Google is ‘hugely dangerous’and is one of the major preoccupations of News Corp, according to the editor-in-chief of Times Online.
Anne Spackman, speaking on a panel about the future of newspapers, said: ‘Google now affects everything we do online.’Because it drives such an enormous proportion of search traffic, newspapers are paying careful attention to optimising their sites for Google.
This means that sites’ traffic is highly susceptible to minor changes to the way Google’s search algorithm works.
Spackman said she expects local newspapers would be the next to face the effects of the search giant as its Google Maps service transforms the market for listings and advertising.
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