be given a bit of preference in Top Stories and that can do a fair bit to balance things out in that regard and tip the scales in the right direction for a change.
Google’s Showcase program is also getting a big change with more control being given to the publishers that are part of this program. Now, publishers will be able to single out stories that they feel are most relevant and these are the stories that would end up being shown in the top stories section. It’s great that Google is giving a bit of control back to local news and websites that try to disseminate news because the way things were going before could have ended up creating a very misinformation laden news environment.
Showcase publishers are also going to start getting real time updates regarding things like user interactions with their content. This can enable them to better understand the kind of interactions their content might be getting, thereby giving them the chance to improve their content wherever improvements might be helpful. It is also important to give these sites more information about how users feel about their articles and Google is the only company that can make the requisite steps in that regard, and chances are that other search engines will try to follow suit.
Read next: Are Emails Still Relevant? This Study Has an Answer