Google News renews interface to find local news more easily

Google news has returned on the occasion of its 20th anniversary, with a redesign of its interface, where it is now easier to find local news and that allows you to add, delete or reorder topics of interest.

The news aggregator and search engine Google News automatically tracks information from the main online media so that users can, in the company’s words, “find up-to-date information from reputable and reliable sources.”

In December 2014, Spain became the first country in the world to close this service due to the Intellectual Property Law, which came into force in 2015 and which contemplated a right of economic compensation for publishers by news aggregators. .

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In November 2021, the company announced that Google News would reopen “at the beginning of the year” as a result of the new Royal Decree approved by the Spanish Government, which transposes the European Directive on copyright, as confirmed by the vice president of Google Iberia Fuencisla Clemares.

In this way, and after a lapse of eight years, Google News is available again in Spainboth in web version and in a specific application, which will soon be available on Android and iOS, as confirmed by the company in a statement.

Google has also defined this service as “a key tool in the fight against disinformation” and has pointed out that with it you can find more local stories, in addition to being aware of the latest national and international news.

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It has also detailed its operation and has recalled that this system benefits both readers and publishers. “Google News directs readers to publisher websites when they click on links, which helps drive traffic to their content, where they can display ads and encourage readers to subscribe,” he said.

On the other hand, Google has taken the opportunity to introduce an investigation carried out in April 2021 in which it was shown that news consumption in Spain fell with the closure of Google News in Spain, which meant a 10 percent reduction in traffic to Spanish publishers’ websites.

In order to offer a more personalized service and to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its launch, Google has redesigned the interface of this platform. Among these changes, the reorganization of some sections stands out, as is the case of local news.

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This section is now at the top of the page, above the Weather.com weather service, along with other sections such as Spain, International, Economy, Sports, Science and technology, Leisure and Health.

You can also customize the topics of interest to access certain news more quickly. In the Configuration section, for example, you can include the fonts that you want to hide from the main page, as well as the interface theme (light or dark).

While in ‘For you’ the recommended content is presented according to the interests of the users and based on their previous searches, in the ‘Following’ tab you can add topics of interest, follow locations so that the section recommends news related to that place, and sources and media.

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Also in this section you can save searches and consulted news to be able to access them quickly at another time. On the other hand, Google has integrated a data verification section into the redesign of Google News to offer more information about the news and its context.

Thus, in addition to the headlines, you will be able to see the information verified and evaluated by independent organizations in the media or source that published said news.

The origin of the published data, as well as the contributions of other sources regarding these news can be found in the ‘About’ section of each of these articles.

Source: Elcomercio

James

I have worked as a journalist for over 10 years and have written for various news outlets. I currently work as an author at 24 News Recorder, mostly covering entertainment news. I have a keen interest in the industry and enjoy writing about the latest news and gossip. I am also a member of the National Association of Journalists.