Google has responded strongly to mounting concerns in the industry that its AI-enabled search capabilities, including AI Overviews and AI Mode have been cutting traffic to publishers and websites. The publishers and web creators have raised serious concerns over the past few months regarding the possible emergence of AI-generated summaries directly on search results pages resulting in a sharp decline in click-through rates, which essentially core erodes the internet model of connecting users with original sources. Nevertheless, Google continues to emphasize that such story is deceptive, and it is not supported by trustworthy evidence.
Liz Reid, Head of Google Search, stated overall traffic to the sites where people are accessing Google has not had a significant gain over the last year, even though the use of AI summaries has increased. She observed that the rate of clicks has not gone down and even increased in certain instances especially when the users want to get more sophisticated or multi layered information. Google stresses about the focus on the quick preview of the information retention, which would nonetheless provoke more detailed learning in the links which are stated at the bottom of the AI summaries.
Reid was also responding to the drumbeat of announcements of 20 percent to 70 percent traffic losses in some parts of the publishing industry. She implied that a lot of these studies are anecdotal or grounded using poor data that does not have the magnitudes and exposure that Google does within its scope. She admitted that there might be a change to the traffic of some websites due to the relevance and usefulness of the content they provide to users, but then she is quick to note that the newer formats-such as video, forums and extremely contextual articles have experienced an increase in traffic as the AI systems detect their value and depth.
Nevertheless, that of harm is still evident to media companies and digital marketers. To many publishers, the search features AI produces are causing a phenomenon called the zero-click searches wherein users are able to get the solution to their problem on the search results page without landing on any site. This curtails page view and the ad revenue source and jeopardises the sustainability of online journalism and information sharing. Other executives worry that in the event that the trend is not stopped, there will be an internet in which, people consume material yet the makers of such material do not get their rewards.
The fact that Google keeps the inner workings of its AI models secret and the manner in which content is chosen and presented in the AI Overviews contributes to the concern. Critics cite the fact that other publishers, and niche-type creators are not always as visible as their larger or more established counterparts. This breeds the angst of algorithmic bias and the possibility of monopoly of attention by a minority of platforms.
In the meantime, a more worrying trend is pointed out by some third party traffic statistics. Tool usage data (such as provided by Similarweb) suggests that the proportion of zero-click searches has grown dramatically, as it rose to almost 69 per cent in mid 2025 compared to about 56 per cent at the start of 2024. Regardless of whether this statistic was confirmed by Google directly, it does net out the assertion that less persons are using the site to browse past the search page. To the advertisers and those who come up with content, this translates to a reduction in traffic, conversions and also a possibility of devaluing the SEO tricks that may have been driving digital growth beforehand.
Nevertheless, Google still argues that AI Overviews will be one step ahead to much smarter and convenient search. According to the company, the new AI interface, in fact, provides more opportunities to uncover more content since it displays more links and is more varied in interpreting a query. To Google, that would imply that the users will be able to retrieve the relevant information in a relatively shorter period of time in a more intuitive way which consequently raises satisfaction and long-term retention.
Going forward, Google seems dedicated to exhausting its AI-based search-driven capabilities without weighing between content producers and users. The tech giant stated that it would also give additional clarity regarding how its AI systems operate, and how the content is chosen to appear in AI Overviews. Internally there is a pressure to make sure that original content, high-end reporting and expert commentary are valued ahead of generic or scraped information.
Right in the centre of the problem is a bigger argument regarding the ever-changing position of AI in forming the perception of people towards the internet. With AI becoming an increasingly important part of the user experience, the question is not whether it will upend conventional dynamics of the web, but how platforms, creators and users respond so that information can still be available, reliable and just.
