Google on Wednesday is rolling out changes to its News page that give users more ways to customize the kinds of headlines they see and easier ways to share stories on social networks.
The new Google News homepage will feature a section called "News for You" that consists of a stream of headlines users can tailor to their interests. In an "edit personalization" box, users can specify interest in different subjects, including business, health and entertainment, and headlines along those topics will appear.
Users will have to log in first in order to see headlines based on their stated interests.
In the "news settings" tab, Google News visitors will also be able to choose news sources that they'd like to see more or less often.
In addition to the personalized news features, Google will also display links to topics that are being widely covered by many news outlets along the left side of the home page.
The redesign will also more prominently display the Spotlight section, which highlights stories that Google says have more lasting interest than breaking news. That has been one of the most popular sections of the page since it was introduced last year, Google said in a blog post about the changes to the site.
It will also let users hit a drop-down menu at the top of each story cluster to share the group of stories with friends via Facebook, Twitter, Google Buzz or Reader.
The new site will start rolling out on Wednesday in the English-language version for the U.S., with plans to expand to all other editions in the coming months.
Just last week Microsoft rolled out updates to its Bing News page, adding a capability for users to indicate their location to get local news and refreshing content more often.
Nevertheless, Yahoo reigns supreme among news aggregators. In May, Yahoo News had 52 million visitors, according to comScore. That compares to 14 million for Google News and 6 million for Bing News.
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