The definitive guide for publishers on what’s hot and not in the age of Google’s AI Overviews.

Seb Joseph and Jessica Davies

Ivy Liu

Google’s The recent clarification stating that Google can still crawl and index content, even after publishers opt-out of its AI training, serves as a reminder of the little control publishers had historically within the Google ecosystem.

This is a look at the ins and outs for publishers as Google AI Overviews and AI platforms become more prevalent.

In
Strip mining content
out
Driving Traffic

in
zero-click searches
out
click-through rates

In
Lobbying as a content strategy
Out
Content strategy as a content strategy

In
Reader revenue, whether readers like it or not
Out
Assuming advertising can do the heavy lifting

In
The quiet publisher pivot to YouTube Shorts and TikTok
Out
Optimizing for Google’s evolving SERP layout

In
Google the frenemy who doesn’t text back
Out
Google the partner who takes you to Cannes

In
Publishers hoping Apple will rescue them
Out
Publishers ignoring Google’s conflicting incentives

In
Fury at continued unauthorized scraping
Out
Trust that bots honor robots.txt

In
“Strategic alliances” with arch frenemies
Out
Publisher consortiums with moral high ground

In
AI-generated answers with citation links buried 12 rows deep
Out
Top three results as a badge of honor

In
A stronger desire to diversify away from Google
Out
Hamstrung by Google relations

In
Content as raw material for training data
Out
Content as a product

In
SEO editors with existential dread
Out
Meta descriptions crafted like poetry

In
Publisher content as AI compost
Out
Publisher content as monetizable IP

In
Legal threats as a revenue strategy
Out
AdSense checks covering payroll

In
Grim traffic charts in publisher Slack channels
Out
Google Analytics as a sign of life

In
Blue-link nostalgia
Out
Blue-link referral dependency

In
Worrying about AEO/GEO
Out
Worrying about SEO

In
IP protection strategies
Out
AI licensing deals

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