AI Overview Doesn't Penalize Web Traffic, Says Google

Among the many voices that support the drop in traffic to websites due to AI Overview , there is that of the independent research institute Pew Research Center , according to which users are less likely to click on the links that appear in the summaries that the Google search engine returns in response to searches.

These summaries, provided by AI Overview, provide sufficiently detailed information to not encourage users to delve further, thus remaining on the search engine page and not visiting the websites from which the information was taken. Google is not accepting this and responding to the criticism. To put this into context, it's worth explaining how AI Overview works and the seriousness of the complaints it receives.

What is AI Overview and how does it change the user experience?

It's a feature built into Google search that leverages generative artificial intelligence to provide comprehensive answers even to complex questions.

It provides a summary of information from multiple web sources, including useful links to further information. These summaries are generated by a multimodal Gemini model that combines planning and reasoning. Presented in 2024 at the annual Google I/O developer conference , AI Overview will be available in Italy from March 2025.

AI organizes user search results into neat groups, including different content, typically text and video . This provides an alternative to the traditional, long list of links returned by search engines.

The criticisms

Collected in an orderly and comprehensive manner by the Pew Research Center, in addition to the aforementioned lower propensity of users to click on links included in the summaries, there appears to be a certain tendency to favor results from Wikipedia, YouTube, and Reddit . These sources are more present in the summaries than they are in the traditional links returned, with the sole exception of YouTube. This is explained by the multimodality of the summaries themselves, which also include videos, in addition to text and links. Last but not least, online publishers have complained of a decline in traffic to their websites.

Google's response

Google has refuted criticism by attempting to downplay reports of declining website traffic. In a blog post by Google Search Vice President Elizabeth Reid, it is highlighted that the data in the Mountain View giant's possession indicates higher-quality clicks to reference sites. It should be noted that Google accuses the negative reports of being inaccurate and responds to criticisms that focus on the quantity of clicks by focusing on the quality of the clicks themselves.

Regardless, Google claims that AI Overview empowers users to ask new, more complex questions, and that the resulting summaries contain multiple clicks that lead to more in-depth web resources.

Nonetheless, according to Google, users prefer to consult forums, videos, or podcasts that offer "authentic, firsthand voices." These resources, as well as sites offering quality insights, are reportedly benefiting from AI Overview's support, receiving increased traffic in both quantity and quality.

Why is it being talked about?

The controversy surrounding AI Overview may seem like just one of the many surrounding the application and evolution of AI. In reality, there's a more subtle aspect to it, concerning the health of the web and the ecosystem it represents.

This opens up two perspectives : on the one hand, there's the web as we know it, and that doesn't necessarily mean it should remain that way. On the other, there's the balance between the web itself and generative AI. Google claims that AI will further expand the web by allowing anyone to ask more precise and detailed questions, all the while insisting that it sends billions of clicks to websites every day.

Those who produce AI services and products want the web to be a source of useful data for training. Mountain View (2023 data) generated $175 billion – approximately €150 billion – from advertising networks that include Google Search, Gmail, and Google Maps. But considering that Google is increasingly tied to AI production, with advertising as its core business, it's plausible to believe it has little interest in making money from its golden goose.