According to The Verge, Google is reconfiguring its search algorithms again. In the latest shift, the tech giant is focusing its algorithms on elevating original reporting.
Pulling from a statement by Google, the algorithm shift will help the company “show the latest and most comprehensive version of a story in news results,” which will potentially keep articles “in a highly visible position longer.” This may apply to follow up news, too, since follow up articles sometimes rank higher that the original, The Verge says.
Google has distributed the new instructions for its algorithms to its team of 10,000 human reviewers, whose feedback helps train these algorithms. This team will review the reputation of the publishers that are publishing originally reported articles to make sure the content is accurate and “quality.” They will also elevate articles that provide “information that would not otherwise have been known had the article not revealed it,” The Verge reports.
The Bad News – Literally
While it seems like Google is doing its due diligence to guarantee consumers accurate and breaking news, there may be some unintended consequences to its algorithm change, The Verge says. For example, the algorithm alterations will affect the industries that are connected to it, which may cause consumers to one day look to get breaking news even faster, “before it’s been properly vetted and confirmed.” If that’s the case, the chances of errors squeaking by will increase, as will the chances of a source getting away with posting and benefitting from fake news.
The Verge also suggests that regardless of how many industries are affected by Google’s new algorithms, people will still be “annoyed” by them. This is mostly due to the unknown, since no one yet knows if and what repercussions they will have, including folks working for the tech company. “Sometimes these search changes are minor, other times these announcements fundamentally change the business models of hundreds of websites.”
As a result, decision makers, particularly those who have been through previous algorithm shifts, should keep tabs on how this new one affects their company. It will be important to note potential benefits, disadvantages, and how their business stacks up to competitors. Doing so will also create a sense of resilience for decision makers, especially if they need to rework their business models to remain successful, including SEO strategies, language used in news written for their website, etc.
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