Google AI Overviews Linked To 25% Drop In Publisher Referral Traffic, New Data Shows

New data from Digital Content Next shows Google's AI Overviews are linked to notable drops in publisher referral traffic, with surveyed sites seeing year-over-year declines between 1% and 25%. From a report: Digital Content Next (DCN), which counts the New York Times, Conde Nast and Vox among its approximately 40 member companies, checked in with 19 of them between May and June to see what was happening to their Google search referral traffic. The upshot: Google AI Overviews is indeed harming publisher traffic. Organic search referral traffic from Google is declining broadly, with the majority of DCN member sites -- spanning both news and entertainment -- experiencing traffic losses from Google search between 1% and 25%. Twelve of the respondent companies were news brands, and seven were non-news.

Over eight weeks in May and June 2025, the median Google Search referral was down almost every week, with losses outpacing gains two-to-one. For the seven non-news brands in the survey, the downward slope was steady and unbroken. Across the eight weeks, the median YoY decline in referred traffic from Google Search was -10% overall, -7% for news brands, and -14% for non-news brands, per the results.

Jason Kint, CEO of DCN, stressed that these losses are a direct consequence of Google AI Overviews, as many publishers claimed in their responses. The latest data offers a 'ground truth' of what's actually happening, cutting through Google's vague claims about 'quality clicks,' made in its latest post, he added. 'I think all publishers are ignoring Google's post. But this probably helps ground that,' added Kint. The findings come shortly after a recent Pew survey of 900 U.S. consumers found that AI summaries are making users less likely to click through to links. The U.K.'s Professional Publishers Association (PPA) also found that AI Overviews and AI Mode are steering users toward zero-click results, reducing visits to source sites, and expanding into Google Discover where sources are relegated to citations. Evidence from members shows click-through rates falling 10-25% year-over-year despite stable rankings, with examples including a lifestyle publisher's CTR dropping from 5.1% to 0.6% and an automotive publisher's CTR falling from 2.75% to 1.71% despite increased visibility.

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