Articles in the top stories carousel are a great way to reach users searching for facts or names related to current events. This is one of the most visible result formats in SERPs, a position that can deliver a significant amount of organic traffic.
Our systems identify the most important stories in a given moment, based on what’s happening in the world and on news publishers’ content. This includes articles appearing in the Top Stories carousel, the News tab, Search, Google Assistant and news on YouTube. These results aren’t personalized to you – they’re for everyone using Search with the same language and location settings.
In a culture that fetishizes the “hard news” label, it’s worth recalling an rigorously reported investigation into corruption in a multi-billion dollar sports league that led to the conviction of several top executives.