\n<\/p>\n
Numerous studies indicate that the shift to AI search features and the use of AI chatbots are killing traffic to publishers\u2019 sites. But Google on Wednesday denied that\u2019s the case, at least in aggregate. Instead, the search giant says that total organic click volume from its search engine to websites has been \u201crelatively stable\u201d year-over-year and that average click quality has slightly increased.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis data is in contrast to third-party reports that inaccurately suggest dramatic declines in aggregate traffic \u2014 often based on flawed methodologies, isolated examples, or traffic changes that occurred prior to the roll out of AI features in Search,\u201d writes Google VP and Head of Search, Liz Reid, in a new blog post. <\/p>\n
Though Google hasn\u2019t shared any specific data to back up its conclusions, even if we assume Google\u2019s claims to be true, this doesn\u2019t necessarily mean that AI isn\u2019t having an impact.<\/p>\n
Even Google has to admit this, as Reid acknowledges that \u201cuser trends are shifting traffic to different sites, resulting in decreased traffic to some sites and increased traffic to others.\u201d<\/p>\n
That word \u201csome\u201d is doing heavy lifting here, as Google doesn\u2019t share data about how many sites are gaining or losing. And while chatbots like ChatGPT have certainly seen traffic increase in recent months, that doesn\u2019t mean online publishers aren\u2019t suffering.<\/p>\n
Image Credits:<\/strong>Google<\/span><\/p>\n Google has been revamping its search engine for years to answer more questions directly on the search results page, and now does so with AI through its \u201cAI Overviews\u201d that appear at the top of search results. Google also allows users to interact with an AI chatbot for some queries. Yet Google denies that this is significantly reshaping the search landscape. Rather, it points to users shifting their attention to other sites to start their queries.<\/p>\n Reid explains, \u201cPeople are increasingly seeking out and clicking on sites with forums, videos, podcasts, and posts where they can hear authentic voices and first-hand perspectives.\u201d<\/p>\n Reading between the lines, it seems like Google.com isn\u2019t necessarily people\u2019s first stop on the web these days. But that\u2019s something we\u2019ve known for some time. Back in 2022, a Google exec even said that social sites like TikTok and Instagram were eating into Google\u2019s core products, like Search and Maps.<\/p>\n \u201cIn our studies, something like almost 40% of young people, when they\u2019re looking for a place for lunch, they don\u2019t go to Google Maps or Search,\u201d said Google SVP Prabhakar Raghavan, who ran the company\u2019s Knowledge and Information organization at the time (he is now its Chief Technologist). \u201cThey go to TikTok or Instagram,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n Google has also long been worried that Amazon.com had become people\u2019s first stop for online shopping searches, and Reddit.com had become the first stop for researching topics of interest.<\/p>\n Over many years, the company has tried to come up with compelling features for both consumers and retailers that would attract more users to Google Shopping. These efforts have included universal shopping carts, local inventory checks, deal finders, shopping from product images on websites, and more. It even made its Shopping listings free for merchants in 2020.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, as users complained that Google Search quality was declining, the search giant was seeing so much demand for Reddit that it finally added a \u201cReddit\u201d filter to allow users to narrow down results on relevant search queries. (Now that filter simply reads, \u201cforums.\u201d)<\/p>\n So perhaps there\u2019s some truth in Google\u2019s denials \u2014 it\u2019s not AI that\u2019s entirely responsible for killing search. Search was already dying. <\/p>\n Close-up of a person\u2019s hand holding an iPhone and using Google AI Mode, an experimental mode utilizing artificial intelligence and large language models to process Google search queries, Lafayette, California, March 24, 2025. (Photo by Smith Collection\/Gado\/Getty Images)<\/span>Image Credits:<\/strong>Smith Collection\/Gado \/ Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n Google\u2019s new blog post also attempts to move the goal posts a bit about what it means for websites receiving Google\u2019s clicks. Now, instead of counting clicks, it wants publishers to think about click quality. <\/p>\n The company says average click quality has increased, and Google is sending \u201cslightly more quality clicks\u201d to websites than a year ago. (Google explains that a quality click is one where users don\u2019t quickly click back \u2014 they stay and read.) How much of an increase, though, Google doesn\u2019t say. The company only points out that when people click through on an AI response to the source, they\u2019re more likely to dive deeper, so those clicks are more valuable.<\/p>\n What\u2019s more, Google paints AI as an opportunity for web publishers to gain increased exposure, saying that \u201c\u2026with AI Overviews, people are seeing more links on the page than before,\u201d as Reid writes. \u201cMore queries and more links mean more opportunities for websites to surface and get clicked.\u201d <\/p>\n But AI, while a growing referral source, isn\u2019t yet making up the difference in terms of clicks, reports have shown. One recent study from Similarweb indicates that the number of news searches on the web resulting in zero clicks to news websites has grown from 56% (when Google launched AI Overviews in May 2024) to 69% as of May 2025. <\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong>Similarweb<\/span><\/p>\n Google appears to knows this is a trend, too, as it recently launched a product for publishers that helps them monetize their dwindling traffic in other ways that don\u2019t rely only on advertising, like micropayments or newsletter sign-ups.<\/p>\n The fact that Google is pushing this \u201c<\/em>AI is not the end of search traffic!\u201d PR now only makes the situation seem more dire. It\u2019s as if Google wants publishers to believe not what their own eyes \u2014 and graphs and charts \u2014 tell them, but instead take comfort in the fact that Google still sends \u201cbillions of clicks to websites\u201d every day, just as the post claims.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Numerous studies indicate that the shift to AI search features and the use of AI chatbots are killing traffic to publishers\u2019 sites. But Google on Wednesday denied that\u2019s the case, at least in aggregate. Instead, the search giant says that total organic click volume from its search engine to websites has been \u201crelatively stable\u201d year-over-year<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14357,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[2376,5899,2016,363,2018,3542,2072],"class_list":{"0":"post-14356","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-denies","9":"tag-features","10":"tag-google","11":"tag-killing","12":"tag-search","13":"tag-traffic","14":"tag-website"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}