Moneyweb editor Ryk van Niekerk at the Competition Commission hearing

Ryk van Niekerk, editor of financial news website Moneyweb, has criticised Google for “frequent” and “abrupt” changes to its search algorithms, saying publishers often need to spend big money to get their traffic flows back to normal levels after changes are made.

Van Niekerk was speaking at the second day of the public hearings into competition in media and digital platforms, hosted by the Competition Commission in Pretoria on Tuesday.

“One thing that really frustrates us is that Google changes the algorithm on how our stories and content are featured on their platforms. They change it without notice and they don’t really explain what you need to do to fix it. A while ago they changed the algorithm and our traffic plummeted,” Van Niekerk told commission panellists James Hodge and Paula Fray.

According to Van Niekerk, Moneyweb is not the only publication that suffers when Google decides to change the algorithm. “I know of several other big news websites with experienced technical teams where this has happened as well,” he said.

Publications rely on traffic volumes so they can sell advertising to generate revenue. When traffic levels decline due to technical search engine optimisation (SEO) issues, Van Niekerk explained, media companies are often forced to rope in outside help to perform a SEO audit to fix the problem, even if they have competent in-house technical teams.

“We must adapt our systems to ensure that we get the traffic we would like to get,” he said.

Influential role

The idea that it is the publications that must adapt to Google’s whims highlights the extent of the US tech giant’s influential role in the local media landscape – an issue that strikes at the core of the commission’s investigation.

According to Van Niekerk, 43% of Moneyweb’s referral traffic comes from Google, a number the publication aims to grow because of the search giant’s influence over South African internet users.

But he decried Google’s ad revenue model, which he said undercuts publications and forces them to charge less to direct clients, thus undermining the local media industry. He also criticised Google’s “take it or leave it” advertising revenue share model, describing its unwillingness to negotiate as “unfair”.

Read: Media24 blasts Google – the Fourth Estate is ‘on its knees’

Like News24 executives, who presented on Tuesday to the commission prior to Moneyweb, Van Niekerk said Google ought to pay publications for using their content and be transparent about how much the company makes from using this content.

“We are in a Google ecosystem, and you cannot get out [of that]. Even if you get out, you might as well close your doors because they have become so dominant in directing internet traffic and what is displayed to audiences.”

Google isn’t commenting on the proceedings yet, saying only that it “works constructively and collaboratively with South African publishers and the broader news ecosystem to build durable partnerships that will foster a sustainable, resilient and diverse news industry”.