这是《后退》，每周的通讯打破了一个关键的故事从技术世界。 关于AI在网络上的影响，每周日早上8点，进入这里的后退。
Google 的 AI 搜索更改了更新的在线出版
出版商花了数年时间，想出如何点击Google. 但新的AI搜索功能已经撕裂了生态系统。
Google 的 AI 搜索更改了更新的在线出版
出版商花了数年时间，想出如何点击Google. 但新的AI搜索功能已经撕裂了生态系统。
如何开始
数字出版业长期依赖Google. 许多机构花时间和金钱优化了自己的网页，在搜索引擎的顶端出场，目标是让读者点击自己的文章或首次发现自己的网站。 多年来，Google与出版商的关系主要是对等的；在线出版商用内容填充了Google的搜索索引，而Google则提供出版物的曝光和流量。
但这种关系已经改变。 Google的AI搜索功能的发布——再加上其搜索结果的排序方式的改变——使得出版商单靠Google的流量难以生存。 2024年，Google推出"AI Overviews"，该功能将AI生成的搜索结果插入Google搜索最上端的网页汇总，其AI系统认定最有用的链接来源放在摘要下。 出版商不但没有在搜索第一页上抱怨点击，反而成为了重用结果的AI系统的视线，无法保证用户会实际点击该信息来源。
尽管Google的AI Overviews开始摇摇欲坠，但该节目立刻引起出版商的关注，来自"新闻公报"的2024年调查发现，Google的AI Overviews在2024年5月几乎有四分之一的新闻相关搜索出现。 到了8月，该出入口发现AI Overviews开始影响出版商的能见度，取代了之前在Google搜索引擎上占据顶点的媒体站点，以进行某些查询。
Google最终可以停止将流量发送到网络外部站点的将来，随着公司逐渐建立其AI动力搜索的愿景而变得更加接近。 2025年5月，它被发布 AI Mode，这个功能用一个类似聊天机器人的界面取代了Google的标准搜索引擎，在网络上提供结果的详细摘要。
情况如何？
新闻/媒体联盟对融资的关注是真实的：按照Google的AI搜索功能，向被挤压的在线出版商的流量。 "华尔街日报"2025年6月的一则报道透露了2022年以来，通向"商业内幕","华盛顿邮报","HuffPost"和WSJ本身的交通量是如何下降的。 来自分析公司“类似网络”的数据表明，到《纽约时报》的搜索流量在三年内从44%下降到了35.5%。
Digiday的一则报道指出，在Digital Content Next(DCN)上也有类似的缩影，这个行业协会代表了布隆伯格，美联社，纽约时报，Condé Nast，和Vox Media等渠道和媒体公司。 2025年5月至6月，DCN 称 19个成员在Google上遭遇了流量损失，从1%到25%不等，Digiday报道。 DMG Media拥有"每日邮报"(Daily Mail)和"地铁"(Metro)，他告诉英国的竞争和市场管理局，点击率在2025年6月至7月期间下降了高达89%，引用了AI Overviews的影响。 Pew Research发现人们在看到AI Overview时
这些数字与Google的声称形成鲜明对比，其AI搜索功能正在帮助网络。 去年，来自搜索引擎的Google搜索头Liz Reid 称点击量保持了"相对稳定"，并补充说AI搜索正在向不同类型的网站发送更多的点击量——特别是那些来自其他用户的"带有论坛，视频，播客和帖子"的网站。 Google的知识和信息高级副总裁Nick Fox告诉英国广播公司，“从我们的观点来看，网络正在蓬勃发展。 ”
除了受到监管部门的审查外，世界各地的出版商也对Google提起了诉讼，声称公司的AI搜索功能对流量产生了负面影响。 许多诉讼都没有成功。 美国地区法官Amit Mehta驳回了Chegg和Penske Media的一起反托拉斯案件，后者拥有"滚石","告示牌","好莱坞记者"和"Verge". 该法官还驳回了阿肯色州报纸围绕AI Overviews提出的集体诉讼。
接下来会发生什么？
网络出版商在搜索流量下降后不得不调整策略，其他人正在使用一个切换，允许他们选择不出现在AI Mode和AI Overviews中，而不影响他们在搜索中的能见度——这个选项是Google根据英国的命令广泛推出的。 但是这仍不能解决交通的下降。
Google的AI搜索功能似乎有所改变。 公司开始使来源在AI Mode和AI Overviews中更出名，因为徘徊于其中任一功能的链接上，会显示有文章清单和相伴图像的弹出。 人工智能搜索的另一项变化是将线内链接“更频繁地增加答复”。
Google很可能会继续改变它如何在AI搜索中呈现出来源，同时想出一些方法来补偿提供结果的出版商。 包括"华盛顿邮报"(The Washington Post),CNN,Axios，以及"金融时报"(Financial Times)在内的称 400公司现在成为其"新闻AI"(News AI)试点节目的一部分，该节目许可内容开发新的AI功能。 根据The Information and Digiday的报告，它还在测试一个为出版商使用AI Overviews和AI Mode中的内容付费的程序。 这个程序是否足以修复Google与出版商的关系仍有待观察。
对了
- Google正在将蓝色的链接埋藏在AI Overviews之下。 搜索摘要开始自动扩展某些查询，而不是要求用户手动点击“显示更多”按钮。
-"华尔街日报"报道，Reddit也正考虑因交通量下降而切断Google.
不只是出版商和网络论坛关心AI Overviews，非盈利的常识媒体声称
读这个
- 与Google CEO Sundar Pichai的这次解码器访谈，使公司对未来搜索的愿景大有启发。
显示的AI Overviews 如何在准确性上挣扎。
尼曼实验室的揭示调查更多人依赖AI聊天机获取消息
本文由 AI宝库自动抓取并翻译，版权归原作者所有；如需查看原文请点下方链接。
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Google’s AI search changes upended online publishing
Publishers spent years figuring out how to get clicks on Google. But new AI search features have torn that ecosystem apart.
Google’s AI search changes upended online publishing
Publishers spent years figuring out how to get clicks on Google. But new AI search features have torn that ecosystem apart.
How it started
The digital publishing industry has relied on Google for a very long time. Many outlets spent time and money optimizing their webpages to show up at the top of the search engine, with the goal of getting readers to click on their articles or discover their websites for the first time. For years, the relationship between Google and publishers was largely reciprocal; online publishers filled out Google’s search index with content, while Google supplied publications with exposure and traffic.
But that relationship has changed. The launch of Google’s AI search features — coupled with changes to the way it ranks search results — has made it harder for publishers to survive on traffic from Google alone. In 2024, Google rolled out AI Overviews, a feature that slots an AI-generated search result summarizing pages from across the web at the very top of Google Search, with links to sources its AI system determines to be the most useful placed below the summary. Instead of vying for clicks on the first page of Search, publishers became beholden to an AI system that regurgitates results, with no guarantee that users will actually click on the source of that information.
Though Google’s AI Overviews got off to a shaky start, the feature immediately raised concerns among publishers, with the News/Media Alliance saying it will be “catastrophic” to web traffic. A 2024 investigation from the Press Gazette found that Google’s AI Overviews appeared for almost a quarter of news-related searches in May 2024. By August, the outlet found that AI Overviews had begun impacting the visibility of publishers by replacing media sites that previously held the top spots on Google’s search engine for certain queries.
A future where Google could eventually stop sending traffic to outside sites on the web has only gotten closer as the company builds out its vision for an AI-powered search. In May 2025, it launched AI Mode, a feature that replaces Google’s standard search engine with a chatbot-like interface that provides detailed summaries from results on the web.
How it’s going
The concerns raised by the News/Media Alliance were real: Traffic to online publishers tanked following the launch of Google’s AI search features. A June 2025 report from The Wall Street Journal revealed how traffic to Business Insider, The Washington Post, HuffPost, and the WSJ itself has declined since 2022. Data from analytics company Similarweb suggested that search traffic to The New York Times sank from 44 percent to 35.5 percent in three years, the WSJ reported.
A report from Digiday pointed to similar dips at Digital Content Next (DCN), a trade association that represents outlets and media companies like Bloomberg, The Associated Press, The New York Times, Condé Nast, and Vox Media. Between May and June 2025, DCN says 19 of its members experienced a traffic loss on Google, ranging from 1 to 25 percent, Digiday reported. DMG Media, which owns Daily Mail and Metro, told the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority that click-through rates dropped by up to 89 percent between June and July 2025, citing impacts from AI Overviews. On top of all of this, Pew Research found that people are “less likely” to click on links to other websites when they see an AI Overview.
These numbers starkly contrast with Google’s claims that its AI search features are helping the web. Last year, Google Search head Liz Reid said click volume from the search engine remained “relatively stable,” adding that AI search is sending more clicks to different types of websites — especially those “with forums, videos, podcasts, and posts” from other users. Nick Fox, Google’s senior vice president of knowledge and information, told the BBC, “From our point of view, the web is thriving.”
In addition to scrutiny from regulators, publishers from around the globe have filed lawsuits against Google, claiming the company’s AI search features have negatively impacted traffic. Many lawsuits haven’t been successful. US District Judge Amit Mehta dismissed an antitrust case from Chegg and Penske Media, which owns The Rolling Stone, Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, and The Verge. The same judge also rejected a proposed class action lawsuit surrounding AI Overviews filed by Arkansas newspapers.
What happens next
Online publishers have had to adjust their strategies in the wake of falling search traffic, with many leaning on social media, newsletters, and subscriptions to promote and make money from their work. Others are using a toggle that allows them to opt out of appearing in AI Mode and AI Overviews without affecting their visibility in search — an option Google broadly rolled out following an order from the UK. But this still doesn’t fix sinking traffic.
Pushback from online publishers appears to have resulted in some changes to Google’s AI search features. The company has begun to make sources more prominent in AI Mode and AI Overviews, as hovering over a link in either feature will show a pop-up with a list of articles and accompanying images. Another AI search change puts in-line links “higher up in responses more frequently.”
Google will likely continue making changes to how it presents sources in AI search, while coming up with ways to compensate publishers that inform its results. The company says 400 publishers, including The Washington Post, CNN, Axios, and the Financial Times, are now part of its News AI pilot program, which licenses content to develop new AI features. It’s also testing a program that pays publishers for the use of their content in AI Overviews and AI Mode, according to reports from The Information and Digiday. Whether this program is enough to repair Google’s relationship with publishers remains to be seen.
By the way
- Google is burying blue links even further beneath AI Overviews. The search summaries have started to automatically expand for some queries, instead of requiring users to manually click a “Show more” button.
- The Wall Street Journal reports that Reddit is also considering cutting off Google due to dropping traffic.
- It’s not just publishers and online forums that are concerned about AI Overviews — the nonprofit Common Sense Media claims the search summaries pose an “unacceptable” risk to kids by failing to respond appropriately to children in crisis.
Read this
- This Decoder interview with Google CEO Sundar Pichai sheds a lot of light on the company’s vision for the future of search.
- This write-up from The New York Times shows how Google’s AI Overviews still struggle with accuracy.
- A survey from Nieman Lab reveals how more people are relying on AI chatbots to get their news.
Auto-fetched and translated by AI Gem Box. All rights belong to the original author.