Google has finally decided to shutter its contentious First Click Free policy, which forced publishers to provide Google search results access to content even if it's behind a paywall. Publishers were required "to provide a minimum of three free articles per day via Google Search and Google News before people were shown a paywall." In its place, Google has introduced what it calls Flexible Sampling, which shifts control to the publishers. We will end our First Click Free policy in favor of a Flexible Sampling model where publishers will decide how many, if any, free articles they want to provide to potential subscribers based on their own business strategies. This move is informed by our own research, publisher feedback, and months-long experiments with the New York Times and the Financial Times, both of which operate successful subscription services. In regards to Flexible Sampling, Google suggests that publishers could explore monthly Metering, instead of daily Metering because it "allows publishers more flexibility to experiment with the number of free stories to offer people and to target those more likely to subscribe. For most publishers, 10 articles per month is a good starting point." Read more about how publishers can possibly approach Flexible Sampling and Metering here and here. Making subscriptions more attractive to users Besides doing away with the First Click Free policy, Google is also keen to make subscriptions a more attractive option to users. Longer term, we are building a suite of products and services to help news publishers reach new audiences,…
