Google Eliminates “First Click Free” Program To Appease Major Publications

For over a decade, Google has been contending with major publications on the matter of free content. Now, the tech firm is scuttling one of its search engine rules called “first click free,” which is meant to provide users a few free contents before getting slammed by a paywall. This will help bigger publishers draw in revenue without having to give articles or news coverage away for free.

Many of the bigger publishing companies these days survive via subscription fees, ranging from weekly to yearly. For over a decade, readers were able to skirt some of the responsibilities of paying these fees by simply searching for headlines via Google, The Washington Post reports. After a while, users inevitably run into a paywall once they have used up their free articles.

During this time, publishers were at the mercy of Google, which determined how many free articles should be provided in order to gain the benefits of its massive search engine. With these recent changes, the publishing companies will now get to decide how many free articles to give away.

As for how this will affect the readers, many of them will not likely notice the changes for a while. Only those who regularly visit particular news outlets will be able to tell that the subscription format has changed.

On top of giving publishers more control over their content, Google will also apparently provide them with new online payment tools, Bloomberg reports. This will ensure that they will be able to offer transparent and unbiased content, which would not normally be the case when relying on advertisers.

The majority of the focus in talks between Google and publication firms, however, is the matter of speeding up load times. With ever increasing internet speeds, there is really no excuse to subject users to long hang times.