Google AI tools depressing traffic to news websites: – Business News
Google’s AI Overviews characteristic has led to a important increase within the frequency of “zero clicks” to search queries — drastically lowering traffic to news web sites, in accordance to a new report.
Since the Big Tech giant rolled out its artificial intelligence software in May 2024, the share of web searches associated to news that finish with out a click on to a news web site jumped to 69% in May 2025 from 56% for a similar month final 12 months, in accordance to the most recent figures from digital intelligence firm RelatedWeb.
The lower in “click-through rates” has resulted in general natural traffic to news websites — which sometimes comes by Google’s dominant search engine — sinking to below 1.7 billion visits in May 2025 from a peak of more than 2.3 billion in mid-2024, the RelatedWeb information reveals.
Google’s AI Overviews characteristic is considerably lowering traffic to news web sites thanks to the increase within the frequency of its “no click-throughs” on search outcomes, in accordance to a report. Koshiro Okay – stock.adobe.com
The numbers had been first reported by TechCrunch.
Earlier this week, RelatedWeb printed information exhibiting that 37 of the highest 50 news domains suffered year-over-year traffic declines following the launch of AI Overviews.
When contacted in regards to the newest RelatedWeb information, a Google spokesperson referred The Post to feedback it offered in regards to the plummeting web traffic of news websites.
“We’ve seen many inaccurate claims about traffic from Search, often based on speculative or incomplete information, questionable methodology, or data that predates AI Overviews,” the rep had stated.
The spokesperson added that “new AI experiences in Search enable people to ask even more questions, which creates new opportunities for businesses and content to be discovered.”
OpenAI’s ChatGPT has boosted referral traffic to news websites, however not enough to compensate for the loss brought on by Google’s AI Overviews. AP
Google faces the prospect of being damaged up after a decide labeled the company a “monopolist” in ruling that it violated federal antitrust legal guidelines to construct a dominant maintain over the online search market. A verdict on the treatment is anticipated subsequent month.
The surge in “zero clicks” highlights how customers are more and more consuming news straight by AI-generated summaries, bypassing conventional publishers totally.
Landing high on Google’s search web page outcomes and utilizing conventional search engine optimisation methods are no longer delivering the identical worth for news publishers, the RelatedWeb report stated.
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“Solutions to the news publishers’ crisis are few and far between,” the report stated.
Even the rise of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which is changing into a more well-liked source of news content material, has not compensated for the steep drop in traffic from Google, in accordance to the RelatedWeb information.
From January by May 2024, ChatGPT referrals to news websites stood at just below 1 million. That quantity jumped to more than 25 million in 2025.
The report — titled “AI is rapidly changing how people consume news” — additionally famous disparities in how completely different news retailers are faring below the new AI-driven referral ecosystem.
Reuters has seen an 8.9% year-over-year increase in ChatGPT referral traffic, adopted by the New York Post at 7.1% and Business Insider at 6.5%.
Last 12 months, The Post’s mother or father company, News Corp, and OpenAI struck a landmark five-year, $250 million deal giving the Sam Altman-led startup entry to present and archived content material from the media giant’s publications — together with The Post, the Wall Street Journal, The Sun and The Times (UK).
Topics like shares, finance and sports activities account for almost all of ChatGPT’s news-related prompts, the Similarweb report discovered. However, curiosity in topics like politics, the financial system and climate can be growing.
The Similarweb report urged this trend might point out a person shift from searching for “reactive information” towards deeper, “issue-driven engagement” by way of AI tools.
RelatedWeb discovered that 37 of the highest 50 news domains, together with CNN, suffered year-over-year traffic declines following the launch of AI Overviews final May. Getty Images
According to RelatedWeb, utilization of the ChatGPT app has more than doubled previously six months.
In response to strain from the publishing sector, Google lately launched a software known as Offerwall for publishers utilizing Google Ad Manager.
The service permits publishers to take a look at monetization choices past conventional ad-driven fashions, comparable to offering micropayments or prompting customers to subscribe to newsletters to entry content material.
Google stated Offerwall screens can be custom-made by publishers.
Last 12 months, News Corp, The Post’s mother or father company, struck a landmark content-sharing deal with ChatGPT maker OpenAI. Christopher Sadowski
Many retailers have begun experimenting with completely different types of monetization, together with more aggressive paywalls.
Still, the media industry has been hard-hit by layoffs.
In a latest interview with The New York Times’ “Hard Fork” podcast, Altman acknowledged the growing financial strain introduced on by AI’s fast adoption.
“I do think there will be areas where some jobs go away, or maybe there will be some whole categories of jobs that go away,” Altman stated.
“And any job that goes away, even if it’s good for society and the economy as a whole, is very painful — extremely painful — in that moment … there is going to be real pain here in many cases.”
The Post has sought remark from OpenAI.
