Publishers Ask Google for Clearer AI Search Data
By Hezron Ochiel
Google says its artificial intelligence features are encouraging people to search more and sending billions of clicks to websites every week.
The claim has renewed questions about website traffic as AI-generated answers become more visible across Google Search.
Publishers, creators and businesses want to know which websites receive those visits, how the traffic is distributed and whether individual sites are gaining enough value from content used in AI-generated answers.
In a LinkedIn post published on July 17, 2026, Nick Fox, Google’s Senior Vice President of Knowledge and Information, said AI is enabling people to ask longer, more complex, and more conversational questions.
“When people can ask whatever questions are on their minds, they use Google Search more than ever,” Fox wrote.
He said Google Search continues to send billions of clicks to the web every day. AI features in Search alone are now sending billions of clicks to websites every week.
The statement gives website owners a useful signal that AI Search can still support discovery and referral traffic.
It also leaves one important question unanswered.
Where is the data that allows individual publishers to verify those clicks?
Publishers ask Google for clearer AI Search data
Comments under Fox’s post quickly turned towards transparency and measurement.
In a comment on the post, publisher and editor Michael Ziegler questioned why Google’s reported traffic was not clearly visible in Google Search Console.
He argued that creators and website owners need reliable data showing how often their content appears in AI Search, when it is cited and whether users follow the links.
Brian Shumway, a senior product manager, also called for dedicated AI Search data in Search Console. He suggested that Bing Webmaster Tools currently provides website owners with more useful information.
SEO consultant Glenn Gabe asked Google to clarify whether the billions of daily clicks referred to all Google Search activity or traffic generated specifically through AI-powered experiences.
Their questions expose a growing measurement gap.
Google presents AI as a new discovery channel. Publishers are seeing changes in traffic and click-through rates that remain difficult to trace through the available reports.
Google begins separating AI visibility in Search Console
Google has started responding to some of these concerns.
On June 3, 2026, the company announced dedicated generative AI performance reports in Search Console.
The reports provide a separate view of website impressions generated through AI Overviews, AI Mode and generative AI features in Discover. The information remains included in the broader performance report, giving website owners a clearer way to examine AI visibility separately.
The dedicated view can help publishers see:
- how often their pages appear in generative AI features;
- which pages receive visibility;
- the countries where the appearances occur;
- the devices audiences use;
- how visibility changes over time.
The current reporting focuses largely on impressions.
Publishers still need clearer information about queries, citations, clicks and the specific AI feature that sent a visitor.
A website may appear in an AI answer and later record more branded searches or direct visits. The available data may not show which AI interaction created that interest.
This weakens attribution.
A publisher can see that something changed without being able to establish where the audience journey began.
UK rules give publishers more control
Pressure for greater transparency is also coming from regulators.
On June 3, 2026, the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority imposed a publisher conduct requirement on Google.
The requirement is designed to give publishers stronger control over how their content is used in Google’s generative AI services. It also requires clearer attribution and engagement information.
The CMA said publishers would be able to opt out of having their content used to power AI features in Google Search. The regulator is continuing to monitor developments and may take further action as AI Search evolves.
This creates a difficult decision for publishers.
Allowing content to appear in AI features may generate visibility, citations and traffic. Opting out may protect content from being used in generated answers and may also reduce the opportunities that come with appearing there.
Publishers need dependable data before they can make that decision with confidence.
Independent studies report lower click-through rates
Google says its AI features help users discover a wider range of websites and generate higher-quality visits.
In its guidance on performing well in Google’s AI experiences, the company says website owners should continue publishing helpful, original and reliable content.
Google also says no special technical optimisation is required for AI Overviews or AI Mode. Existing SEO foundations remain important, including crawlability, page experience, structured content, internal links and useful information.
Independent studies show that AI-generated answers are affecting click behaviour.
In February 2026, Ahrefs published an analysis of 300,000 keywords using December 2025 Search Console data.
The study found that the presence of an AI Overview was associated with a 58 per cent lower average click-through rate for the page ranking in first position.
Ahrefs had reported a 34.5 per cent reduction in an earlier 2025 study. The updated analysis suggested that the effect had become stronger as AI Overviews expanded.
A Pew Research Center study published on July 22, 2025 reached a similar conclusion.
Pew analysed nearly 69,000 Google searches conducted by 900 adults in the United States.
Users clicked a traditional search result in 8 per cent of visits when an AI summary appeared. They clicked a result in 15 per cent of visits when the page had no AI summary.
Only 1 per cent of visits involving an AI summary resulted in a click on one of the sources cited inside the answer.
Users were also more likely to end their browsing session after reading the AI-generated response.
A February 2026 academic study of more than 161,000 matched Wikipedia pages estimated that exposure to Google AI Overviews reduced daily traffic to affected English-language articles by about 15 per cent.
The effect was stronger for topics where a short summary could satisfy the user’s information need.
Google and publishers can both be right
The independent findings do not automatically disprove Google’s claim.
Google processes an enormous volume of searches. AI features may be encouraging people to ask more questions and explore subjects that previously required several searches.
That growth can generate billions of clicks across the web.
AI-generated answers can also reduce the percentage of searches that lead to an individual website.
The total number of clicks may remain large because overall search activity is growing. Individual publishers may receive a smaller share because more questions are answered directly on the results page.
This is why aggregate traffic and publisher value need to be examined separately.
A global figure does not show:
- how the traffic is distributed;
- which industries are gaining;
- which websites are losing visits;
- how many searches end without a click;
- whether cited websites receive meaningful traffic;
- whether AI visibility leads to enquiries, sales or trust.
Publishers need page-level, query-level and feature-level information to understand what AI Search is doing for their own websites.
AI Search is changing the audience information journey
The debate reveals a wider change in how people discover and evaluate information.
A person may first encounter an organisation inside an AI-generated answer. They may read the summary and remember the organisation without visiting its website.
Later, they may search for the organisation by name, visit its LinkedIn page, read a media story or contact it directly.
The AI appearance still influenced the journey.
The immediate click represents one possible outcome among several.
AI Search visibility is the extent to which a brand or website appears, is cited, or informs answers within AI-powered search features, regardless of whether the interaction results in an immediate website visit.
Website success, therefore, requires a wider measurement system.
Communication and PR teams should monitor:
- AI citations and mentions;
- branded searches;
- direct website visits;
- AI referral traffic;
- media visibility;
- message pull-through;
- enquiries and conversions;
- reputation and authority signals.
Traffic remains important. It now sits within a larger journey covering discovery, evaluation, trust and action.
African publishers face a deeper measurement challenge
The reporting gap may be more serious for smaller African publishers, professional websites and institutional platforms.
Many operate with limited analytics capacity, smaller direct audiences, and fewer alternative revenue sources.
A fall in search traffic can affect advertising income, subscriptions, enquiries and the ability to fund original reporting or expert content.
African universities, hospitals, public institutions, and professional bodies also publish valuable information on health, education, research, and public services.
For example, a Kenyan health institution may publish original statistics, treatment guidance or training information. Google may use that material to answer a search query directly. The institution gains exposure, yet its analytics may show no clear visit from the interaction.
The information created value. The publisher cannot fully measure it.
Clearer reporting would help African organisations establish whether AI Search is extending their reach, improving public access to information or using their knowledge without producing meaningful attribution and audience action.
The measurement gap also strengthens the case for PR teams to track search visibility, AI citations and stakeholder action alongside traditional website traffic.
Original evidence gives websites a stronger reason to be cited
Brands and publishers also need content that gives AI systems something useful to extract and attribute.
This includes:
- original research;
- expert explanations;
- clearly sourced statistics;
- practical frameworks;
- case studies;
- institutional data;
- firsthand professional experience.
Generic information is easy to summarise from many sources.
Original evidence increases citation value and gives readers a reason to visit the source for context, methodology and deeper explanation.
The websites most likely to remain valuable in AI Search will be those publishing information that cannot be found everywhere else.
The open web needs measurable value
Google built its search business around organising and directing people to information created by others.
AI Search is changing that relationship.
Google can read several sources, combine their information and provide an answer directly on the results page.
Publishers continue to produce the knowledge that makes those answers possible. They need visibility, attribution, traffic and commercial value to continue investing in that work.
Google’s claim that AI Search generates billions of website clicks is encouraging.
Publishers now need the evidence.
They should be able to see when their work informs an AI answer, how often it is cited, whether users follow the citation and what happens after the visit.
That transparency would help businesses make better decisions. It would also strengthen confidence that AI-powered search can support the open web that supplies its information.
The transition is also increasing demand for professionals who understand SEO, GEO, structured content and AI visibility measurement.
Until then, the size of the opportunity will remain difficult for individual publishers, creators and website owners to measure.
Hezron Ochiel is a strategic communications and public relations professional with over 15 years of experience in media, digital communication, and reputation strategy. He serves as the Deputy Corporate Communications Manager at the government-owned Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) and is the founder of Hezron Insights, where he writes about AI visibility, Digital PR, SEO, GEO, and digital authority. His work has appeared on platforms including Reuters, The New Humanitarian, and The Standard.