Google News story clusters

Regular search algorithms didn't work in a world of breaking news. In 2001 Google search did not value freshness as highly as it does today, it put a greater emphasis on the number and quality of Web sites linking to a particular page. News stories wouldn't amass links for hours or days, so Bharat devised a way to value freshness and site authority when clustering news stories around a single topic so that relevant content could be added quickly. It drew criticism from publishers who argued their scoops were being pushed down the list by those who wrote their own stories hours later, but Google refined the process over time.