Google is testing a program that will pay sites if their content contributes significantly to AI-generated search results. About 100 publishers have already signed up for the pilot, but for many of them, the payouts have been very small.
Google is testing a program that will pay sites if their content contributes significantly to AI-generated search results. About 100 publishers have already signed up for the pilot, but for many of them, the payouts have been very small.
This is reported by Ars Technica.
According to the publication's sources, for some small and medium-sized sites, Google's payments amount to about 0.1% of their advertising revenue. Several large publishers have refused to join the program altogether because of this. They expect that Google will eventually offer more favorable terms.
However, the amounts vary widely. One publisher who joined the test earlier could earn over $1 million per year. Another participant earned around $50,000–60,000, while some smaller sites earned less than $1,000 in a few months.
Pilot participants also noticed a pattern: niche content with a loyal audience, such as anime and video games, can pay better. But publishers say they don’t understand exactly how Google calculates payouts or what the company considers a site’s “significant contribution” to an AI response. This makes it nearly impossible to predict future revenue.
Previously, Google mostly insisted that publishers already benefit from the indexing of their content through search traffic. But with the advent of AI Overviews, AI can immediately generate an answer to a user’s query without forcing them to go to the source site.
Previously, dev.ua wrote that Google's AI features, in particular AI Overviews, are reducing traffic to news sites, as users are increasingly receiving ready-made answers without going to the source site.
