Google’s changing how you search for and read news online

Searching for news on Google is about to change in a big way.

Instead of displaying top news stories in search in a single carousel for a single topic, Google will now split multiple stories into multiple carousels.

“Now, when there are multiple stories related to your search, we’ll also organize the results by story so it’s easier to understand what’s most relevant and you can make a more informed decision on which specific articles to explore,” explained Google in more detail.

“Within each story, the new structure will make more room for high-quality content–beyond just the most recent coverage–as well as more diverse sources, to bring more context and perspective to the day’s news.”

The tweak is in a bid to provide browsers with more agency. Google may also now interest users with related topics. So if you search for “NASA” news it may also display recent news about Jupiter.

Google notes that this new layout is powered by technology that can “map the people, places and things involved in a news story, and then draw connections between them”.

It doesn’t seem like any human curation is involved in the process.

The changes will affect users globally in the coming months, but for now, those in the US who browse in English will be the first affected by the change.

Feature image: Shereesa Moodley/Memeburn