Google Launches New Features And Tools To Support Local News

Google is rolling out new tools and features designed to help local news organizations and their journalists. (photo: doc. unsplash)

JAKARTA - Google has just launched new tools and features designed to help local news organizations and their journalists.

The first feature is the carousel, which displays local news based on search queries. This feature has been rolled out worldwide and is available in all languages.

That means, this carousel feature will help readers easily find relevant news around them, from local news publishers. This feature also helps local publishers by adding another way to their critical reporting, to reach the communities that need it most.

Initially Google launched the feature to provide local search information about the COVID-19 pandemic, but now the company has expanded it to other topics such as sports, local government and much more.

Additionally, Google has also revamped its system so that relevant and authoritative local news sources appear more frequently next to national publications on Top Stories and other general news features.

"This improvement ensures that people will see authoritative local news when they search for news, helping news publisher brands and content reach more people," Google said as quoted from its official website, Wednesday, November 17.

If the user has location enabled then the user can browse narrow subtopics related to local news, such as inter-school football.

"For example, if you're in Detroit and looking for football, we'll now show results for local high school and college teams, rather than just showing results for, say, professional teams," Google said.

Furthermore, the new tools that Google is launching also include Census Mapper. This tool can show Census data at the local level, and show how the population has shifted over time.

Finally, Google is also working on the Common Knowledge Project, a visual journalism project that allows journalists to explore local data online.