Impact of AI Overviews on publishers revealed in exclusive new research
Working with a consortium of leading publishers we reveal how much AI Overviews have already reduced publisher visibility on Google search results
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Up until now, reports have been anecdotal and limited mainly to the more outrageous examples of inaccuracies and hallucinations.
Our research is the first comprehensive review of the impact Google AI Overviews has had on publisher discoverability. It was carried out in the US in mid-May, before Google put the brakes on AI overviews.
We discovered these AI-generated snippets were being used widely on news-related search terms with the result that publisher content was being pushed far down the page.
In some cases, links to accurate publisher articles had been replaced by wildly inaccurate Google AI summaries.
You can read the full research here. It is based on 3,300 search terms which drive traffic to six leading news publishers (who worked jointly with Press Gazette on the research). This was a joint investigation with Ricky Sutton’s Future Media.
There are still a huge number of unknowns around AI Overviews but our research suggests that if they were returned for all search queries (which could well be the case in future) the impact on publisher traffic from Google could be devastating.
This research underlines the huge importance of the Digital Markets Unit getting up and running soon after the election. The DMU is empowered by the Digital Markets Act (passed last month) to ensure tech giants like Google and Facebook behave fairly given their dominant market positions.
Our report shows that Google AI Overviews threaten to supplant publishers by answering queries directly on the page and were returned in nearly a quarter of US news-related search queries (before the big roll back).
SEO guru Barry Adams writes for us here about the impact of AI Overviews and argues that in fact arbitrary algorithm updates present a bigger threat to publishers. This is again something which the DMU would be empowered to regulate.
Google is the biggest partner for any publisher who operates on the open web and is a gatekeeper controlling the public’s right to know. Greater predictability and fairness about the way it operates is in everyone’s best interests.
This week we also have an interview with CEO and editor in chief of The Bureau of Investigative Journalism Rozina Breen. Like Open Democracy, TBIJ faced a shortfall this year as grant funding reduced. She told us what she is doing about it to secure the Bureau’s future.
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New from Press Gazette
‘Devastating’ potential impact of Google AI Overviews on publisher visibility revealed
In cases where an AI-written answer was offered by Google, the number one search result — which previously would typically have been held by a publisher — fell by an average of 980 pixels, or one page scroll.
Google and publishers: An unpredictable animal that could eat you at any time
AI Overviews could cause havoc, but algorithm updates are the biggest current Google threat to publishers, writes Barry Adams.
Bureau of Investigative Journalism in drive to diversify grant-led funding model
CEO and editor-in-chief Rozina Breen has warned of £450,000 funding shortfall.
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