Google's AI search changes are cutting publishers off from readers

Google's AI search features have broken the old deal between the search engine and online publishers, according to a new explainer from The Verge. For years, sites filled Google's index with content and Google sent them readers. AI Overviews and AI Mode now answer many questions on the results page, with no guarantee anyone clicks through.

The Verge lays out the timeline. Google launched AI Overviews in 2024, placing an AI summary above the regular results. A Press Gazette investigation found the summaries appeared for almost a quarter of news related searches in May 2024. In May 2025, Google added AI Mode, a chatbot style interface that replaces the standard results with detailed summaries.

The traffic numbers cited are stark. The Wall Street Journal reported declines at Business Insider, The Washington Post, HuffPost and the Journal itself since 2022, and Similarweb data suggested the share of The New York Times traffic coming from search fell from 44 percent to 35.5 percent over three years. Digiday reported that 19 members of the trade group Digital Content Next lost between 1 and 25 percent of Google traffic between May and June 2025. DMG Media told the UK Competition and Markets Authority that click through rates fell by up to 89 percent, and Pew Research found people are less likely to click links when they see an AI Overview.

Google disputes the picture. Search head Liz Reid has said click volume stayed "relatively stable," and senior vice president Nick Fox told the BBC that "the web is thriving." Publisher lawsuits have mostly failed so far, including an antitrust case from Chegg and Penske Media that was dismissed.

Google has made some changes under pressure. Sources now appear more prominently in AI answers, publishers can opt out of AI features without losing search visibility, and Google says 400 publishers are in a News AI pilot that licenses their content. The Information and Digiday report it is also testing payments for content used in AI answers.

For developers and anyone running a content site, the takeaway is to stop treating Google search as a dependable traffic source. Build direct channels such as newsletters and communities, track how often your pages appear inside AI answers rather than only rankings, and make your pages easy for AI systems to cite with clear structure and specific facts.

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