Studying the ways search engines rank and present news content is a complex task, writes Jacob Ørmen, of University of Copenhagen. Things such as web browsing history may influence which news the search engine presents as the most relevant. For this reason, a broad and detailed collection of data is in order, Ørmen concludes.

The author conducted a small-scale experiment with regards to the record-breaking parachute jump of the Austrian Felix Baumgartner in 2012. Ørmen automated a set interval screen capture of the highest ranking Google search results over the period of six days before and after Baumgartner’s jump. Especially prominent variables in the experiment were found to be language settings and previous clicking behaviour, the author notices.

The article Googling the news was published in the journal Digital Journalism. The article is freely available online.

Picture: Untitled by HebiFot, licence CC0 1.0.