A small feature in Google Chrome is delivering a huge amount of traffic to news publishers (GOOGL, GOOG)

Sundar Pichai

Google Chrome for smartphones automatically shows users a list of articles. A study finds that the feature sends 341 million visits per month to publishers.
'Articles for You' benefits news outlets more than other types of publishers.
The growth comes as news groups in Europe want Google and similar services to pay more for the news they use.

Google has pledged to help bolster the struggling news and publishing businesses— and the search giant is apparently seeing some positive results.

Two weeks ago, Chartbeat, a media analytics company, reported that it found that the Google Chrome browser for smartphones — specifically, a feature known as "Articles for You" — has grown 2,100 percent and now sends 341 million visits per month to the web sites of publishers all over the globe.

This week, Chartbeat provided more details about its research, saying news sites are far likelier to benefit from Chrome article suggestions than "evergreen" publishers, who publish how-to guides and other less-timely content. In terms of region, researchers say that Latin America and specific regions in Europe are faring the best.

When users of Chrome's mobile browser open a new tab, they automatically see a list of suggested articles. The feature is referred to as "Articles for You," also known as Chrome Content Suggestions.

According to Chartbeat, when it comes to the services that refer the most readers, "Articles For You" have entered the top tier. The report said only Google Search, Facebook and Twitter send more traffic to publishers.

This should come as welcome news to the news industry. Publishers have seen revenue declines for decades, and the emergence of the Internet has only added to the pain. Advertisers that once bought full-page ads in newspapers have shifted much of their ad spending to Google, Facebook and other tech companies.

In publishing circles, the question of whether Google is friend or foe has been debated for years. Among the most wary of Google are European publishers. In Dec. 2014, Google announced it would stop offering Google News in Spain after the government there passed a law that enabled every publication to charge Google and similar services for displaying snippets from their publications.

And just last December, big European publishers once again want big tech firms to pay more for the millions of articles they use. Google argues that the company's search engine and services only help publishers find readers.

In this environment, Google certainly seems intent on improving the relationship with the news media, even at the cost of alienating some Chrome users. The fact that Google doesn't give users a lot of choice over seeing the articles hasn't appealed to everyone.

Said TechCrunch's Devin Coldewey in March: "The idea that every tab I open is another data point and another opportunity for Google to foist its algorithms on me is rankling."

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