by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, November 8, 2017

Knowledge Panels on Google for news publishers, announced Tuesday, will help people searching for information learn more about specific publications in search results.

The idea is to help searchers gain trust in publications they are unfamiliar with by enabling them to reveal useful information based on search queries.

Knowledge Panels on Google will now show the topics that publishers commonly cover, major awards the publisher has won, and claims that publishers make which have been reviewed by third parties, Ranna Zhou, product manager at Google, explains in a blog post.

Faster access to these pieces of information is intended to help readers looking for content understand the tone, expertise and history of the publisher. It also aims to help Google address the misinformation and fake news issues that are plaguing the engine.

A link to frequently asked questions tells how publishers of news can add information to Google’s Knowledge Panels. The company says that similar to search results, many factors are involved in what is displayed in the Knowledge Panel.

Publishers that consistently create fresh, news-related online content can improve their chances of having a Knowledge Panel.

Reviewed Claims are also part of the process. They are made by publishers that fact-check other publishers using the Fact Check markup and have been algorithmically determined to be authoritative, according to Google.

“If a publisher believes a reviewed claim is incorrect, Google recommends they contact the fact-checker that wrote the review,” per the Q&A. “Publishers can also use the feedback link in the Knowledge Panel to report claims they believe are inaccurate.”

MediaPost.com: Search Marketing Daily

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