Google's transition from a search engine to an AI-driven agent manager is fundamentally altering the digital economy. By prioritizing AI-generated summaries, the platform is increasingly capturing user traffic, leading to a sharp decline in click-through rates for external publishers. Data indicates that zero-click searches have risen significantly, with many news outlets reporting severe drops in organic traffic. This shift threatens the viability of smaller and specialist media organizations that rely on search referrals. Consequently, regulators in Europe, Brazil, Japan, and Türkiye are investigating whether these practices constitute anti-competitive behavior. As Google optimizes its ecosystem to retain users, the traditional compact of providing traffic in exchange for content indexing is effectively collapsing, raising concerns about the future of media pluralism and the survival of independent online journalism.
Source : Daily Sabah
Photo : Daily Sabah
