Google is looking to improve its relationship with news publishers by getting rid of its First Click Free policy, which effectively forced publishers to give people three free articles per day. Now, with the removal of FCF, publishers can paywall all of their content and not be penalized in Search.
This move gives websites more control over how their content is viewed. Google was effectively undermining attempts by publishers to sell subscriptions. If they didn't comply with FCF, sites would receive fewer views from Search and Google News.
Not complying with the old policy could have a severely negative effect on traffic. According to The Wall Street Journal, when it opted out of FCF, it had a 38% reduction in traffic from Search and an 89% reduction in traffic from News.
The new policy, known as Flexible Sampling, recommends publishers offer 10 free articles per month. But there's no enforcement mechanism and sites needn't offer any of their content for free.
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