A recent study indicates that Google’s use of AI-generated summaries at the top of search results has led to a drastic decline in referral traffic for news websites, with certain sites experiencing losses of nearly 80% of their audience.
Research conducted by Authoritas reveals that these AI overviews provide users with essential information, often preventing them from clicking through to the original articles. This means news outlets are seeing significant reductions in visitor numbers.
As per the findings, sites that once ranked high could see up to a 79% drop in traffic for queries that display AI-generated summaries. This alarming trend has left many in the industry worried, with discussions about it becoming an existential threat to their business models.
The study also noted that Google’s YouTube links tend to overshadow other standard search results. These findings were submitted as part of a legal complaint by the UK’s competition authority examining the implications of Google’s AI summaries on the news sector.
Google has responded to the study by asserting that its conclusions are “inaccurate and based on flawed assumptions.” The company argues the research relies on outdated estimates and doesn’t accurately reflect the types of searches that drive traffic to news websites. They maintain that they still send billions of clicks to sites daily, opposing the idea of a severe overall traffic decline.
Previously, reports indicated that Google is exploring AI licensing agreements with media firms to address concerns about content cannibalization.
Another investigation by the Pew Research Center indicated that the AI summaries significantly affect referral traffic. An analysis of about 69,000 Google searches showed that only a handful, around 100, clicked through to links under the AI experiments. Google, however, disputes the methods employed in this study, suggesting it fails to accurately represent genuine search traffic.
A senior news executive has shown hesitance to provide the data necessary to evaluate the effects of AI summaries on traffic accurately. MailOnline, a major UK publisher, acknowledged a substantial dip in clicks from search results that showcased AI overviews.
Legal challenges against Google, spearheaded by the tech justice group FoxGlove along with independent publishers and the Open Web movement, focus on allegations that Google is attempting to keep users within its ecosystem. This makes it increasingly difficult for media outlets to engage their audiences effectively while securing revenue from their content.
Long before AI chatbots emerged as a new hurdle for media companies, Google was already altering search results. A detailed survey of internet practices found that Breitbart, for instance, faced significant suppression in search visibility as the 2020 election approached.
Search visibility is a critical metric for publishers to understand how discoverable their content is on Google. New data reveals that since 2016, Breitbart has seen its search visibility drop by nearly 99.7%.
On April 4, 2016, Breitbart secured places in the top 10 for 355 primary search terms, but by July 20, 2020, it slipped to just one. Furthermore, while it ranked in the top 100 for 16,820 terms back in April 2016, that number dwindled to only 55 by mid-2020.
Additionally, Google’s organic search traffic to Breitbart has decreased by 63% when comparing the first halves of 2016 and 2020.
