Google adjusts search algorithm input to prioritize original news
Google has tweaked the input to its algorithms in an effort to get original news stories higher in search results. Thus, a new article that other publications refer to afterwards should show up better in Google’s search engine.
Google reports that to fine-tune and validate its algorithms and understand the authority of individual pages, it employs more than 10,000 people worldwide to provide feedback. They operate on the basis of a number of principles and guidelines. The latter give direction to what is considered valuable in content during ranking. In order to bring original stories to the fore, adjustments have now been made to these guidelines.
For example, those who provide feedback under the update are instructed to give the highest “very high quality” rating to original news stories that provide information that would otherwise not have been known. They are also asked to rate the medium’s overall reputation, with Google said previous prestigious awards such as the Pulitzer Prize or a history of high-quality reporting are strong indications of a positive reputation. Incidentally, the feedback from this group of more than ten thousand people does not lead to a different ranking of the specific results they assess; that is ultimately determined by the algorithms, which are in fact trained by the feedback.
The changes are intended to lead to new feedback so that Google’s automated systems are better able to display original content more prominently. Google writes that it usually shows the latest and most comprehensive version of a news story in the results, but that should change due to the changes mentioned. In addition, the original stories should not only become more visible, but also remain in that clearly visible position for longer.
Google also acknowledges that there is no absolute definition of original reporting or determining how original a given article is. Partly because of this, the company also says that these kinds of efforts are constantly evolving and so more changes may be made over time.