AI-generated summaries in Google's search results are causing significant declines in web traffic for online publishers. Traffic to major sites like CNN, Business Insider, and HuffPost has decreased by around 30-40%. The introduction of AI Overviews in May 2024 correlates with these declines. Publishers are concerned as losing Google traffic affects their revenue, but opting out of AI Overviews would mean losing access to Google Search altogether. The potential for 'zero-click' searching poses a catastrophic risk for sites that depend on ad revenue.
"The Verge's Google traffic has been declining, and I would say a lot of that decline has lined up pretty clearly with the rise of AI Overviews," Havlak said.
"Publishers are kind of in a bind because if you want to opt out of AI Overviews, you opt out of Google Search entirely," said Klaudia Jaźwińska.
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