Google on Thursday unveiled an updated copyright plan, pledging to respond to takedown requests in a more timely manner and focus more intensely on expelling infringing content from its products.

"As the Web has grown, we have seen a growing number of issues relating to infringing content. We respond expeditiously to requests to remove such content from our services, and have been improving our procedures over time," Kent Walker, Google general counsel, wrote in a blog post. "But as the Web grows, and the number of requests grows with it, we are working to develop new ways to better address the underlying problem."

As a result, Google pledged to make four changes to its policies, the first of which is to act on copyright takedown requests within 24 hours. As part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), content hosting sites like YouTube are generally not held responsible for infringing material on their sites if they respond promptly to takedown requests.

Starting with Blogger and Web search, Google said it will build tools to improve the submission process to make it easier for people to file these DMCA takedown requests. "And for copyright owners who use the tools responsibly, we'll reduce our average response time to 24 hours or less," Walker wrote. Google also pledged to improve its "counter notice" tools, for people who think their content was wrongly removed.

Google also said it will not include terms closely associated with piracy from appearing via autocomplete. The company acknowledged that it can be hard to know what terms are being used to find infringing content, but "we'll do our best to prevent Autocomplete from displaying the terms most frequently used for that purpose," Walker said.

The company will also improve its AdSense anti-piracy review. Walker said Google already bans AdSense on Web sites with pirated content, but will now step up its effort to identify violations.

Finally, Google said it will experiment with ways to make authorized content available in search results, like the music clips it currently provides. "Most users want to access legitimate content and are interested in sites that make that content available to them (even if only on a preview basis). We'll be looking at ways to make this content easier to index and find," Walker said.

The Recording Industry Association of American (RIAA) praised Google's announcement as "positive first steps towards a more sensible online experience for both users and the music community."

"Google deserves credit for proposing a constructive set of reforms and undertaking useful steps to better protect the rights of creators and encourage legal ways to enjoy music. While there is much more work to be done, this announcement is an important acknowledgement that everyone involved in the online ecosystem has a shared responsibility to constructively address the online piracy problem that is devastating the creative industries," Mitch Bainwol, chairman and CEO of the RIAA, wrote in a blog post. "Obviously, the details of implementation will be critical, and we look forward to working with Google on all the steps necessary to effectively combat infringement."

The Motion Picture Association of America had similar sentiments, also praising Google for changing its search algorithm yesterday to prevent bad actors from gaming the system.

""We are encouraged by Google's recognition of the responsibility of all participants in the online world to help combat online content theft," Bob Pisano, president and interim CEO of the MPAA, said in a statement. "These are important first steps toward helping protect the rights of content owners and the more than 2.4 million American jobs that depend on a healthy motion picture and television industry."

Editor's Note: This story was updated at 330pm Eastern with comments from the MPAA.