Google AI tools depressing traffic to news sites: report

Google’s AI Overviews feature has led to a significant increase in the frequency of “zero clicks” to search queries — drastically reducing traffic to news websites, according to a new report.

Since the Big Tech giant rolled out its artificial intelligence tool in May 2024, the percentage of web searches related to news that end without a click to a news site jumped to 69% in May 2025 from 56% for the same month last year, according to the latest figures from digital intelligence firm SimilarWeb.

The decrease in “click-through rates” has resulted in overall organic traffic to news sites — which typically comes through Google’s dominant search engine — sinking to under 1.7 billion visits in May 2025 from a peak of more than 2.3 billion in mid-2024, the SimilarWeb data shows.

The numbers were first reported by TechCrunch.

Earlier this week, SimilarWeb published data showing that 37 of the top 50 news domains suffered year-over-year traffic declines following the launch of AI Overviews.

When contacted about the latest SimilarWeb data, a Google spokesperson referred The Post to comments it provided about the plummeting web traffic of news sites.

“We’ve seen many inaccurate claims about traffic from Search, often based on speculative or incomplete information, questionable methodology, or data that predates AI Overviews,” the rep had said.

The spokesperson added that “new AI experiences in Search enable people to ask even more questions, which creates new opportunities for businesses and content to be discovered.”

Google faces the prospect of being broken up after a judge labeled the company a “monopolist” in ruling that it violated federal antitrust laws to build a dominant hold over the online search market. A verdict on the remedy is expected next month.

The surge in “zero clicks” highlights how users are increasingly consuming news directly through AI-generated summaries, bypassing traditional publishers entirely.

Landing high on Google’s search page results and using traditional SEO strategies are no longer delivering the same value for news publishers, the SimilarWeb report said.

“Solutions to the news publishers’ crisis are few and far between,” the report said.

Even the rise of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which is becoming a more popular source of news content, has not compensated for the steep drop in traffic from Google, according to the SimilarWeb data.

From January through May 2024, ChatGPT referrals to news sites stood at just under 1 million. That number jumped to more than 25 million in 2025.

The report — titled “AI is rapidly changing how people consume news” — also noted disparities in how different news outlets are faring under the new AI-driven referral ecosystem.

Reuters has seen an 8.9% year-over-year increase in ChatGPT referral traffic, followed by the New York Post at 7.1% and Business Insider at 6.5%.

Last year, The Post’s parent company, News Corp, and OpenAI struck a landmark five-year, $250 million deal giving the Sam Altman-led startup access to current and archived content from the media giant’s publications — including The Post, the Wall Street Journal, The Sun and The Times (UK).

Topics like stocks, finance and sports account for the majority of ChatGPT’s news-related prompts, the Similarweb report found. However, interest in subjects like politics, the economy and weather is also growing.

The Similarweb report suggested this trend may indicate a user shift from seeking “reactive information” toward deeper, “issue-driven engagement” via AI tools.

According to SimilarWeb, usage of the ChatGPT app has more than doubled in the past six months.

In response to pressure from the publishing sector, Google recently introduced a tool called Offerwall for publishers using Google Ad Manager.

The service allows publishers to test monetization options beyond traditional ad-driven models, such as offering micropayments or prompting users to subscribe to newsletters to access content.

Google said Offerwall screens can also be customized by publishers.

Many outlets have begun experimenting with different forms of monetization, including more aggressive paywalls.

Still, the media industry has been hard-hit by layoffs.

In a recent interview with The New York Times’ “Hard Fork” podcast, Altman acknowledged the growing economic pressure brought on by AI’s rapid adoption.

“I do think there will be areas where some jobs go away, or maybe there will be some whole categories of jobs that go away,” Altman said.

“And any job that goes away, even if it’s good for society and the economy as a whole, is very painful — extremely painful — in that moment … there is going to be real pain here in many cases.”

The Post has sought comment from OpenAI.