Google and online publishers have always had a “frenemy” relationship. But the launch of Google’s AI Overviews (formerly known as SGE) has made that relationship even worse. Search Generative Experience is moving traditional organic links lower on the page, which is causing Click-Through Rates (CTR) for creators to drop noticeably.
This change has caused a huge fight. Publishers say that Google is using the work they do to train AI models that take their traffic. The European Union is now getting involved with an antitrust investigation that could change the rules of the open web. We at The Dreamial Marketing Agency are best SEO agency USA keeping a close eye on these changes in the law to help publishers keep their digital assets safe in this unstable market.
Understanding the EU Probe: What are the reasons for the Google investigation?
The EU isn’t just asking questions; they’re looking at the web’s basic economics. The investigation is mostly looking at two things:
Fair Pay: Should big tech companies pay for the data they use to train their Large Language Models (LLMs)? Publishers say they should get a cut of the money if their content makes the AI smarter.
Abuse of Dominance: People are worried that Google might be putting its own AI summaries ahead of links from other sites, which could be against the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
The “Zero-Click” Search Crisis in AI
The “Zero-Click” phenomenon is the thing that content creators are most afraid of. If AI makes a perfect summary at the top of the search results, the user doesn’t need to click on the link to the website.
This is bad news for publishers who depend on ad revenue. It basically breaks the unspoken agreement that people have on the internet: “I make content, you index it, send me traffic, and I make money off of that traffic.” The business model falls apart if the traffic stops. That’s why The Dreamial Marketing Agency makes marketing plans that can change, moving the focus from just getting more traffic to keeping valuable users.
How Ranking is Changing and What It Means for SEO
SEO isn’t going away, but it is changing. It’s not enough to just be number one anymore; you also want to be the “cited source” in the AI overview.
From CTR to Brand Mentions: Google’s AI gives more weight to reliable sources. More and more, being mentioned as a trusted source is worth more than a raw keyword ranking.
Deep Content: AI is good at giving a quick overview of information. To win, publishers need to make “Deep Content,” which are articles that are nuanced, opinionated, or based on personal experience that an AI can’t easily copy.
Knowledge is important: Companies looking for the Best SEO Services UK are learning that technical tricks won’t cut it; you need real topical authority to get past the AI filter.
Rights and Ownership of Content
Who owns the text on your website? There is a disagreement about “Fair Use” and “Copyright Infringement.”
Publishers are now using tools like Google-Extended in their robots.txt files to stop AI bots from scraping their content for training data. This lets them stay in traditional search. It’s a hard balance to strike. We are also seeing publishers form alliances to work together to get licencing deals with big tech companies.
The Future of Making Money and Technical SEO
Where do we go if ad money runs out? There could be a “Pay-to-Crawl” model, where AI companies pay to get into premium archives. Until then, the best thing you can do is technical SEO.
Schema Markup: Use structured data to clearly tell Google that this is “Original Reporting.”
Canonical Tags: Keep scrapers from stealing your original work.
Entity Optimisation: Make sure Google knows who you are, not just what you wrote.
Why Brand Authority is the Only Shield
Users still want to connect with other people at the end of the day. They trust different “Human Brands” more than generic AI answers.
Building direct connections with your audience, like email lists, communities, and newsletters, is the most reliable way to do this. This is why The Dreamial Marketing Agency puts a lot of effort into creating brand identities that are strong and don’t depend only on search traffic.
Finding Your Way in the New Digital Frontier
The EU investigation is a step towards a more fair internet, but publishers can’t wait for a court decision to act. You need to change your SEO Strategy agency right away. Make sure your data is safe, write deep content, and build a brand that people look for by name.
Are you ready to protect the future of your content? Work with The Dreamial Marketing Agency to ride the wave of AI.
Most Popular Questions
What is the EU looking into when it comes to Google AI and publishers?
The investigation is looking into antitrust laws and whether Google is using publisher content to train AI without paying them fairly, which would mean that traffic is being taken away from the original creators.
What will happen to my website’s SEO traffic because of the EU investigation?
If the EU rules against Google, we might see changes that make AI overviews give more credit to sources or limit how much content they summarise. This might help bring back some click-through traffic from searches that don’t require a click.
In the age of AI search, what do “Content Rights” mean?
This means who owns the information on your website. The question is whether using your articles to “teach” an AI is against the law or not.
Can I stop Google AI from using my stuff?
Yes. You can put the Google-Extended token in your robots.txt file. This lets Google know that they can index your site for search, but they can’t use your content to teach their AI models (Bard/Gemini).
If Google AI can answer all user questions, is SEO still useful?
Yes, of course. Even though informational queries like “how tall is the Eiffel Tower” may not get as much traffic, transactional and complex queries still need human expertise. To do this, you need a plan that focuses on deep knowledge. Companies that offer the best SEO services in the UK are already switching to these strategies based on entities.
