How Google supports journalism and the news industry

Every news organization has control over whether and how their headlines and links appear in Google Search and News. Most welcome the fact that people can find them in Google search results — but if a news site (or any other site for that matter) doesn’t want to show up or wants to control what is shown on Google, they can choose to do so. They can do that whether their site is paywalled or free to view.

We don’t show ads — or make money — on the vast majority of searches. And we don’t run ads on Google News or the news results tab on Google Search.

Nearly all the ads people see on Google are on searches with commercial intent like “sneakers,” “t-shirts,” or “plumber,” and generally not from news-seeking queries. And we only make money if ads are useful and relevant, as indicated by your click on the ad.

Although we don’t run ads on Google News or the news results tab on Google Search, we do help news organizations show ads on their websites, apps and videos. Many news publishers choose to use our advertising tools and platforms. Every year, we pay out billions of dollars directly to the publishing partners in our ad network.

News Showcase is made up of panels that give news organizations the ability to package the most important stories of the day for readers, providing deeper storytelling and more context through features like timelines, bullets, related stories and a list of important articles. This content currently appears in Google News and Discover, bringing trusted news to readers all over the world.

News Showcase is live across 22 countries today and more than 2,300 publications, spanning global, national, regional, metro and local publications, have signed agreements to participate. The vast majority are local and regional publications.

We look forward to partnering with even more publications for News Showcase.

By sending free traffic to news sites, we generate significant monetary value for publishers. For example, PwC completed a study across 218 publishers in 38 countries to assess the impact of global web traffic on the revenue of news publishers. Their findings indicate that:

• The average ‘value-of-a-click’ to a news publisher is between US$0.06 - US$0.08 per click, meaning that each time a consumer clicks through to a news website, the publisher earns this amount on average.
• For regional and local news publishers, this value is higher at US$0.13 to $0.15 per click. This is reflective of the relatively lower brand recognition of local and regional publishers, which increases the relative value they derive from each individual website visit.

Publishers use Google’s advertising tools to make money

For many years we’ve helped publishers make money by providing tools and technology that help them run digital advertising on their websites, apps and videos.

Our ad technologies enable news organizations to sell their ad space to millions of advertisers around the world — including advertisers they wouldn’t have access to without these services.

When publishers choose to use our advertising services, they keep a significant majority of the revenue that’s generated. Every year, we pay out billions of dollars directly to the publishing partners in our ad network.

Publishers use Google's subscription tools to make money

Reader Revenue Manager helps publishers drive new subscribers and engage existing subscribers across the web. Since launching in 2018, this technology has generated more than 650,000 new paid subscribers for our news partners. Publishers control how they deploy Reader Revenue Manager on their own sites, and keep 85% to 95% of the revenue, while also owning the customer relationship.

Thirty years ago newspapers were one of the only sources of information in their communities. But now they must compete with thousands of new sources of information, while classified revenue and circulation have plunged. This has necessitated the development of new business and distribution models and new techniques to produce news.

The GNI works directly with news organizations of all sizes on developing new products, programs and partnerships to help news publishers grow their business.

Since 2018, the GNI has supported more than 7,000 news partners in over 130 countries and territories around the world. We’ve provided training for over 570,000 journalists on skills including digital verification, data visualization, and machine learning through in-person trainings.

Many news publishers have successfully used technology and tools to diversify business models, and find growth and new revenue. The GNI is intended to support these efforts.