"This comes after some sites are posting "prediction" content, predicting that some sports trades may happen, that have not happened yet, and those "stories" show up in the news section as actually having occurred. Matt Mikle shared a number of examples on X since the beginning of the year. For when you search for some sports teams or players, fake news comes up."
"Sorry for the slow reply on this. This is definitely an opportunity for us to improve and we're working on it. We make changes to ranking thoughtfully and after considerable experimentation and analysis, so it won't be a quick fix type of thing but it is something we're...- Rajan Patel (@rajanpatel) January 16, 2026 So we won't see changes tomorrow but Google is "prioritizing" its efforts to resolve this."
Sites are posting prediction content that presents speculative sports trades as if they already occurred, causing those items to appear in news and top stories. Titles and images often omit any clear prediction label, forcing users to click and read to learn the content is speculative. Examples have been shared showing searches for teams or players returning such misleading results. Google is prioritizing ranking changes to reduce prediction content in news slots, is conducting experimentation and analysis, and expects the fix will not be immediate. The misleading content policy prohibits preview content that misleads users about underlying details.
Read at Search Engine Roundtable
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