This Media Briefing covers the latest in media trends for Digiday+ members and is distributed over email every Thursday at 10 a.m. ET. More from the series →This week’s Media Briefing will examine why Google’s latest AI search overhaul may mark the moment publishers fully accept that search traffic as they once knew it is never coming back.
Publishers enter the era of Google AI search
“We no longer consider Google as a primary referrer.”
That’s what one publisher’s head of audience told Digiday in response to Google’s latest search overhaul, which will see its traditional search box turn into more of an AI chat window starting this week. It will allow for longer prompts and more complex questions, replacing the skinny search bar designed for typing in a few keywords.
It’s a fundamental shift, and yet another nail in the coffin of the traditional value exchange of the open web, where Google is the chief referral engine that sends users back to publisher sites, where they can monetize them. The changes will move publishers away from being destinations and more toward being information suppliers to Google’s AI search experience.
