Google AI Overviews and AI Mode Upend Online Publishing

Google's AI search features have broken the long-standing bargain between the search giant and online publishers. For years, outlets filled Google's index with content and got traffic in return. Now, with AI-generated summaries sitting above the traditional results, that traffic is shrinking.

How the traffic dropped

Google introduced AI Overviews in 2024, placing an AI summary at the top of Search with links to sources below it. The News/Media Alliance warned it would be "catastrophic" for web traffic. Press Gazette found the feature appeared on almost a quarter of news-related searches in May 2024. In May 2025, Google added AI Mode, a chatbot-like replacement for standard search.

The numbers since then point in one direction. Similarweb data cited by The Wall Street Journal showed search traffic to The New York Times falling from 44 percent to 35.5 percent in three years. Digital Content Next said 19 of its members lost between 1 and 25 percent of Google traffic from May to June 2025. DMG Media told the UK's Competition and Markets Authority that click-through rates fell by up to 89 percent between June and July 2025. Pew Research found users are less likely to click links when an AI Overview appears.

Google disagrees. Search head Liz Reid has said click volume is "relatively stable," and Nick Fox said "the web is thriving."

Lawsuits, workarounds and payments

Publishers have sued, but with limited success. US District Judge Amit Mehta dismissed an antitrust case from Chegg and Penske Media, and rejected a proposed class action over AI Overviews filed by Arkansas newspapers.

Many outlets are leaning on social media, newsletters and subscriptions instead. Some use a toggle to opt out of AI Mode and AI Overviews without losing regular search visibility, an option Google rolled out broadly after an order from the UK, though it does not fix falling traffic.

Google has made some concessions. Hovering over a link now shows a pop-up of articles with images, and in-line links appear higher in responses more often. The company says 400 publishers, including The Washington Post, CNN, Axios and the Financial Times, are in its News AI pilot program, which licenses content for new AI features. It is also reportedly testing payments for content used in AI Overviews and AI Mode.

At the same time, Google is pushing blue links further down: AI Overviews now auto-expand for some queries without a "Show more" click. Whether the payment programs can repair the relationship remains unclear.