Google has long had its knuckles rapped over its behavior toward newspaper headlines. Mountain View corrects its errors little by little. After changes in SEO to highlight original and relevant articles, Google created Showcase. Launched at the end of 2020, it will only be deployed from this Thursday, October 20, 2022 in France. It allows publishers to offer sorts of “showcases” to highlight editorial content chosen by the media, and no longer according to an algorithm. This showcase allows both a general news watch, but also adapts according to the research of the Internet user.
In addition to having control over the content promoted by the search engine, these publishers are paid. Google having been the target of reprimands, in particular about neighboring rights, the press organs will now receive income linked to the exposure of articles. But in any deal, there are tradeoffs, and so publishers have committed to providing a minimum number of windows per day in order to create regular content. They will also have to create access to a “limited amount of their paid content”. However, Google has not communicated the amount of these remunerations.
“Over 65 editors representing over 130 publications” have pledged according to Google. A rich and eclectic media landscape since the national press (Release, Le Figaro, 20 minutes, The world, etc.) is as well represented as the breathless regional press. Everyone can have access to West France, The voice of the North Where Free Charente. The daily press wants to be optimistic behind the words of Pierre Petillault, director general of the Alliance de presse d’information générale (Apig) at AFP: “It’s a new experience of access to information [qui offrira] perhaps an attractive value proposition to publishers.”