Publishers Weigh Blocking Google Crawlers Amid AI Search Dominance

Publishers are increasingly frustrated with Google's declining value exchange and the growing dominance of AI search. According to Sara Guaglione, media reporter at Digiday, 'AI search is only growing and it's not going anywhere.' The degradation of search referral traffic has been a long-standing issue, exacerbated by AI chatbots that keep users on Google's platforms longer.

The broken value exchange between publishers and Google has led some to consider blocking Google's bot crawlers. However, there are concerns about the potential consequences of such a move. 'Publishers will need to be wary of that coming across as being coordinated action,' said Seb Joseph, executive editor of news at Digiday.

Publishers have been diversifying their businesses with subscriptions, newsletters, and memberships, but these alternatives may not yet be strong enough to replace search traffic. For example, People Inc. still receives around 21% of its traffic from Google search, down from 25% last quarter.