Quick Summary
AI-powered search engines are reshaping how publishers attract audiences, creating challenges such as declining website traffic, zero-click searches, concerns about content scraping, and an increased preference for large, authoritative sources.
Rather than resisting these changes, publishers can adapt by embracing Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), securing content licensing agreements, and participating in emerging regulatory and collaboration frameworks. Working with AI systems can improve content visibility, generate new revenue opportunities, and provide access to advanced technologies.
As AI search continues to evolve, publishers that collaborate and optimize for AI-driven discovery are better positioned to remain competitive and grow their digital presence.
Introduction
As AI-powered search engines like Google and Yandex continue to dominate this new search landscape, publishers must take a stance. They can either fight for regulations on the usage of AI technologies or adapt their strategies to AI-driven search. In this article, we discuss how AI search competes with publishers, how publishers can collaborate with AI systems, and the biggest benefits of such collaboration.
How AI Search Competes with Publishers
Lost Traffic
Publishers often feel in competition with AI search engines because they certainly are when it comes to site traffic. An increasing number of people are turning to AI systems to answer their questions rather than using traditional search methods. In fact, Google has reported a significant drop in both search traffic and publisher referral traffic.
The AI-generated summaries, now part of most modern search engines, are also causing a significant decrease in click-through rates, as users have already had their search queries answered without checking the cited source themselves (zero-click searches).
Content Scraping
Publishers are also competing with AI search because these systems do not generate their own content. Instead, they are trained on knowledge bases and use bots to crawl the internet, then synthesize the information they gather into answers to user queries. If publishers are not paid for content scraped, they lose potential revenue. Content scraping has also led to several high-profile lawsuits between publishers and the companies that operate these AI search engines.
Focus on Large Publishers
Many smaller publishers also feel in competition with AI search because these new systems tend to focus on large publishers. AI systems tend to cite sources they consider authoritative and trustworthy, often drawing much of their information from large publishers such as Wikipedia, Reddit, and major news outlets. Some regulatory bodies have even complained that AI search contributes to disinformation and a lack of diverse resources due to AI’s impact on traffic to information websites.
How Publishers Can Collaborate with AI Systems
The Need for GEO
Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) involves structuring and rewriting content to increase its likelihood of being mentioned and cited by AI-powered search engines. One of the most straightforward ways that publishers can collaborate with AI systems is by learning how they work and optimizing their own content to be more AI-friendly.
Modern search engines have shifted away from many tactics that worked before the AI era. Publishers that want to attract the attention of such systems should focus on generating comprehensive, accurate, and well-cited content structured in a way that bots and large language models (LLMs) can easily read and understand. Publishers can also hire GEO agencies to help them optimize their content.
Licensing Deals
Publishers can secure deals that grant licensees the right to use their content for AI training. Some official licensing marketplaces are also being established, especially for large journalism-forward publishers whose content is particularly valuable to AI search engines.
Licensing deals are also a popular collaboration model because they help address publishers’ concerns about AI systems drawing on their content and filing copyright claims.
Government-Managed Cooperation
Some AI companies may be forced to collaborate with publishers via government-managed models. Many publishers have brought their concerns about lost traffic and revenue to their respective governing bodies. Some governments have addressed copyright claims and proposed pricing models to compensate publishers for content used to train AI.
The government response to AI search and the alleged overreach of the companies behind AI systems varies widely by region. The European Union (EU) has so far been the most regulatory, focusing on government intervention or government-managed cooperation. At the same time, other nations, including the United States, have tended toward federal support for AI innovation rather than placing so much emphasis on regulation.
Benefits of Collaborating with AI
Increased Discovery
The greatest benefit that publishers can get from collaborating with AI search is increased discovery. Brands can easily add code that blocks bots and other AI from accessing their webpages, but this reduces the likelihood that their audience will find and interact with their content.
The potential value from being mentioned and cited during zero-click searches should now be a focus of any modern website’s SEO strategy. It has also been reported that publishers included in AI-generated summaries are more likely to see higher click-through rates than brands not cited in those summaries.
New Revenue
Collaborating with AI search can also result in new revenue streams. Licensing deals can bring in major revenue, even if those are largely reserved for larger publishers. Certain platforms, such as ProRata, have also introduced revenue-sharing options that allow publishers to earn money for appearing in AI-generated search results.
Some smaller groups of local publishers have come together to present their collective content as a single buying point. Because they can now work as a group, they can test and implement AI systems or tools more effectively.
Access to New Technologies
Many deals between AI companies and publishers include access to emerging technologies and the support of tech development teams. Some licensing agreements and other deals, whether government-managed or not, have led these emerging tech companies to share what they can with publishers to foster further collaboration.
Access to new technologies through AI search collaboration can lead to the development of generative AI tools tailored to each publisher’s unique needs and current system gaps.
Final Takeaways
Major AI search engines like Yandex and Google are changing the online search landscape, giving publishers the choice to either compete or collaborate with them. There are clear disadvantages to the rapid rise of AI search, but publishers should collaborate with and adapt to these systems to experience increased discovery and find new revenue streams.
