Google to stop penalizing paywalled news in search results

Google is relaxing its rules on subscription news stories in a bid to thaw increasingly frosty relationships with prominent media giants. Previously, under Google’s “first click free” policy, publishers such as The Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal would have to provide users with a number of free articles every day, or be penalized […]

Google ditches ‘first click free’ policy that required paywalled publishers to offer free content

Google is ditching its controversial “first click free” (FCF) policy that required subscription-based online publishers to give readers free access to some articles found through Google News and web searches. In its place, Google has introduced a set of “flexible sampling” guidelines that it recommends online publishers use, however, they are purely advisory and the internet giant […]