Over 60% of people surveyed in the 2016 Edelman Trust Barometer say they trust Google for news more than they trust the news outlets contained in Google’s index.
This marks the second year in a row that “search engines” come out on top as the most trusted form of media — ahead of traditional media, and several times ahead of social media. Last year was the first time it had ever happened, now its becoming a growing trend.
If a headline is featured in Google News, that means more people are likely to trust it over reading that same headline from its original source. Why is that, you ask? It could be because trust in Google itself is quite high, being listed as the second most reputable company in the world in 2015.
When considering the disparity between trust in search engines versus trust in social media, you can also point to how headlines are written. The most shareable headlines are not always the ones that contain the most information.
Compare the headline of an article ranking well in Google News against a the headline of a highly shared article on social media. The headline in Google News will typically give you the facts you’re looking for in as few words as possible. The headline of a popular article on social media tends to be written for people to click through to get the full story.
In addition, with search engines you have the ability to quickly scan news and information from a variety of sources. That may be considered more trustworthy for most than reading news from a single source.
Whatever the case may be, the numbers prove Google continues to wield more influence than other forms of media. If you’re a publisher, you better make sure you’re included in the Google News index. Here’s a complete guide on how to be featured in Google News.
Edelman is a US-based public relations firm whose survey included 33,000 people across 28 countries.
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