Google has tweaked its search results in order to put up the company statements above media sources. Analysts fear the move will hurt publishers in terms of web traffic, even mislead users.
"The goal of search is to get users the right answer at any one time as quickly as possible — that may mean returning an article from an established publisher or from a smaller niche publisher or indeed it might be a press release," a Google spokesperson is quoted as saying.
Earlier, Google showed links to stories from news sites including newspapers and TV in the main search page.
Reports point out that Google was showing the link to Apple's official site for Apple Watch on the day of its official release in the news section. According to Josh Schwartz, chief data scientist at Chartbeat, companies may look to tap the change in Google search to boost their rankings. Also, it could mislead readers and redirect to promotional content.
Source: DNAIndia