Publishers Worry that AI-Generated Summaries are Reducing Website Traffic.

When actress Sorcha Cusack exited the BBC drama Father Brown in January, the news appeared widely, including in Reach-owned outlets such as The Mirror and the Daily Express.

However, the coverage did not draw the level of online engagement these papers would have expected a year earlier. Reach attributed the drop to Google’s AI Overviews (AIO) – the summaries that appear at the top of search results. Instead of clicking through to read full articles, users often found the AI summary sufficient.

This shift is troubling for publishers already hit hard by declining ad revenue and the dominance of social media platforms. In today’s challenging market, Google search traffic is a vital lifeline.

“Evidence suggests AI Overviews reduce click-throughs, with damaging consequences for publishers,” said Dr. Felix Simon, research fellow at the Reuters Institute, though he noted that the scale is unclear because Google does not share click-through data. DMG Media – owner of MailOnline and Metro – reported click-through rates falling by up to 89% due to AIO, according to a submission to the Competition and Markets Authority.

David Higgerson, chief digital publisher at Reach, argued that publishers are being shortchanged:

“Publishers produce the reliable, timely content that powers Google. Our reward is supposed to be clicks, which we can monetise through ads or subscriptions. But Google’s Overviews reduce the incentive for people to visit our sites, with no benefit to us financially.”

He added that it highlights a broader problem – distributors of information profiting while creators miss out.

Publishers are also alarmed by Google’s new AI Mode, which delivers conversational answers with far fewer links.

“If Google fully shifts to AI Mode and users embrace it, the impact on the industry could be devastating,” Higgerson warned.

The Daily Mail runs one of the largest online news platforms in the UK.

“We are clearly entering an era of fewer clicks and reduced referral traffic for publishers,” said Stuart Forrest, global SEO director at Bauer Media.

He explained that over the past decade, Google has steadily added features to its search results pages (SERPs), reducing the need for users to visit external sites. “That’s the challenge our industry faces,” he added.

So far, Forrest hasn’t seen a noticeable traffic decline across Bauer’s titles, such as Grazia and Empire, due to AI Overviews. But he expects this could shift. “As consumers become accustomed to these panels, it will undoubtedly pose a challenge. We’re already preparing to deal with that threat,” he said.

Google defended its approach, with a spokesperson insisting that the company prioritises directing users to the wider web and still sends billions of clicks to publishers daily.

In an August blog post, Liz Reid, Google’s head of search, argued that traffic from Google has stayed “relatively stable” compared to last year. She added that the quality of clicks has slightly improved, meaning users are less likely to bounce back immediately after clicking.

Reid also said AI Overviews were leading to more searches, often longer and more complex, and presenting more links on results pages. “More queries and more links create more opportunities for websites to appear and attract clicks,” she wrote.

Publishers are looking for ways to ensure their content is included in Google’s AI-generated summaries.

Some publishers are now turning to legal action.

In July, the Independent Publishers Alliance, campaign group Movement for an Open Web, and non-profit Foxglove submitted a complaint to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), arguing that Google’s AI Overviews exploit publishers’ content to the detriment of newspapers. They called on the CMA to impose interim measures to stop Google from “misusing” material in AI-generated answers.

At the same time, publishers are experimenting with ways to be featured in AI Overviews in hopes of still securing clicks.

“Google doesn’t hand us a manual,” said David Higgerson of Reach. “We have to test and optimise copy without undermining the main goal — giving readers the information they want.”

Stuart Forrest of Bauer Media added: “We need to make sure it’s our work being cited, not our competitors’. Producing high-quality journalism is key — and too many publishers have simply abandoned that.”

Like others in the sector, Reach is also diversifying its traffic sources.

“We’re building audiences elsewhere — millions now get our alerts on WhatsApp,” Higgerson said. “We’ve invested in newsletters too. The focus is on serving people well on our platforms so that next time, they come directly to us instead of reaching us through a third party.”