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The recent change to AI-generated search results is impacting Google’s entire SEO ecosystem, and publishers are taking the brunt of it. Google's move from a link-based query system to an “answer engine” has stunted traffic flow, especially for low-visibility websites, wherein cats and dogs are no longer driven by search; truly, they presented summer.

A new report published by the Wall Street Journal outlines how digital publishers are facing a crisis with worsening SEO efficiency alongside dropping organic search traffic.

Google’s AI Overviews Are Replacing Clicks with Instant Answers

As of 2024, Google has started providing short chatbot-style responses as snippets on top of Google searches. As these responses resolve user queries, there is no need to click on any website or hyperlinks below.

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This zero-click experience is devastating for SEO, especially for publishers in industries like:

  • News & journalism
  • Travel
  • Health & wellness
  • Product reviews

Websites that at one point held a first-page rank have now lost their traffic thanks to Google's use of their own AI tools trained on published content, but give no revenue share or payment in return.

SEO Traffic Drops: Dropping Numbers

Analytics firm Similarweb has provided the following insights:

The Washington Post is estimated to have lost over 50% of its mobile traffic in the last three years.

Business Insider’s search traffic also declined by 55% from April 2020 to April 2025. This resulted in a major restructuring of the company, which included a reduction of 21% of its workforce.

“Google has become the middleman and the destination,” one digital media executive commented. “They’re using your content to answer the query but giving you no traffic in return.”

A Post-Search Era Is Coming—And Google Is Leading It

AI-first search engines are underpinned by an entirely new way in which users navigate through Internet. Rather than clicking on links, users interact with pages via reading summaries or conversing with bots that provide answers on-site without ever having to set foot on the site. Certainly, this trend became more pronounced after Google introduced AI Mode – their ChatGPT-style app, which puts out answers conversationally with ample regard for hyperlinks.

“Google is killing the very SEO model it built,” said one industry analyst. “They trained everyone to optimise for search—and now they’re removing the need to search.”

What It Means for Publishers and SEO Professionals

For a long time, SEO was considered the backbone of digital strategy, informing content design, keyword selection, and link development. The rise of AI-generated responses has allowed traditional SEO tactics to become obsolete at an alarming rate.

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News leaders are calling this an existential threat:

William Lewis, CEO of The Washington Post, warned that this is a “serious threat to journalism.”

To adapt to this crisis, many publishers are focused on audience engagement as well as shifting toward subscriptions and revenue diversification to counterbalance the collapse of SEO.

My Opinion

Through Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode features, traditional frameworks of SEO are being dismantled at an alarming pace. With the introduction of zero-click answers, Google begins cannibalising traffic from publishers, aiding its AI growth. Businesses, along with content creators, should shift their digital approach as this new era of post-search methods accelerates, since Google no longer play by fair rules.

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