SEO Blog

Here’s something I’ve often wondered about. How do search engines and news aggregators get away with using news content without compensating the original source? Apparently, borrowing and republishing material from newspapers is a free service, but maybe not for long. CNET News and Reuters, along with a number of other sources, are reporting that an organization representing newspapers worldwide is seeking action against this practice.

The World Association of Newspapers, or WAN, is the group lobbying to implement new commercial policies between newspapers and search engines. According to WAN, newspaper readership has dropped significantly over the last few years, and advertising dollars have shifted heavily from newspapers to online sources. This has created a vortex of sales losses for the newspaper industry. Search engines and content aggregators, such as Yahoo and Google news, often use headlines and photographs from newspaper sites.

“The search engines are increasingly aiming their strategic efforts at traditional content originators and aggregators like newspaper publishers. The irony is that these search engines exist, largely, because of the traditional news and content aggregators and profit at their expense,” said Gavin O’Reilly, president of WAN. “Google, Yahoo and other search engines are not some new breed of social benefactors of information — they are assuredly commercial, very-much-for-profit organizations and not the new Robin Hoods.”