Google exec says AI search needs same SEO while publishers lose traffic

Nick Fox, Google’s SVP of Information and Data, advised publishers on December 15, 2025, that optimizing for synthetic intelligence search requires no adjustments from conventional SEO. Based on Fox, who oversees Search, Adverts, and Commerce at Google, the strategy stays equivalent regardless of basic shifts in how AI-powered options redirect site visitors away from unbiased web sites.

“The best way to optimize to do properly in Google’s AI experiences may be very related, I might say, the identical as the best way to carry out properly in conventional search,” Fox acknowledged throughout his look on the AI Inside podcast with Jason Howell and Jeff Jarvis. “And it actually does come all the way down to construct an incredible website, construct nice content material.”

The December 15 interview marked Fox’s return to the podcast seven months after his earlier look in Might 2025. Throughout each conversations, Fox defended Google’s place that “the net is prospering” regardless of mounting proof from publishers experiencing catastrophic site visitors declines.

When Jarvis requested whether or not publishers ought to view their content material in a different way for AI search, Fox responded with an unequivocal “no.” This steering got here as analysis analyzing 300,000 key phrases discovered that AI Overviews reduce organic clicks by 34.5% when current in search outcomes, in keeping with evaluation revealed by Ahrefs.

Fox dismissed considerations about these site visitors declines, characterizing third-party analysis as “one-offs” and “cherry-picked analyses.” He claimed that statistics “will fluctuate by website” and referenced inside research exhibiting some web sites gained site visitors from AI options. “, one of many ones that form of caught with me was a website was saying, or I believe there was a report of a website that had double-digit decreases perhaps over 50% lower in site visitors,” Fox defined. “And it was claimed that was related to AI and search, nevertheless it was truly, you understand, that the lower in site visitors was earlier than we had even introduced AI overviews.”

The Google government emphasised partnerships with over 3,000 organizations, publishers, and publications in 50 nations. “To your level, it isn’t only one or two on the head however relatively there’s a variety,” Fox mentioned. “There’s native protection.”

But when Jarvis introduced an in depth proposal for standardized licensing offers that may permit smaller publishers to take part in AI content material agreements, Fox rejected the idea. Based on Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Roundtable, Fox mentioned the “brief reply isn’t any” for arising with a typical licensing mannequin for all publishers.

Jarvis outlined 5 arguments in the course of the interview for why publishers ought to embrace AI by standardized licensing: journalists face ethical obligations to incorporate information in AI, AI does not really want information content material as artificial information improves, coaching seemingly qualifies as truthful use beneath present legislation, AI will change into the first discovery mechanism, and no monetary windfall awaits publishers by litigation.

“I am arguing that information should get up within the subsequent 12 months and say we must be there. We must be in AI,” Jarvis acknowledged. He proposed that information organizations create APIs for AI firms, facilitating accountable inclusion with correct attribution and branding.

Fox averted direct engagement with this proposal. “I believe your broadest level is we have to work out the best way to work collectively,” Fox responded. “I strongly agree with that.” However he framed the connection primarily round site visitors era relatively than content material licensing constructions accessible to smaller publishers.

“We associate with organizations primarily in two methods,” Fox defined. “I might say primary, the first one, is driving clicks. And I consider that continues. I consider that customers will proceed to click on by and skim underlying sources.” He added that “there’s additionally industrial partnerships across the monetary aspect of it as properly. Nevertheless it actually must be each and I consider the core of the way in which that Google will associate with information organizations and web sites total can be by site visitors and hyperlinks inside these experiences.”

This positioning contradicts the experiences of publishers going through existential site visitors declines. Dotdash Meredith reported during first quarter 2025 earnings that “AI Overviews seem on roughly a 3rd of search outcomes associated to DDM’s content material” with observable efficiency declines. The corporate skilled a 3% year-over-year decline in core person classes, inflicting drops in programmatic advert income.

Fox acknowledged in the course of the December 15 interview that “for certain there are websites which can be struggling” and expressed “empathy for these websites.” He emphasised that Google is dependent upon the well being of the net. “Finally we’re a search engine, proper? And we’re an internet search engine and so we rely on the well being of the net,” Fox acknowledged. “We deeply consider that the longevity, the vibrance of the net, is crucial.”

But this acknowledgment got here with out concrete proposals for addressing underlying structural points past encouraging publishers to “construct nice content material.” Fox emphasised basic market realities that place writer considerations as resistance to inevitable technological progress. “You possibly can’t struggle customers proper if customers are on the lookout for an expertise you should ship the expertise that customers are on the lookout for,” Fox acknowledged.

The chief introduced that AI Mode, Google’s conversational search interface, reached 75 million every day energetic customers globally. Fox characterised this development as an “expansionary second” for each search and the net. “Individuals are utilizing the net greater than ever earlier than,” he claimed, citing inside metrics exhibiting 45% will increase in new pages Google’s crawlers found when evaluating April 2025 versus April 2023.

These web page creation statistics obscure crucial distinctions between content material quantity and writer sustainability. The variety of pages listed bears no direct relationship as to if particular person publishers can preserve viable companies when AI features systematically reduce their traffic.

Fox supplied particulars about person conduct patterns in AI Mode. “The varieties of questions that persons are doing at the moment are totally different,” he defined. “Individuals are asking longer questions. We see questions which can be two to a few instances as lengthy by way of their queries. Individuals are utilizing phrases like I and me and asking form of rather more private questions and form of specifying rather more deeply what they’re on the lookout for.”

These longer, extra advanced queries symbolize precisely the kind of informational searches that traditionally drove site visitors to unbiased publishers. AI Mode satisfies these wants inside Google’s interface, lowering incentives for customers to go to unique sources even when these sources comprise considerably extra detailed info.

Fox described AI Mode as occupying “an area between a chatbot and a search engine,” combining conversational capabilities with net connectivity and factuality. “What’s neat about it’s individuals can kind their question into the omnibar and you then hit tab, it takes you over to the AI mode button,” Fox defined. “You hit tab and enter and it takes you straight into AI mode.”

The chief revealed that private context options, which Google introduced at I/O in Might 2025, stay unavailable to basic customers. These options would permit AI search to entry info from Gmail, Drive, and different Google companies to supply personalised responses. “That is an space we proceed to work on,” Fox mentioned. “, it is vital that we get it proper. It is vital that we do that in a approach that is truly helpful. And, you understand, once more, we have to get the person permissions proper with this.”

Fox highlighted adoption patterns throughout totally different markets. “We see probably the most mature adoption in a market just like the US on account of it being the primary by which we launched,” he defined. The chief famous significantly sturdy resonance in India, Brazil, and Indonesia, the place much less developed net content material in native languages makes AI responses extra helpful.

“Markets which have a considerably much less developed net the place there’s much less content material on the net, the AI response might be sort of useful as a result of it does not have to fret about essentially was there content material created in that language in that nation however relatively it form of turns into slightly bit extra cross language cross border,” Fox acknowledged. This admission reveals that AI responses substitute for writer content material relatively than complementing it.

Fox emphasised that person adoption takes months to mature. “There’s this person studying impact which truly takes time it takes form of on the order of months,” he defined. “, search is a product that folks have utilized in some circumstances for you understand a number of many years and so there’s established muscle reminiscence there’s established patterns and so you understand it takes some period of time for customers to adapt.”

The chief introduced a number of enhancements to AI experiences. “Earlier this week, we introduced plenty of enhancements to go looking associated to how we might help web sites actually thrive by this second,” Fox acknowledged. He highlighted Most well-liked Sources, a function that “permits customers to specify the websites that they care about, the websites that they need to see extra content material from.”

Based on Fox, “in the event you’ve chosen a website as a most popular supply, it should present rather more prominently throughout the prime tales unit inside search.” This function requires customers to actively designate publications, reworking what was beforehand a passive algorithmic relationship into an energetic viewers improvement problem for publishers.

Google’s Preferred Sources goes global with doubled click rates

Google expands Preferred Sources globally on December 10, 2025 while launching commercial AI partnerships with publishers like The Guardian and Der Spiegel.

Fox additionally mentioned enhancements to hyperlinks inside AI experiences. “We’re truly bettering the hyperlinks inside our AI expertise, growing the variety of them in addition to growing preambles for them as a result of we do deeply consider in that,” he mentioned. These modifications tackle signs relatively than underlying structural issues created by AI-powered search options.

The December 15 interview came about as Google announced commercial partnerships with choose main publishers together with The Guardian, Der Spiegel, El País, Folha de S. Paulo, Infobae, Kompas, The Occasions of India, The Washington Examiner, and The Washington Submit. The partnership program provides funds to taking part publishers, although Google has not disclosed particular compensation quantities.

These selective industrial preparations distinction sharply with Fox’s rejection of standardized licensing fashions that would offer smaller publishers with negotiating frameworks. Main publishers safe particular person offers whereas unbiased retailers face site visitors declines with out compensation mechanisms.

Fox’s steering that publishers ought to optimize for AI search identically to conventional search ignores basic variations in how these methods perform. Conventional search directed customers to web sites the place publishers managed the studying expertise, advert placements, and subscription conversion alternatives. AI-powered search synthesizes info from a number of sources into complete solutions inside Google’s interface, lowering each site visitors quantity and the standard of remaining clicks.

The chief’s emphasis on “constructing nice content material” as the answer to writer challenges displays a disconnect from enterprise realities going through content material creators. Publishers have all the time targeted on creating nice content material. The problem they now face entails platform selections that systematically extract worth from that content material whereas offering diminishing returns.

Fox’s rejection of standardized licensing offers leaves smaller publishers with out viable paths to barter truthful compensation for content material utilization in AI methods. Particular person negotiation requires sources and leverage that unbiased publishers lack. Standardized frameworks would offer baseline protections and compensation constructions accessible to publishers of all sizes.

The European Fee launched a proper antitrust investigation on December 9, 2025, inspecting whether or not Google violated EU competition rules by utilizing writer content material for AI functions with out acceptable compensation or viable opt-out mechanisms. Penske Media Corporation filed a comprehensive federal antitrust lawsuit towards Google on September 12, 2025, alleging the search large systematically coerces publishers into offering content material for synthetic intelligence methods whereas lowering web site site visitors.

Fox’s December 15 statements recommend Google will proceed prioritizing traffic-based partnerships over licensing constructions regardless of mounting authorized and regulatory strain. The corporate’s strategy advantages bigger publishers with negotiating energy whereas leaving unbiased retailers with out protections as AI options essentially reshape info distribution.

Timeline

Abstract

Who: Nick Fox, Google’s SVP of Information and Data overseeing Search, Adverts, and Commerce, spoke with Jason Howell and Jeff Jarvis on the AI Inside podcast about synthetic intelligence integration in search merchandise.

What: Fox acknowledged that optimization for AI search requires no adjustments from conventional search engine optimisation, rejecting proposals for standardized licensing offers that may permit smaller publishers to barter truthful compensation for content material utilization in AI methods whereas acknowledging that “for certain there are websites which can be struggling.”

When: The interview came about on December 15, 2025, seven months after Fox’s earlier look on the identical podcast and 5 days after Google introduced selective industrial partnerships with main publishers.

The place: The statements have an effect on publishers globally, significantly smaller unbiased retailers with out sources to barter particular person licensing agreements, as AI Mode expands to 75 million every day energetic customers throughout 40 nations and AI Overviews function in additional than 100 nations.

Why: The matter is critical for the advertising group as a result of it reveals Google’s technique of prioritizing traffic-based partnerships over licensing constructions regardless of mounting proof of systematic site visitors declines, authorized challenges from publishers together with Penske Media’s September antitrust lawsuit, and regulatory scrutiny together with the European Fee’s December 9 investigation into whether or not Google violated competitors guidelines by utilizing writer content material for AI functions with out acceptable compensation.