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AI overviews cause massive drop in search clicks

arstechnica.com

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Re: AI overviews cause massive drop in search clicks

#581

Post by bee_rider »

grey-area wrote: post #225
bee_rider wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it amazing, having observed the era when Google was an up-and-coming website, that they’ve gotten so far off track. I mean, this must have been what it felt like when IBM atrophied. But, they hired the best and brightest of my generation. How’d they screw it up so bad?

They sell ads and harvest attention. This is working as designed, it just happens that they don’t care about customers till they leave. So use something else instead.

Yeah, I’ve been using Qwant. I don’t see them mentioned as much though.

Re: AI overviews cause massive drop in search clicks

#582

Post by Henchman21 »

cm2187 wrote: post #260

What I don't understand is how do you square that with google still reporting growth in ads revenues. Surely google's business should tank by that much (not even taking into account the additional cost of processing a seach with AI).

Maybe… it was always a lie?

Re: AI overviews cause massive drop in search clicks

#583

Post by Nicook »

brokencode wrote: post #562
pembrook wrote: post #512

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, this is the experience on virtually every content website that used to be tolerable or even good. But this is because there is no viable monetization model for non-editorial written word content anymore and hasn’t been for a decade. Google killed the ecosystem they helped create. Google also killed the display ad market by monopolizing it with Adsense and then killed Adsense revenue sharing with creators to take…

YouTube is 20 years old now. Either the encrapification is very slow or they landed on a decent ad model. Plus there is a subscription that eliminates ads. I think it’s a great experience for users. Many creators also seem to do well too. I think this should be the model for a new generation of search. Obviously there will be ads/sponsored results. But there should be a subscription option to eliminate the ads. The k…

Its encrapification is real. It has been slow though, mostly affecting niche interests and smaller creators. And the ad experience has definitely gotten worse, but adblockers help. Try using youtube without and adblocker.

Re: AI overviews cause massive drop in search clicks

#584

Post by dahart »

DanielKehoe wrote: post #532

I've written high-quality technical how-tos for many years, starting with PC World magazine articles (supported by ads), a book that helped people learn Ruby on Rails (sales via Amazon), and more recently a website that's good for queries like "uninstall Homebrew" or "xcode command line tools" (sponsored by a carefully chosen advertiser). With both a (small) financial incentive and the intrinsic satisfaction of doing…

> am I standing at the gates of hell in a line that includes Tower Records and Blockbuster?

Maybe, but there’s a big difference - Netflix doesn’t rely on Blockbuster, and Spotify doesn’t need Tower Records. Google AI results do need your articles, and it returns the content of them to your readers without sending you the traffic. And Google is just trying to fend off ChatGPT and Meta and others, who absolutely will, if allowed, try to use their AI to become the new search gateways and supplant Google entirely.

This race will continue as long as Google & OpenAI & everyone else gets to train on your articles without paying anything for them. Hopefully in the future, AI training will either be fully curated and trained on material that’s legal to use, or it will license and pay for the material they want that’s not otherwise free. TBH I’m surprised the copyright backlash hasn’t been much, much bigger. Ideally the lost traffic you’re seeing is back-filled with licensing income.

I guess you can rest a little easier since we got to where we are now not primarily because of technical means but mostly by allowing mass copyright violation. And maybe it helps a little to know that most content-producing jobs in the world are in the same boat you are, including the programmers in your target audience. That’s cold comfort, but OTOH the problem you (we) face is far more likely to be addressed and fixed than if it was only a few people affected.

Re: AI overviews cause massive drop in search clicks

#585

Post by EcommerceFlow »

I've got years of professional SEO experience, and it's clear SEO is dead for information, especially once you use o3 type Ai models daily.

To be frank, good riddance. Information sites were being manipulated on such levels it was ridiculous.

Anyways, I expect e-commerce CTR to get SO MUCH better, so overall it'll just be a shift away from SEO over to PPC, or maybe a little bit of both.

Re: AI overviews cause massive drop in search clicks

#586

Post by tuesdaynight »

anton-c wrote: post #497
tonyedgecombe wrote: post #454

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>More than likely, people return to publishing content because they love the subject matter and not because it is an angle to “create content” or “gain followers” or show ads. Why would you do that if you thought it was going to be hoovered up by some giant corporation and spat out again for $20 a month with no attribution.

Because they like to make stuff more than they value a subscription. I'm gonna write music no matter what happens to it.

It's so easy to say that when your income is not dependable on writing music.

Re: AI overviews cause massive drop in search clicks

#588

Post by JustExAWS »

n4r9 wrote: post #558
scarface_74 wrote: post #531

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would I use Google for this use case “There's a library I use with extensive documentation- every method, parameter, event, configuration option conceivable is documented.” This is the perfect use case for ChatGPT with web search. Besides aside from Google News, Google has been worthless to find any useful information for years because of SEO.

The fact that you personally would use a different tool is surely neither here nor there. It's like wading into a conversation about car problems and telling everyone that you ride a motorbike.

I also don’t use a hammer when a screwdriver is at hand and is the most appropriate tool.

It’s the classic XYProblem.

Re: AI overviews cause massive drop in search clicks

#589

Post by brokencode »

Nicook wrote: post #583
brokencode wrote: post #562

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YouTube is 20 years old now. Either the encrapification is very slow or they landed on a decent ad model. Plus there is a subscription that eliminates ads. I think it’s a great experience for users. Many creators also seem to do well too. I think this should be the model for a new generation of search. Obviously there will be ads/sponsored results. But there should be a subscription option to eliminate the ads. The k…

Its encrapification is real. It has been slow though, mostly affecting niche interests and smaller creators. And the ad experience has definitely gotten worse, but adblockers help. Try using youtube without and adblocker.

I pay for the subscription and don’t see any ads. It comes with YouTube Music. It’s great.

Re: AI overviews cause massive drop in search clicks

#590

Post by lazide »

carlosjobim wrote: post #578
lazide wrote: post #456

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When people like that show up and start screaming and yelling at the staff, it’s everyone’s problem.

People like that are screaming at somebody wherever they might be at the moment. There isn't any technical solutions to them.

Having a technology platform point someone at a specific venue and then lying about a ton of details (including costs) is not that situation at all.

Frankly, most people would be angry in that situation.

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