New Study Unveils the Alarming Impact of Google AI Overviews on Publisher Visibility
Tech & AI | June 13, 2024, 1:44 p.m.
A recent investigation by Press Gazette has uncovered the significant impact of Google's AI-written summaries on search result visibility for publishers. The study found that AI-written summaries appeared for nearly a quarter of news-related search queries in the US in mid-May, leading to a drop in organic links to publisher articles.
This decrease in search prominence could have a detrimental effect on publisher clickthrough rates, potentially causing an 85% drop in clicks for articles previously ranking at the top of search results. Despite Google's claim that links in AI Overviews generate more clicks, the research suggests otherwise, with some AI Overviews containing no links at all.
This study highlights the potential consequences of AI Overviews and raises concerns about their impact on publisher traffic and revenue. The research also indicates a low penetration of generative AI in search results, but the lasting effects remain uncertain as Google continues to evolve its search algorithms.