Google News Gets a Much-Needed Redesign, Improving Readability

Google has given its news aggregation service a revamp to remove clutter on the page and give it a cleaner look for its desktop version. With the new design, readers will be able to see content that has been fact-checked by third parties.

Google has also introduced a section on the right-side of the desktop version’s homepage called “Fact Check”. It will throw up daily updates from fact-checking sites like PolitFact and Snopes. Currently, the feature is only available in the United States.

“To make news more accessible and easier to navigate, we redesigned the desktop website with a renewed focus on facts, diverse perspectives, and more control for users,” Product Manager Anand Paka said.

Other changes include the introduction of Cards that spread out stories and provide more information about the source of the articles. Google has detailed all the updates to its News platform in a blog post.

Once clicked, the cards can provide more information about the story they’re linking to. This includes alternative news reports to the main one that is shown. The idea is to provide as many ways as possible to expose users to a variety of media sources and tackle the ‘echo chamber’.

The search engine giant had stuck to the same design for Google News for almost 14 years. The feature is only available to US readers at the moment, but Google plans to slowly roll out the update globally.