By Sara Guaglione * March 14, 2025 *
Ivy Liu.
It has been almost a full year since Google launched its AI-generated search feature AI Summary, and publishers know very little about the impact it’s having on their referral traffic.
Google launched AI Overviews last week. Introduced AI Mode as an experimental feature in search. This allows users to ask follow-up queries without leaving the page.
AI Overviews will be available to a wider audience, including teens and those who do not have Google accounts. AI Mode, which is similar to the experience provided by Perplexity and ChatGPT Search, will only be available to Google AI One premium subscribers. According to conversations with seven media executives, the impact of this AI Overviews update and AI Mode in general is still unclear. Three of the executives told Digiday that they hadn’t seen a difference in referral traffic due to AI Overviews. Google’s continued lack of transparency is making publishers uncomfortable.
Google does not separate AI Overviews Click-throughs from normal search referral traffic in Google Analytics and Google Search Console. This leaves publishers in the dark, and makes third-party reporting via vendors like Parse.ly and Chartbeat impossible.
Google sharing that data would be helpful, but [I’m] we’re not sure what we’ll see,” said an executive who requested anonymity. The exec stated that AI Overviews does not have more clicks than regular search results because of the “limited attribution”.
They added, “Google makes it difficult to measure.” “But I expect [these updates] will be problematic for driving traffic.” A Google spokesperson said that the announcement last week was an AI Overviews “upgrade,” not an SEO update.
However, since AI has entered the mix, Google’s updates and communications have become more “erratic,” according to another media executive.
They said that the opacity of AI Overviews referral traffic was a major problem because it put them at a disadvantage when preparing for Google’s future AI iterations. A Semrush representative told Digiday the company’s software and analytics firm can’t measure or analyze AI Overviews traffic referrals.
However, Semrush’s analysis shows that AI Overviews are being displayed in more search results. This is especially true for queries where users ask questions or seek specific information. Google’s AI feature is summarizing more content.
By September 2024, 6% (of the “informational keywords”) that users entered into Google searches generated AI Overviews. According to Semrush, this month, the number of keywords generating AI Overviews had increased to 11.37%, a 91% jump in six months. The number of keywords featuring AI Overviews has also increased, from 11.6 to 18.9 millions.
According to a Google spokesperson, Google has updated AI Overviews since it went live in May last year to add more links. This makes it easier for users to click on the links and visit websites. These changes include in-line links, and a right-hand desktop display that shows links where previously they would have been at the bottom. The spokesperson said that people who click on search results pages with AI Overviews spent more time on the sites. Google has not provided any data to support this claim.
AI Overviews are our most popular Search feature, making it easier to find information and opening new opportunities for people on the web to connect with creators. Google sends billions clicks to websites across the web each day. As we evolve our products to include new AI experiences, this long-established exchange of value with websites will continue,” said the Google spokesperson.
Some publishers do not see a change in search referral after Overviews
Publishers are concerned about Google’s efforts since AI Overviews was launched last May. Publishers were concerned that the feature (originally called Search Generative Experience) would reduce referral traffic and revenue from Google to publisher’s sites. AI Overviews moves links to publishers’ sites down the page. Users don’t have to click a link in order to find the information they are looking for.
Three media executives told Digiday that they hadn’t noticed any change in Google Discover or Search traffic due to the rollout or these updates. According to data from publisher analytics company Chartbeat, Google Discover and Google Search traffic to publishers’ websites increased overall last year.
Paul Bannister is the chief strategy officer of Raptive, a company that sells ads to independent sites. He said, “We haven’t detected any material change in traffic at an aggregate level.”
The following is a description of the ad. Vivek Sharma, CEO of Ziff Davis, said in the Q4 2024 earnings conference call held on February 25, that AI Overviews was only present in 12% top queries. The company’s analysis comparing click-through rates year-over-year — specifically comparing similar search queries that now include AI Overviews – showed that the rate “remained unchanged.” Ziff Davis did not respond to an immediate request for comment. Josh Jaffe, AI consultant and former president for media at Ingenio said that large publishers who have established publications and brand recognition might be better insulated from AI Overviews’ impact on their search referral traffic. Some smaller publishers, however, are experiencing “the real annihilation” of traffic.
A publisher Jaffe works with to recover their traffic has seen a more 50% decline in search referral traffic since AI Overviews was rolled out last.
Jaffe said that now that AI Overviews are being expanded to include more users, “it’s common sense” that these AI-generated summaries would appear more often. “I don’t believe portfolio publishers will be untouched forever by this,” he said.
https://digiday.com/?p=571896
