What happens to the internet if no one clicks search links?

Summary

Impact of AI Overviews on the Internet’s Click Economy

In the August 4, 2025 episode of NPR's Consider This, host Ari Shapiro delves into a transformative shift in the internet's economic landscape caused by Google's introduction of AI Overviews. This feature, which leverages artificial intelligence to provide direct answers to user queries, poses a significant threat to the traditional click-based revenue model that many online publishers depend on.

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Google’s AI Overviews: A Threat to Click-Driven Revenue

Ari Shapiro opens the discussion by highlighting the foundational role of clicks in the internet economy:

“[...] a big part of the economy of the Internet is built around this sound, the click, or, okay, sometimes the smartphone screen tap.” (00:00)

Google’s AI Overviews, launched in late 2024, deliver concise answers to user searches, potentially reducing the need for users to click through to external websites. This shift threatens the advertising and referral-based revenue streams that sustain many content producers.

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Publishers in a Difficult Position

Claudia Jaswinska, a journalist and researcher at Columbia University, provides expert analysis on the predicament faced by publishers:

“Publishers are kind of in a bind because if you want to opt out of AI Overviews, you opt out of Google search entirely.” (00:49)

Jaswinska underscores the limited options available to news outlets and other content creators. Opting out of AI-generated summaries means losing visibility on Google’s search platform, which is a critical traffic source for many websites.

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Case Study: The Verge’s Declining Traffic

Helen Havelak, publisher of the tech news site The Verge, shares firsthand experience of the impact:

“Traffic to my site has been falling, and the decline lines up clearly with the rise of Google's AI Overviews.” (01:11)

Havelak illustrates the tangible effects of reduced clicks, noting that the decrease in site visits directly correlates with the adoption of AI Overviews. This decline threatens the economic viability of established publishers.

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From Search Engines to Answer Engines

The transformation from search engines to answer engines marks a significant shift in how information is consumed online. Nathan Hake explains:

“So they're no longer a search engine, they're an answer engine. And what that's had the effect of doing is just dramatically reducing clicks.” (04:10)

By prioritizing AI-generated answers, search engines like Google place less emphasis on directing traffic to external websites, undermining the traditional revenue models based on ad impressions and referrals.

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Industry Responses: Adapting to the New Landscape

As publishers grapple with declining traffic, companies are devising innovative strategies to adapt.

Cloudflare, a leader in web security, introduced a solution called Pay per Crawl:

“If we are going to have an increasingly AI driven Web, which I think is inevitable, the business model of the web needs to change and content creators need to get compensated in a different way.” — Matthew Prince, CEO of Cloudflare (05:02)

This feature allows website owners to charge AI bots for crawling their content, ensuring that content creators receive compensation for their work’s use in AI-generated answers.

Conversely, Scrunch AI, led by Chris Andrew, adopts a different approach:

“We’re seeing companies that are desperate to get their content consumed by AI models.” — Bobby Allen, Scrunch AI (05:52)

Scrunch AI assists businesses in optimizing their content to be featured in AI answers, thereby maintaining visibility and driving transactions even with reduced overall clicks.

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Envisioning the Future: A Text-Based Internet

The episodes also explore the broader implications for the internet’s evolution. Bobby Allen posits a future where the web becomes predominantly text-based:

“The secret is in the name large language models want language. And as a society we have built a very confusing over designed over incentivized Internet that is heavily interactive.” (06:23)

This shift suggests that as AI prioritizes language over visuals, the design and monetization of websites will undergo significant changes, potentially leading to a "post-human" web that caters specifically to AI’s informational needs.

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Adaptation and Resilience: The Case of Travel Lemming

Amid these challenges, some businesses find new avenues for growth. Helen Havelak discusses her company, Travel Lemming, which has pivoted to offer itinerary planning services:

“And it may be that we're not even really an information source. In five years it may be that we're more of a tour company.” (06:56)

This strategic shift reflects a broader trend where businesses diversify their offerings to remain relevant in an AI-dominated digital ecosystem.

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Conclusion: Navigating the AI-Driven Future

Consider This underscores the profound impact of AI on the internet's economic structures. As AI Overviews reduce the necessity for clicks, publishers and businesses are compelled to innovate and explore new revenue models. The episode highlights a critical juncture for online content, emphasizing the need for adaptability in an increasingly AI-centric digital landscape.

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Notable Quotes:

• Ari Shapiro: “A big part of the economy of the Internet is built around this sound, the click...” (00:00)

• Claudia Jaswinska: “Publishers are kind of in a bind because if you want to opt out of AI Overviews, you opt out of Google search entirely.” (00:49)

• Helen Havelak: “Traffic to my site has been falling, and the decline lines up clearly with the rise of Google's AI Overviews.” (01:11)

• Matthew Prince: “The business model of the web needs to change and content creators need to get compensated in a different way.” (05:02)

• Bobby Allen: “We’re seeing companies that are desperate to get their content consumed by AI models.” (05:52)

• Bobby Allen: “The secret is in the name large language models want language...” (06:23)

• Helen Havelak: “And it may be that we're not even really an information source. In five years it may be that we're more of a tour company.” (06:56)

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This comprehensive summary encapsulates the critical discussions and insights from the episode, providing a clear understanding of how AI Overviews are reshaping the internet's economic framework and the adaptive strategies businesses are employing in response.

Transcript

[Ari Shapiro]

A big part of the economy of the Internet is built around this sound, the click, or, okay, sometimes the smartphone screen tap. It's the action that gets you from a search page or a social media feed to a website where you're shown ads. But that click could be under threat because of a new feature Google rolled out last year called AI Overviews. It uses artificial intelligence to deliver an answer to your question before you click any links. This is bad news for the companies that produce the information that goes into those answers.

[Claudia Jaswinska]

I totally understand the temptation. Why click on a bunch of sources if you can just get a summary?

[Ari Shapiro]

Claudia Jaswinska is a journalist and researcher at Columbia University. She focuses on the ways AI is upending the news industry, and she says news outlets don't have many options.

[Claudia Jaswinska]

Publishers are kind of in a bind because if you want to opt out of AI Overviews, you opt out of Google search entirely.

[Ari Shapiro]

Yes, the AI summaries may be costing them visits, but without Google, they would be an even worse shape. Helen Havelak is the publisher of the tech news site the Verge. She says traffic to her site has been falling, and the decline lines up clearly with the rise of Google's AI Overviews.

[Claudia Jaswinska]

Distinction level event is already here, and a bunch of small publishers have already gone out of business.

[Ari Shapiro]

Consider this AI is coming for clicks, and the businesses that depend on those clicks are scrambling to survive. From npr, I'm Ari Shapiro.

[John Ruich]

Federal funding for public media has been eliminated, which means decades of support for public radio and television from both political parties is ending. To be clear, NPR isn't going anywhere. But we do need your support. We hope you'll give today to keep rigorous, independent and irreplaceable news coverage available to everyone from free of charge. Make your [e-mail] and thank you.

[Matthew Prince]

This summer on Planet Money Summer School, we're learning about political economy. We're getting into the nitty gritty of what government does with things like trade, taxes, immigration, and healthcare.

[Nate Hake]

So politics and economics, which are taught separately, they shouldn't be separated at all.

[Ari Shapiro]

I think you have to understand one.

[Nate Hake]

To really appreciate the other.

[Matthew Prince]

So what is the right amount of government in our lives? Tune into Planet Money Summer School from npr. Wherever you get your podcasts.

[Ari Shapiro]

It'S consider this from npr. So what do you do when the revenue stream that your company has depended on clicks is Suddenly looking shakier? NPR's John Ruich has been looking at how some businesses are adapting to the rise of AI chatbots and their effect on search engines like Google and before we go on, we'll note that Google is a financial supporter of npr, but we cover them like any other company here.

[Nate Hake]

Here's John Nate Hake's career path took an adventurous turn nine years ago.

[Helen Havelak]

I left my corporate legal job in 2016. I thought it was just gonna take a sabbatical year to travel the world on the road.

[Nate Hake]

He started blogging. One thing led to another, and now he runs a travel site called Travel Lemming.

[Helen Havelak]

I live in hotels. Quite literally.

[Nate Hake]

Hake's company posts advice and reviews, like this video he made.

[Helen Havelak]

Hey guys, so I'm coming at you from Ushgoli, which is the highest continuously occupied settlement in Europe and really just like my favorite part of Georgia.

[Nate Hake]

Like countless other sites, travelemming has been able to stay in business because of an unwritten grand bargain that's underpinned the way the Internet works.

[Helen Havelak]

Google crawls websites and then they provide search results.

[Nate Hake]

Traditionally, that's been a list of links. Those links get clicks, Websites get visitors. And for many publishers like Travel Lemming, they make money off ads and referrals to products and services.

[Helen Havelak]

Making a travel blog is a volume game. You need a lot of readers in order for it to be economically viable, because you're only making a penny or two per visitor.

[Nate Hake]

Most AI chatbots work differently. They put answers front and center rather than links. Google Search still produces web links, but it now offers AI produced answers at the top of some queries.

[Helen Havelak]

So they're no longer a search engine, they're an answer engine. And what that's had the effect of doing is just dramatically reducing clicks.

[Nate Hake]

Hake says he thinks Google also changed its search algorithm around the time it started to focus heavily on AI in late 2023, and he thinks that contributed to the collapse of his traffic. In a statement to npr, Google said website traffic can fluctuate for many reasons. It said those algorithm updates were separate from the launch of AI search features. Google said it prioritizes sending traffic to the web and it wants AI search experiences to lead to clicks. Publishers say the threat from AI is real, though some have accused AI companies of copyright infringement by consuming content without licenses and providing answers based on work that others did, companies are scrambling to come up with solutions. One of them is Cloudflare, a major player in Web security. Matthew Prince is its CEO.

[Chris Andrew]

If we are going to have an increasingly AI driven Web, which I think is inevitable, the business model of the web needs to change and content creators need to get compensated in a different way.

[Nate Hake]

Cloudflare's approach, unveiled in July is called Pay per Crawl. Customers can now toggle an online switch so that when an AI bot tries to visit their website to get information, it blocks them if they don't pay a fee. Prince says it's a first step in addressing a huge problem.

[Chris Andrew]

If content creators can't get compensated for their content, they'll stop creating content and I think we all will suffer as a result of that.

[Nate Hake]

Others are running the other direction, straight into AI's arms. And Chris Andrew is CEO and co founder of Scrunch AI. Scrunch tries to help customers websites get noticed by AI bots so that their name or products appear in AI Answers.

[Bobby Allen]

We're seeing companies that are desperate to get their content consumed by AI models.

[Nate Hake]

He's talking about companies that sell products and services like sneakers or oil changes. Andrew says that visibility can lead to more transactions even if there are fewer overall clicks. He sees a future where a whole new post human web emerges to feed AI. The websites of today, full of pictures and videos were designed primarily for eyeballs.

[Bobby Allen]

So I have a thesis that we're going to move to a non visual Internet because the Internet is going to.

[Nate Hake]

Be for AI and AI wants words.

[Bobby Allen]

The secret is in the name large language models want language. And as a society we have built a very confusing over designed over incentivized Internet that is heavily interactive.

[Nate Hake]

Websites as we know them won't vanish altogether. He says people will still need to visit them to buy stuff. And that's where Nate Hague thinks there might be a future for travel Lemming. His company recently launched a Paris itinerary planning service and they're branching out to other destinations soon.

[Helen Havelak]

And it may be that we're not even really an information source. In five years it may be that we're more of a tour company.

[Nate Hake]

Tours after all, are in person, he says, and AI can't replace that.

[Ari Shapiro]

That was NPR's John Ruich and you heard reporting at the top of this episode from NPR's Bobby Allen. This episode was produced by Connor Donovan and Henry Larson with audio engineering by Patrick Murray. It was edited by Ashley Brown, Brett Neely, Cara Plattoni and Nadia Lanci. Our executive producer is Sammy Yenigun. It's consider this from npr. I'm Ari Shapiro.

[Connor Donovan]

Federal funding for public media has been eliminated. That means decades of bipartisan support for public radio and television is ending. To be clear, NPR isn't going anywhere. But we do need your support. Please give today to help keep rigorous, independent and irreplaceable news coverage available to everybody for free of charge. You can make your [e-mail] and thank you.

[Henry Larson]

Recent research shows that psychedelics can help with a range of mental health conditions, including PTSD and depression.

[Bobby Allen]

Therapeutic effects can last for weeks to months after just a single dose.

[Henry Larson]

On the Sunday Story the neuroscience behind a growing psychedelics industry and how at home, ketamine therapy may be the industry's new front frontier. Listen now to the Sunday story on the Up First Podcast from npr.

[Claudia Jaswinska]

Want to hear this podcast without sponsor breaks? Amazon prime members can listen to Consider this sponsor free through Amazon Music.

[Henry Larson]

Or you can also support NPR's vital.

[Claudia Jaswinska]

Journalism and get consider this [e-mail] that's plus.NPR.org.