{"id":665061,"date":"2026-10-25T16:26:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-25T16:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/665061\/"},"modified":"2026-10-25T16:26:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-25T16:26:15","slug":"googles-ai-search-changes-upended-online-publishing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/665061\/","title":{"rendered":"Google\u2019s AI search changes upended online publishing"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is The Stepback<\/a>, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more about AI\u2019s impact on the web, follow Emma Roth<\/a>. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers\u2019 inboxes on Sunday at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The digital publishing industry has relied on Google for a very long time. Many outlets spent time and money optimizing their webpages to show up at the top of the search engine, with the goal of getting readers to click on their articles or discover their websites for the first time. For years, the relationship between Google and publishers was largely reciprocal; online publishers filled out Google\u2019s search index with content, while Google supplied publications with exposure and traffic.<\/p>\n

But that relationship has changed. The launch of Google\u2019s AI search features<\/a> \u2014 coupled with changes to the way it ranks search results<\/a> \u2014 has made it harder for publishers to survive on traffic from Google alone. In 2024, Google rolled out AI Overviews, a feature that slots an AI-generated search result summarizing pages from across the web at the very top of Google Search, with links to sources its AI system determines to be the most useful placed below the summary. Instead of vying for clicks on the first page of Search, publishers became beholden to an AI system that regurgitates results, with no guarantee that users will actually click on the source of that information.<\/p>\n

Though Google\u2019s AI Overviews got off to a shaky start<\/a>, the feature immediately raised concerns among publishers, with the News\/Media Alliance saying<\/a> it will be \u201ccatastrophic\u201d to web traffic. A 2024 investigation from the Press Gazette<\/a> found that Google\u2019s AI Overviews appeared for almost a quarter of news-related searches in May 2024. By August, the outlet found that AI Overviews had begun impacting<\/a> the visibility of publishers by replacing media sites that previously held the top spots on Google\u2019s search engine for certain queries.<\/p>\n

A future where Google could eventually stop sending traffic to outside sites on the web<\/a> has only gotten closer as the company builds out its vision for an AI-powered search. In May 2025, it launched AI Mode<\/a>, a feature that replaces Google\u2019s standard search engine with a chatbot-like interface that provides detailed summaries from results on the web.<\/p>\n

The concerns raised by the News\/Media Alliance were real: Traffic to online publishers tanked following the launch of Google\u2019s AI search features. A June 2025 report from The Wall Street Journal<\/a> revealed how traffic to Business Insider, The Washington Post, HuffPost, and the WSJ itself has declined since 2022. Data from analytics company Similarweb suggested that search traffic to The New York Times sank from 44 percent to 35.5 percent in three years, the WSJ reported.<\/p>\n

A report from Digiday<\/a> pointed to similar dips at Digital Content Next (DCN), a trade association that represents outlets and media companies like Bloomberg, The Associated Press, The New York Times, Cond\u00e9 Nast, and Vox Media. Between May and June 2025, DCN says 19 of its members experienced a traffic loss on Google, ranging from 1 to 25 percent, Digiday reported. DMG Media, which owns Daily Mail and Metro, told the UK\u2019s Competition and Markets Authority<\/a> that click-through rates dropped by up to 89 percent between June and July 2025, citing impacts from AI Overviews. On top of all of this, Pew Research found<\/a> that people are \u201cless likely\u201d to click on links to other websites when they see an AI Overview.<\/p>\n

These numbers starkly contrast with Google\u2019s claims that its AI search features are helping the web. Last year, Google Search head Liz Reid said<\/a> click volume from the search engine remained \u201crelatively stable,\u201d adding that AI search is sending more clicks to different types of websites \u2014 especially those \u201cwith forums, videos, podcasts, and posts\u201d from other users. Nick Fox, Google\u2019s senior vice president of knowledge and information, told the BBC<\/a>, \u201cFrom our point of view, the web is thriving.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to scrutiny from regulators<\/a>, publishers from around<\/a> the globe have filed lawsuits against Google, claiming the company\u2019s AI search features have negatively impacted traffic. Many lawsuits haven\u2019t been successful. US District Judge Amit Mehta dismissed an antitrust case from Chegg and Penske Media<\/a>, which owns The Rolling Stone, Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, and The Verge. The same judge also rejected a proposed class action lawsuit<\/a> surrounding AI Overviews filed by Arkansas newspapers.<\/p>\n

Online publishers have had to adjust their strategies<\/a> in the wake of falling search traffic, with many leaning on social media, newsletters, and subscriptions to promote and make money from their work. Others are using a toggle<\/a> that allows them to opt out of appearing in AI Mode and AI Overviews without affecting their visibility in search \u2014 an option Google broadly rolled out following an order from the UK<\/a>. But this still doesn\u2019t fix sinking traffic.<\/p>\n

Pushback from online publishers appears to have resulted in some changes to Google\u2019s AI search features. The company has begun to make sources more prominent in AI Mode and AI Overviews<\/a>, as hovering over a link in either feature will show a pop-up with a list of articles and accompanying images. Another AI search change puts in-line links<\/a> \u201chigher up in responses more frequently.\u201d<\/p>\n

Google will likely continue making changes to how it presents sources in AI search, while coming up with ways to compensate publishers that inform its results. The company says 400 publishers<\/a>, including The Washington Post, CNN, Axios, and the Financial Times, are now part of its News AI pilot program, which licenses content to develop new AI features. It\u2019s also testing a program that pays publishers for the use of their content<\/a> in AI Overviews and AI Mode, according to reports from The Information and Digiday. Whether this program is enough to repair Google\u2019s relationship with publishers remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

Google is burying blue links<\/a> even further beneath AI Overviews. The search summaries have started to automatically expand for some queries, instead of requiring users to manually click a \u201cShow more\u201d button.The Wall Street Journal reports<\/a> that Reddit is also considering cutting off Google due to dropping traffic.It\u2019s not just publishers and online forums that are concerned about AI Overviews \u2014 the nonprofit Common Sense Media claims<\/a> the search summaries pose an \u201cunacceptable\u201d risk to kids by failing to respond appropriately to children in crisis.This Decoder interview<\/a> with Google CEO Sundar Pichai sheds a lot of light on the company\u2019s vision for the future of search.This write-up from The New York Times<\/a> shows how Google\u2019s AI Overviews still struggle with accuracy.A survey from Nieman Lab<\/a> reveals how more people are relying on AI chatbots to get their news.Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Emma RothClose\"Emma<\/p>\n

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