Globally news related queries form just 2% of search: Kate Beddoe

'News is one of the most powerful ways of answering some of the questions that people come to Google for', said Beddoe

The world’s largest search engine, Google, a part of the $183-billion Alphabet Group, dominates the digital news ecosystem. Vanita Kohli-Khandekar spoke to Kate Beddoe, director for news partnerships in the Asia Pacific region, on what news means for Google in India. Edited excerpts:

Google is positioned quirkily in the online news ecosystem. You are a search engine, an aggregator and a competitor to the very brands that you depend on. How do you tackle the conflicts inherent in this?

Our relationship with news is symbiotic. The primary goal is to make sure that quality information is available to our users. We are therefore aligned with the news industry. The value of news to Google is not economic. We care about it. Its job is to educate and inform the quality of debate in any democratic society. Given this, the question is what is the right balance between our objectives and the news industry’s.

A publisher gets pushed down or up on Google search based on changes in your algorithm causing havoc with traffic figures. It is a constant lament from publishers.

Google has been listening to that feedback — and Indian publishers have been very vocal about it. We have made some changes to the way we announce a change. There are now blogs and Twitter channels that communicate it. The changes affect different publishers differently. It is very hard for Google to account for individual news publisher numbers. But we try to communicate better.

What role does Showcase (where Google pays to license content from news publishers) play in helping to smooth things out?

Showcase is a different part of the puzzle. It recognises the user's need to highlight content from quality providers. Currently more than 50 partners (including The Hindu, NDTV, Indian Express et al) have signed on in India. We first launched with Hindi and English newspapers in May 2021. On September 9 we added more publications and languages including Kannada, Tamil, Marathi and Telugu.

What does news mean for Google — is it a traffic, revenue or engagement driver?

News is one of the most powerful ways of answering some of the questions that people come to Google for. For example, the latest information on the government’s approach to Covid. Globally news related queries form just 2 per cent of search. That is very low globally, but it is huge for news sites. Every month people click through from Google Search and Google News results to publishers’ websites more than 24 million times. The traffic we send to news sites helps publishers increase their readership, build trust with readers and earn money. (This is only about Google search, YouTube is run separately). The idea is to provide the right answers to what users look for. So it is important to us that there is a vibrant and healthy news economy. That is how we see our role — to connect audiences to news.

What changes did news consumption on Google see in the last 18-24 months and how have you reacted to these?

The thing about Covid is that users are either totally engaged with it or looking for totally different stuff. It is all or nothing. The second change is the strong focus on local, state-based, region-based news. Therefore, languages are becoming more important. The third is the rising focus on reader revenue. Therefore, the products that support reader revenue are becoming important. For example, when I go to Google News, I can see content from The Sydney Morning Herald (from Sydney). It will carry a reminder to subscribe. This helps decrease churn. It doesn’t change the ranking of the paper (on search results).

There is (now) a greater interest from audiences to understand and support quality journalism. And these have a huge impact on how we approach our business. We run a bunch of programmes (like the Fact-checking workshops, Start-up lab, Newsroom leadership programme) in India and work with local news organisations so that there is more relevance. Over the next three years, Google will train over 50,000 journalists in India. We are very curious about the models that are emerging, in local and independent news organisations and on how to contribute to the transformation and sustainability of these.

What does the India online news market look like compared to others in the region?

India is a fascinating market with complexity and regional diversity. It is a market where publishers are deeply passionate about the work they do and take a long-term view. It is also a vibrant start-up market for news.