Google News is refreshing its desktop site with a new design that lets you follow local and global news on one screen. The redesign puts your Summary, Local News, and Top Picks on a single page in different columns to make it easier to stay up-to-date on the topics and areas you care about.
Up until now, if you were signed in to Google News, you’d see the headline first, with a weather widget next to it. Other sections such as World, For You and Local News can be accessed by scrolling down or clicking on these topics from the sidebar.
What Google News looked like in its old avatar
The redesign moves all topics from the sidebar to the top of the screen, to better align with other columns like Local News and Top Picks. The weather widget now occupies a small space at the top right of the screen. Google tried to recreate the feeling of reading a newspaper or magazine – but through a desktop website.
“This change is just the latest way we bring local news to users around the world. Last year, we expanded a feature on Google Search so that readers around the world can now see a carousel of local stories when Google finds local news relevant to their query. . This makes it easier for them to find stories from local news publishers,” the company said in a statement.
New look for Google News
Furthermore, you can click the customize button next to your Themes section to choose the themes you want to see on the homepage and even shuffle the order in which they appear.
Image credits: Google
The redesigned Google News also features an improved Fact-Checking section, which now also shows you original claims and verified reviews for more context. Earlier this year, Google rolled out new “highly quoted” label in search to highlight the source for a story.
Improved Fact-Checking, providing more context
The company notes that along with these changes, Google News is returning to Spain after eight years, thanks to new copyright laws. The company claims that Google News is available in 125 countries and 40 languages, and it drives 24 billion clicks to publisher sites each month.
Google says it is opening applications for its News Equity Fund, a grant for independent journalists or small news organizations to produce original stories. The company will accept applications until July 21 from most countries around the world, with the exception of China and Russia.
Yesterday, Google quietly dropped an appeal against a €500 million antitrust news licensing fine in France. This came after the French authorities accepted corporate conduct commitments made in December. In a blog post, Google notes that it has made content deals with more than 150 publications in the country.
