Google Search and AI overview: news publishers should be alert

According to industry observers, news sites could face serious challenges if Google continues to overhaul its search engine. While smartocto has yet to see a significant drop in traffic, newsrooms would be wise to remain alert.

Visitors arriving via search engines still represent a vital traffic source for publishers. But since the introduction of Google’s AI Overview, concern has grown. The logic, according to many publishers, is simple: if Google uses the content of articles to answer users’ questions directly, why would people still click through to the original source?

One of the most authoritative publications on the state of journalism, the Digital News Report by the Reuters Institute, summed up these concerns as follows:

INMA has also reported on how the changes at Google, which go beyond the introduction of AI Overviews, are leading to fewer referrals.

Some publishers have already taken legal or political action against tech companies like Google for training on, or deploying, journalist-created content:

• The New York Times is leading legal action against OpenAI and Microsoft, arguing that copyright is being infringed.
• In Chile, media company Copesa filed a lawsuit against Google, accusing it of "abusing its near-monopoly power by controlling advertising and selecting news content in search results".
• In Australia, the government proposed a levy on digital platforms, including Google, if they refused to strike or renew commercial agreements with news outlets, following Google's reduction in such deals.
• South Africa’s Competition Commission recommended that Google contribute to a journalism sustainability fund and implement “algorithmic fairness measures to ensure South African media outlets receive equitable representation”.

So this issue isn’t just about AI Overviews in Google Search. According to TechCrunch, Google has now begun summarising some articles in Google Discover using AI as well. That’s a particularly sensitive development, because Google Discover has become an increasingly important source of traffic for many publishers.

So, what does the data tell us about all of this?

Smartocto has examined data from more than 400 news outlets across the globe, of which 70% situated in Europe. So far? There is no clear decline in traffic from Google Search. And even if there is a slight drop, it is more than offset by the growing influence of Google Discover – the curated news feed by Google that comes pre-installed on many smartphones.

That doesn’t mean no declines exist anywhere. I’ll get to that soon enough. But this is what the benchmark shows. We compared different segments of the industry, such as national versus regional news brands. The picture is mixed, but there is no obvious downward trend in search.

To ensure we weren’t overlooking anything, I asked one of our largest clients to review their Google traffic. DPG Media owns 80 online media brands in Belgium and the Netherlands, some of which are news sites, while others focus more on service-oriented content. Across the board, SEO specialist Femke Simons confirms that there has not yet been a major decline since the introduction of Google’s AI Overview. However, the service-oriented brands are already seeing an impact.

“We estimate the maximum impact on total reach at news websites to be between 1 and 5 percent,” she says. “Google AI Overviews are generally not shown for news-related search queries. For our news brands, that’s where the majority of Google Search traffic comes from. At the level of individual articles, though, we are already seeing some effect, particularly for evergreen and service-driven queries. There’s a noticeable difference between articles that do or do not receive a citation link in the AI response.”

Magazines are therefore already experiencing some influence from AI Overviews, especially in relation to service-oriented searches such as health, society and lifestyle, horoscopes, food and drink. She shares a chart from one of the magazines that regularly covers these kinds of topics. What stands out is that the number of clicks is declining in particular, compared to the number of impressions.

This brings us to a pressing question we hear often from our clients: how should we respond to the changes in the Google algorithms? Everyone wants their article to appear in that mobile newsfeed (Discover) but influencing that is notoriously difficult. Don’t try, said Natalia Zaba from the Google News Initiative in a smartocto-hosted webinar (read the blog). Focus on creating strong, original journalism. The algorithm will follow.

But for Google Search, a more active approach still pays off. SEO specialists (often working from within editorial teams) shape articles in ways that help them rank. These teams frequently steer the editorial agenda based on keyword research. But how future-proof is this strategy?

Some are already shifting focus to what’s being called Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) – the practice of structuring content so it can be surfaced directly as an answer in Google. Think featured snippets, “people also ask” boxes or position zero. It’s a subtle but important shift from visibility to direct utility. We don’t know if that has a positive or negative influence on traffic.

Our advice? Appoint someone in your newsroom to monitor developments closely, like Femke Simons at DPG Media does. Determine the current ratio of your referral traffic sources and keep track of changes throughout the rest of the year. Not just for the website as a whole, but also on topic or section level.

Keep investing in strengthening your own platform and direct channels. Newsletters and podcasts allow for direct relationships with your audience – and to retain control. You still have to operate within the broader ecosystem, but you can shift some of the power back into your own hands.

This article was first published at INMA.org.