Google changes could rank company statements above news stories
A spokesman for the search engine said the goal of adding company statements is to quickly get readers the ‘right answer,’ but experts say it may mislead them instead.
A recent change in the company’s news algorithm is allowing press releases and corporate statements to move up the ranks in Google’s News searches. The links that previously appeared in these searches came only from approved news sites.
Experts are saying that this could not only pose a threat to news organizations relying on Google’s traffic, but could also potentially mislead those who are seeking news about a particular company. (Not that company statements would ever put a rosy spin on negative news or anything.)
According to Huffington Post, a Google spokeswoman in September addressed the change with the following statement:
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