Google has been the hub for most of the world’s web traffic for the past decade or so. It has become the “universal default search engine” and is considered much more than that. It’s an everyday tool used by people across the globe.
The search giant is removing its policy called “First Click Free (FCF)” for publishers and news websites.
The policy offered free access to a specific selection of paid news web pages. Such web pages, despite not being available to the public for viewing appeared in a Google search. FCF required publishers to select a free article or a page (which would usually be paid) on a daily basis for the website to appear in Google searches.
New Model
Instead of the FCF, a flexible sampling model is being inaugurated which leaves the decision of choosing the free articles to the website owners.
According to the official statement by Google,
As a result of our learning, we decided to transition from our FCF program and its fixed, free-sampling requirement to a Flexible Sampling model, in which publishers determine their own optimal rate of sampling based on their ongoing experience using free samples to attract new users and using the paywall to elicit user registration or subscription.
A Whole New World For Publishers
This policy change is said to have major effects on the publishing world. According to Robert Thomson – chief executive of News Corp – it will “fundamentally change the content ecosystem”.
He said,
If you don’t sign up for ‘first click free’, you virtually disappear from a search. Given the power of the Google platform, that is disadvantaging premium content of great provenance.
Increasing Subscribers and Content
Research yields that the number of subscribers for news and published content has increased. Feedback from different publishers and readers has also lead to this decision made by Google.
Google’s vice president of news, Richard Gingras says
While research has shown that people are becoming more accustomed to paying for news, the sometimes painful process of signing up for a subscription can be a turn-off. That’s not great for users or for news publishers who see subscriptions as an increasingly important source of revenue. To address these problems we’ve been talking to news publishers about how to support their subscription businesses.
After discarding FCF, Google is also working on making it easier to use paid content and making it faster to subscribe to services. It will be as fast as a click, using Google’s own payment services.
Via: The Guardian
Another way to Earn More :)