Google offers publishers more control over online content

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Google Inc. has introduced new measures to allow news publishers to have more control over how their content can be indexed and displayed by the Internet giant's powerful search engine.

Google on Wednesday launched a "web crawler" specifically for Google News, which the company said will help publishers manage their content in Google News in an even more automated way.

With the new tool, it will be easier for publishers to keep their content out of Google News and still remain in Google Search, Google said.

"While this means even more control for publishers, the effect of opting out of (Google) News is the same as it's always been. It means that content won't be in Google News or in the parts of Google that are powered by the News index," Josh Cohen, Google's senior business product manager, wrote in a blog posting.

The company on Tuesday also announced that it is upgrading a program called First Click Free so that publishers can limit users to no more than five pages per day without registering or subscribing.

Previously, each click from a user would be treated as free under the program.

The new change means users may start to see a registration page after they have clicked through to more than five articles on the website of a publisher using First Click Free in a day, Google said.

The relationship between Google and traditional media industry has intensified recently with News Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rupert Murdoch threatening to block Google from displaying articles of News Corp.'s newspapers.