From today users of partner websites will always get free access to the FT.com page they are linked to, even if they have gone over the 30 page views per month limit just introduced by FT.com.
However, further browsing within FT.com away from that initial page is off-limits, hence the model is called 'First Click Free'.
The group of partner websites consist mainly of news and news aggregator sites and also includes Yahoo! and MSNBC.
Until the changes 10 days ago the vast majority of FT online content was unavailable without a £99 annual subscription. Introducing the rule of 30 free page views per month, FT.com's publisher and managing editor Ian Cheng said it was a "third way" between free access and subscription only.
Cheng today said First Click Free was an effort to become "a more integral part of the internet's web of links". He added that "any site or blog" can link to FT stories, although he omitted to mention that they need to apply to do so.
Josh Cohen, business product manager for Google News, said: "We're thrilled that all of our users will now be able to read more of the great content from FT.com. They are pioneering a new way to access their premium content online -- they are protecting their content, but at the same time making it much more available to users than before."
Among the changes already announced was the introduction of a £199 premium subscription above the £99 'standard' subscription.
FT.com is rolling out a series of improvements from this month including new blogs, video reports and data and tools.
In the last 12 months the website's monthly users have increased by 70% to 6.5m and revenues have increased by 40%.
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