For years, publishers worked to appear near the top of Google Search and turn that visibility into visits. AI summaries have changed the exchange: people can now get answers on the search page, while publishers have no guarantee that readers will follow the links to their sites.
From search rankings to AI answers
Google’s search index has long depended on material from online publishers. In return, search results helped people discover publications and brought potential readers to their websites. That relationship gave publishers a reason to invest time and money in improving how their pages appeared in search.
Google introduced AI Overviews in 2024. The feature places an AI-generated summary above regular results, drawing on pages from across the web and showing links to sources the system considers useful. That changes the first step for a reader: a search can now produce a synthesized answer before the reader reaches a publisher’s article.
The links remain, but their presence does not ensure a click. Publishers must rely on an AI system to select and present their material, and users may find the summary sufficient. In May 2025, Google added AI Mode, a chatbot-like search experience that provides detailed summaries based on web results.
Traffic concerns become measurable
Publishers raised concerns soon after AI Overviews appeared. The News/Media Alliance said the feature would be “catastrophic” to web traffic. A 2024 Press Gazette investigation found AI Overviews appeared in almost a quarter of news-related searches in May 2024. By August, the outlet reported that the summaries were affecting publishers’ visibility for some queries.
Reports published in 2025 pointed to declines in search referrals across multiple outlets. The Wall Street Journal reported that traffic to Business Insider, The Washington Post, HuffPost, and the WSJ itself had fallen since 2022. Similarweb data cited in that report showed that search traffic to The New York Times dropped from 44 percent to 35.5 percent over three years.
Digital Content Next, a trade association representing publishers and media companies, reported that 19 of its members lost Google traffic between May and June 2025, with declines ranging from 1 to 25 percent, according to Digiday. DMG Media told the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority that click-through rates fell by up to 89 percent between June and July 2025, citing AI Overviews. Pew Research also found people were “less likely” to click links to other websites when an AI Overview appeared.
Google and publishers see different outcomes
The traffic figures sit alongside Google’s more positive account of AI search. Google Search head Liz Reid said click volume remained “relatively stable” and that AI search was sending more clicks to different kinds of websites, including forums, videos, podcasts, and posts by other users. Nick Fox, Google’s senior vice president of knowledge and information, told the BBC, “From our point of view, the web is thriving.”
Publishers have also turned to courts and regulators, arguing that Google’s AI search features hurt their traffic. The source article says many lawsuits have not succeeded. US District Judge Amit Mehta dismissed an antitrust case brought by Chegg and Penske Media, and rejected a proposed class action related to AI Overviews filed by Arkansas newspapers.
Publishers seek other routes to readers
With search referrals under pressure, publishers are placing more emphasis on social media, newsletters, and subscriptions to reach audiences and earn revenue. Google has also broadly rolled out a toggle that lets publishers opt out of appearing in AI Mode and AI Overviews without losing search visibility, following an order from the UK. The option offers control over participation in AI features, but does not itself restore traffic.
Google has made some changes after publisher pushback. It has made sources more prominent in AI Mode and AI Overviews: hovering over a link can show a pop-up with articles and images. The company has also put in-line links “higher up in responses more frequently.” These adjustments may make sources easier to find, though the source article does not establish whether they will bring back lost visits.
Google says 400 publishers, including The Washington Post, CNN, Axios, and the Financial Times, are participating in its News AI pilot program, which licenses content for developing AI features. The company is also testing a program that pays publishers for using their content in AI Overviews and AI Mode, according to The Information and Digiday. Whether these efforts can repair the relationship between Google and publishers remains unresolved.