Google may help publishers
In a move that could help improve relations between Google Inc. and the media industry, the Internet search company is offering publishers a way to build more solid "pay walls" around their online stories while still appearing in search results.
In an official blog post Tuesday, Google said it will let publishers limit the number of restricted articles that readers can see for free through its search engine.
The change could remove one significant hurdle publishers face as they contemplate charging readers online. Many newspapers are considering such fees because online advertising on free sites hasn’t offset the precipitous decline in print ad revenue.
News Corp.’s Wall Street Journal is perhaps the best example of how the new tool could help. The newspaper charges for access to most articles on its site, but its pay wall is "leaky pay day loans." Readers can grab the first sentence from a preview of the story, punch it into Google and access the full story in the search results.
The Journal could simply block Google from indexing its stories, but that would cut traffic to its site significantly. Less traffic means less ad revenue.
The change to Google’s "First Click Free" program would allow publishers to limit the number of paid articles a reader could access through its search engine to five per day.
That could allow news outlets to stay relevant by appearing in search results while still trying to wring fees from readers.
Filed under: business by Forest