Google's AI search changes have upended online publishing
Online publishers report significant traffic losses since Google introduced AI-powered search features. Google says click volume is relatively stable, and lawsuits against the company have mostly failed so far.
Google's search engine, which publishers spent years optimizing their pages for, has introduced artificial intelligence (AI) features that, according to a column in the US tech outlet The Verge, have reshaped its relationship with the online media industry. Publishers report falling traffic, while Google insists the web is "thriving."
What changed
For a long time, Google displayed publishers' content in search results and in return sent them readers. In 2024 the company launched AI Overviews, which places an AI-generated summary of web pages at the very top of results, with source links below it. In May 2025 it added AI Mode, which replaces standard search with a chatbot-style interface.
A Press Gazette investigation found that AI Overviews appeared for almost a quarter of news-related searches in May 2024. The News/Media Alliance, a publishers' trade group, had earlier warned of a "catastrophic" effect on traffic.
What the data shows
The Wall Street Journal reported in June 2025 that traffic to Business Insider, The Washington Post, HuffPost and the WSJ itself has declined since 2022. According to Similarweb, search's share of traffic to The New York Times fell from 44 percent to 35.5 percent over three years. Digital Content Next, a trade association for media companies, said 19 of its members lost between 1 and 25 percent of Google traffic from May to June 2025. DMG Media, owner of the Daily Mail and Metro, told the UK's Competition and Markets Authority that click-through rates fell by up to 89 percent between June and July 2025. Pew Research found people are less likely to click links when they see an AI Overview.
Google Search head Liz Reid has said click volume remains "relatively stable."
Courts and what comes next
US District Judge Amit Mehta dismissed an antitrust case brought by Chegg and Penske Media, as well as a proposed class action over AI Overviews filed by Arkansas newspapers. Publishers are leaning more on social media, newsletters and subscriptions, and some use a toggle to opt out of appearing in AI features. Google has made sources more prominent and says 400 publishers take part in its News AI pilot program, which licenses content for new AI features. Reports also say it is testing payments to publishers for the use of their content.
