Considering how much people rely on Google for, it isn’t surprising that Google holds a lot of clout over publishers and what gets displayed in search results. This has led to Google implementing a first-click-free policy (which was later dropped) where publishers had to offer users at least 3 free articles a day before they ran into a paywall.

Like we said this policy was later dropped and it seems that in a bid to appease publishers, Bloomberg is reporting that Google will now prioritize news subscriptions in search results. This means that if you’re subscribed to a paywall publication like The Financial Times or The Wall Street Journal, news stories from those publications will appear first in your search results.

This is meant to help media companies find and retain paying readers. After all why would you keep paying a subscription to a website if news outlets in your search results are from free websites that offer up similar content, right? This feature has yet to go live as Bloomberg claims that Google is expected to disclose the details at an event in New York on the 20th of March.

Google is also expected to share data with publishers on who is the most likely to purchase a subscription, thus allowing publishers to better target potential customers.

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