Google made a significant change to the news articles that show up within the web search results. Those news articles no longer have to come from a human-approved Google News source - they can come from anywhere. Now there the news box has been replaced by "In The News" box that contains both Google News sources and other sources, including Twitter, Reddit, YouTube, Blogs and other non-journalistic sources.
Yesterday, @danlev tipped me off to Reddit showing up in the news box and I covered it immediately at Search Engine Land as I waited for Google to answer my question on how a site like Reddit would be included in Google News or a News box. Google responded to me and Danny wrote the revised story named Google’s “In The News” Box Now Lists More Than Traditional News Sites.
Google told us that Google News sites are not the only stories than can show in the new news box named "In The News":
We will be pulling from all over the web which means that we will present as diverse a range of voices as possible to ensure we get users to the answer they are looking for.We are always working to give our users the best possible answer to their question. That might come in the form of a video, a press release, a blog, a photo, a social media post or a news article.
Here are some examples of unusual news stories including none Google News sources:
It even doesn't block out foul language:
The old news box looked like this:
Now it looks like this:
It is a subtle change but the content within the box doesn't have to pull from Google News sources, which is a huge change.
Here are more basic searches that seem to just bring up Google News sources:
Here are examples of the In The News showing a YouTube video for a search on Justin Bieber:
Here is an example of a Twitter URL showing for a search for the Seattle Seahawks (it is their official Twitter handle):
Forum discussion on Twitter amongst @danlev, @bill_slawski, @yoast & Google News Help.
