Apr 08, 2025 14:02:00

Reports that website traffic has plummeted due to 'AI-generated summaries' appearing in Google searches

Google has rolled out a feature

called 'AI Summary ' that uses AI to summarize search results in an easy-to-understand way, so that when you search, you can get a rough idea of the content of the website without having to go to the website itself. As a result of the rollout of AI summary, many independent websites are suffering from a sudden drop in traffic, according to Bloomberg, a financial newspaper.

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Morgan McBride, who runs Charleston Crafted , a website that provides guides for DIY home renovations, reports that traffic to Charleston Crafted from Google has dropped by more than 70% in just a few months since March 2024. In the past, traffic has plummeted due to changes in Google's algorithm, and each time that has happened, McBride has been able to recover traffic by modifying his website, but he was unable to recover from this sudden drop.

McBride suspects that the traffic drop coincided with Google's introduction of its AI overviews, which could be why people were getting renovation advice from the AI overviews.

The AI summary is a feature that displays search results corresponding to the words at the bottom of the input form, as shown below. Because it is displayed above websites and other results that are displayed in regular search results, many people are likely to be satisfied with just looking at the AI summary without having to go to the trouble of opening the website.

Bloomberg interviewed 25 independent publishers and their allies, and found that Google's AI-driven profiles and the resulting algorithm changes caused website traffic to plummet. Bloomberg said the trend 'disrupts the delicate symbiotic relationship that has existed for years: if companies create great content, Google will send them traffic.'

The answers provided by AI still contain inaccuracies and misunderstandings, making them a poor substitute for publisher content. According to McBride, Google's AI recommends the use of 'non-existent products' and gives unsafe advice in response to renovation questions. If traffic from Google decreases, many websites that rely on advertising revenue will be unable to operate and will be closed, which will ultimately reduce the quality of information accessible through Google search.

Google told Bloomberg it denied the claim that the rollout of AI summaries caused website traffic to plummet, arguing that the reasons for traffic declines vary from case to case and that generalizing the causes is misleading. A spokesperson explained that there are a variety of reasons traffic fluctuates, including seasonal demand, user interests, and regular search algorithm updates.

However, the decline in traffic is being felt across the web.

Similarweb , a web analytics company, also found a decline in traffic in data collected over two years from small and medium-sized websites across a wide range of categories, including fashion, travel, lifestyle, DIY, home design, and cooking. Similarweb responded that the introduction of AI-driven summaries may be the cause.

The drop in traffic from Google has already caused long-term damage to McBride's business, with Charleston Crafted's display ad revenue dropping by 65% in the year since the crash, costing the company tens of thousands of dollars. 'We can't just sit back and wait for things to get better,' McBride said, expressing his frustration at the worsening situation.

Google has not officially acknowledged the decline in traffic due to AI summaries, but in October 2024, about 20 website managers were invited to the headquarters in Mountain View, California, where the Google Search division explained the decline in traffic. Below is a graph estimating the monthly traffic numbers of websites run by these creators. We can see that there was a sharp decline from the second half of 2023, and a large wave of decline in the second half of 2024.

In addition, at the same time as introducing the AI summaries, Google updated its search algorithm to prioritize forums such as Reddit and Quora and large media brands, further reducing traffic to independent websites, Bloomberg reported.

'I don't know why Google thinks this is sustainable,' said Jake Borrie, who runs

That Fit Friend , a website that reviews trainers. 'If you drive away all the enthusiasts and small publishers, you're going to end up with spam and a handful of players who can afford it.'

Regarding the change in the algorithm, a Google spokesperson pointed out that users who visit Google looking for 'trusted and authentic experiences' often prefer forum discussions and video content, in addition to blogs, and that's why the algorithm was changed to prioritize forums and the like.

At a meeting of web creators at Google headquarters in October 2024, Pandu Nayak, chief scientist of Google's search division, apologized to creators who had been affected by the decline in traffic. However, when asked by a creator whether traffic to his website was likely to recover, Nayak said he could not guarantee anything because he could not predict what would happen next.

Google has also begun testing a feature that displays cooking blog content directly in Google search results, and it is estimated that access to cooking blogs will be halved if this feature is fully implemented. Cooking blog creators are also participating in the pilot version of this feature, but because the power relationship between Google and individual creators is so lopsided, many creators felt that they had no choice but to participate. 'My big concern is that Google is cutting off ties with our community and our audience,' said Lisa Bryan, author of the health food site Downshiftology .

In a recent interview, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said that Google is focused on sending publishers high-quality clicks, that is, readers who genuinely want to visit websites. However, this has led to complaints such as, 'How can Google say it understands what publishers need?' and 'Why is it unilaterally deciding what 'high-quality clicks' are and how to attract readers?'

Raptive , a media company that supports 5,700 web creators, has signed contracts with hundreds of major creators and has begun negotiations with Google and other technology companies. However, the impact of the traffic decline has already been severe, and three of the 20 creators invited to a meeting in October 2024 have been forced to stop operating their websites.

Dave Bouskill and his team, who launched the travel blog The Planet D in 2008, also decided to shut down the blog after their traffic dropped by 90% after the introduction of AI summaries in 2024, and as a result, their income also dropped. Bouskill and his team told Bloomberg that the AI summaries displayed in travel search results sometimes included the tips they had introduced in their blogs, and sometimes even repeated Canadian slang that they had used in their blogs. 'We feel betrayed by Google,' Bouskill said.