News sites suggest controlling search engines

29th November 2007

News publishers are to propose a system which will give them greater control over search engine listings, according to new reports.

The Automated Content Access Protocol (Acap) will allow news publishers to organise which pages of their websites will be rated and instruct search engines to ignore certain links within pages.

Google has announced it welcomes the initiative but will wait for a full evaluation on Acap before deciding whether to adopt the new system.

Reported in MacUser, the chairman of the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) Gavin O'Reilly said: "Ultimately, Acap will benefit everyone: publishers, search engines and, most of all, consumers, by creating a fair and content-rich online experience for all of us."

The system is a way of controlling the internet so that quality sites are managed and promoted effectively, he added, explaining that it has been designed to eventually apply to all online content.

Acap was developed by WAN, the European Publishers Council and the International Publishers Association.