Numerous studies indicate that the shift to AI search features and the use of AI chatbots are killing traffic to publishers’ sites. But Google on Wednesday denied that’s the case, at least in aggregate. Instead, the search giant says that total organic click volume from its search engine to websites has been “relatively stable” year-over-year and that average click quality has slightly increased.
“This data is in contrast to third-party reports that inaccurately suggest dramatic declines in aggregate traffic — often based on flawed methodologies, isolated examples, or traffic changes that occurred prior to the roll out of AI features in Search,” writes Google VP and Head of Search, Liz Reid, in a new blog post.
Though Google hasn’t shared any specific data to back up its conclusions, even if we assume Google’s claims to be true, this doesn’t necessarily mean that AI isn’t having an impact.
Even Google has to admit this, as Reid acknowledges that “user trends are shifting traffic to different sites, resulting in decreased traffic to some sites and increased traffic to others.”
That word “some” is doing heavy lifting here, as Google doesn’t share data about how many sites are gaining or losing. And while chatbots like ChatGPT have certainly seen traffic increase in recent months, that doesn’t mean online publishers aren’t suffering.
Image Credits:Google
Google has been revamping its search engine for years to answer more questions directly on the search results page, and now does so with AI through its “AI Overviews” that appear at the top of search results. Google also allows users to interact with an AI chatbot for some queries. Yet Google denies that this is significantly reshaping the search landscape. Rather, it points to users shifting their attention to other sites to start their queries.
Reid explains, “People are increasingly seeking out and clicking on sites with forums, videos, podcasts, and posts where they can hear authentic voices and first-hand perspectives.”
Reading between the lines, it seems like Google.com isn’t necessarily people’s first stop on the web these days. But that’s something we’ve known for some time. Back in 2022, a Google exec even said that social sites like TikTok and Instagram were eating into Google’s core products, like Search and Maps.
“In our studies, something like almost 40% of young people, when they’re looking for a place for lunch, they don’t go to Google Maps or Search,” said Google SVP Prabhakar Raghavan, who ran the company’s Knowledge and Information organization at the time (he is now its chief technologist). “They go to TikTok or Instagram,” he noted.
Google has also long been worried that Amazon.com had become people’s first stop for online shopping searches, and Reddit.com had become the firs …