Google's AI Summaries have negatively affected digital publishers, leading to a 10% decline in median year-over-year referral traffic from Google Search. Non-news brands experienced a 14% drop, while news brands fell by 7%. Specific weeks saw even sharper declines, with referrals dropping 16% for news brands and 17% for non-news brands. The Pew Research Center noted that only 8% of users clicked on links presented with AI summaries versus 15% without, indicating reduced user engagement. Digital Content Next suggested remedies for publishers, including better data transparency and licensing agreements with Google.
Median year-over-year referral traffic from Google Search was down 10% from May to June, with some publishers seeing declines of up to 25%.
Among users shown AI summaries, only 8% clicked on a link, compared to 15% for traditional search results, with 26% leaving after the AI Overview.
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