| Google doesn't make any money off Google news. This is a remarkably naive take. If Google provides a service, they make money off it. In 2008, during one of the many legal battles Google has waged over Google News, Google estimated that they made $100M off of people using Google to access news. Clearly that number would be some factor larger now. Because the more people who rely upon Google for a service, the less they end up elsewhere. The more Google controls your eyeballs and is likely to capture your ad clicks. It's the same reason Google scrapes the web and provides the top answer in their answer bubble. It's "free" and it also robs viewers from ever going to the sites actually providing the information. Or do you think Google puts all of that engineering effort, endless lobbying and legal fights with the news community...because they're just so benevolent? Even ignoring the captured attention, this also enables Google to prioritize news sources that are more Google friendly (e.g. use Google ad networks), and there is absolutely nothing anyone can do about it. |
If that's the case, then they must believe the snippets send more people to news websites than they otherwise would?