Google set to serve ads in news results

Google is set to start placing advertising against search results on Google News in a bid to generate more revenue.

The search giant plans to serve text ads next to headlines, which are delivered from more than 4,500 global news sites for the Google News service, in an attempt to generate income from all sources of the business.

Josh Cohen, project manager at Google, said: “What this means is that when you enter a query like ‘iPhone’ or ‘Kindle’ into the Google News search box, you’ll see text ads alongside your results, similar to what you see on regular Google searches.”

The move is expected to face criticism from news organisations that have previously complained at Google for deep-linking into their content without permission.

Google has failed to release a revenue model for the new ads, so it remains unclear whether the news sites will benefit from increased ad revenues.

However, Cohen said the search company would only roll out its new offering if the relevant news parties were on board.

“We’ve always said that we’d unveil these changes when we could offer a good experience for our users, publishers and advertisers alike,” he said. “We’ll continue to look at ways to deliver ads that are relevant for users and good for publishers too.”