Close on the heels of its Tuesday announcement that gave publishers the right to set daily restrictions on the free articles users can read on its search engine, Google Wednesday announced a new policy whereby news publishers can also limit the amount of Google News’ subscription-based content that is currently accessible by users for free.

Google’s currently-operating program, called ‘First Click Free,’ allows publishers offering the Google News service to display, free of charge, the first page of an article accessed by a user. In case the user clicks on another link on that page, registration or subscription for the page is required. This way unlimited pages can be accessed by users.

However, with the updating of the program on Wednesday, Google has allowed participating publishers to limit the total number of pay news services-related free clicks to five per day for each user. Further, paid content on Google News will be marked “subscription.” 

Commenting on the latest Google move, Dean Singleton, vice chairman and CEO of MediaNews Group, one of the biggest newspaper companies in the US based on circulation, said that the change initiated by Google is “a good faith move.”

Singleton added: “It's a signal that they're willing to work with the industry. It may or may not be a shallow signal, but I take it as a positive move on their part.”