Murdoch’s Times unblocks search engines to seek new subscribers

In May 2010, News Corp.’s The Times newspaper said it would block search engines from indexing its stories, believing it must remove all possibility of free access as it introduced digital payments. Two years later, that philosophy is being up-ended.

In the next few weeks, The Times’ website will begin showing articles’ first two sentences to search engines, in a marketing exercise designed to attract new subscribers. The limited free preview does not alter News International’s belief that it should continue charging for The Times (visitors will be invited to subscribe to read full articles). But it does suggest that, having signed up 130,751 digital subscribers since mid-2010, the publisher is having to look in new places to maintain customer acquisition momentum.