German publisher stops ‘blocking’ Google after two weeks

The largest publisher of news media in Germany, Axel Springer, has decided after two weeks to let Google index parts of articles. The blockade caused a sharp drop in the number of visitors via Google and Google News.

Together with two hundred other German publishers, Axel Springer decided two weeks ago to ban Google from citing the content of articles in Google’s search engine and Google News, but the publisher is now coming back, reports Reuters news agency.

A law passed last year makes it possible for German publishers to ban Google from indexing the content of articles. However, the headline of an article may still be quoted. However, the omission of the text of articles resulted in 40 percent fewer visitors to Axel Springer websites from Google. For Google News, the decline was even 80 percent.

Recently, Google won a lawsuit brought by the German publishers. The publishers wanted Google to pay money for indexing articles, but that was not necessary, the judge ruled. The publishers then decided to introduce the blockade.

According to Google, Axel Springer’s decision to have articles indexed indicates that the search engine is of added value to the publishers.