The Top stories carousel is a highly visible results format that appears when users search for a particular news topic. It includes three articles, chosen by Google based on their relevance to the searched subject. The articles that make up this section are usually from editorial-type websites. However, it’s not uncommon for articles published on blogs to also appear in the carousel.
While 2013 may feel like a year that flew by, it was actually packed with big headlines. From Lance Armstrong’s doping confession to the government shutdown and Miley Cyrus’s joint smoking, there were many controversies that made the headlines.
It was a rough year for journalism, too. Edward Snowden released the biggest leak in history, President Obama lost the goodwill of a once-crowning press corps and several of the country’s most established news organizations went through major changes. Most notable was the demise of The New York Times, which saw editor-in-chief Jill Abramson replaced by a host of young talent.
Other big stories this year included the death of Margaret Thatcher, Nelson Mandela and Hugo Chavez, and the Benghazi attack which spawned heated discussions about Islam and free speech. But it was also a year that saw more unusual issues engage the BBC News website’s readers, from a potential wine shortage to the melting of parts of a car.
