Google may know you are subscribed but it doesn't know what the page looks like to you. It only knows its own version of the page.
What Google sees is that many people go to WSJ because their search query matches the content of the googlebot version of the page, and then bounce back as they hit the paywall. Google may not even know about the paywall. It just sees that because many users bounce back, they must be unsatisfied, and derank accordingly.
Now, it still has a workaround. If you are logged in, it tracks your personal habits. And if it sees you are staying on WSJ, it may uprank it specifically for you. Again, it is just a matter of staying on the site or not, google doesn't really care about your subscription.
Google may know you are subscribed but it doesn't know what the page looks like to you. It only knows its own version of the page.
What Google sees is that many people go to WSJ because their search query matches the content of the googlebot version of the page, and then bounce back as they hit the paywall. Google may not even know about the paywall. It just sees that because many users bounce back, they must be unsatisfied, and derank accordingly.
Now, it still has a workaround. If you are logged in, it tracks your personal habits. And if it sees you are staying on WSJ, it may uprank it specifically for you. Again, it is just a matter of staying on the site or not, google doesn't really care about your subscription.