Google has announced the end of First Click Free, replacing it with a Flexible Sampling model. With this model, publishers will be able to decide about the number of free articles they want to provide to potential subscribers, after considering their business strategy. This decision has been taken after experimenting with the New York Times and Financial Times. Both publications have successful subscription services.

Kinsey Wilson from New York Times said, “Google’s decision to let publishers determine how much content readers can sample from search is a positive development,”. He further added, “We’re encouraged as well by Google’s willingness to consider other ways of supporting subscription business models and we are looking forward to continuing to work with them to craft smart solutions.”

Webmasters can now export data from Google Search Console’s Index Coverage report. This was first noticed by G-Squared Interactive.

Apple switches from Bing to Google as its default search partner for Siri, Search inside iOS (earlier called Spotlight) and Spotlight on the Mac. An Apple statement read, “Switching to Google as the web search provider for Siri, Search within iOS and Spotlight on Mac will allow these services to have a consistent web search experience with the default in Safari. We have strong relationships with Google and Microsoft and remain committed to delivering the best user experience possible.”

Google search is already the default provider for Safari on Mac and iOS. All Google searches on Apple will be encrypted and anonymized, quite opposite to the regular Google searches. Google has been Apple’s search partner earlier, though the stint was short and Google was replaced by Bing in 2013.

Google began beta testing of AMP AdWords landing pages in May. The beta testing is now over and Google will roll out the feature to all soon. In an official blogpost, Google said, “Earlier this year at Google Marketing Next, we introduced the ability to use fast-loading AMP landing pages for your search text ads. Starting in two weeks, we’ll be rolling this out to all AdWords advertisers globally.”

Google has tweeted about adding more tabs search cards on mobile. “Dive into the details with new updates to Search – now can you can explore more information about books, movies, and stocks, all in one place.”