• 2 min read
Publishers May Block Google to Escape AI Answers
Major publishers are weighing tougher blocks on Google as AI summaries squeeze search traffic and force a trade-off over visibility.
Image: Gizmodo
Publishers are weighing whether to cut off Google’s access to their content as AI-generated search answers erode referral traffic, according to a new Wall Street Journal report. For some, the discussion has gone beyond limiting AI training and toward blocking Google’s crawlers more broadly.
The Journal reported that Reddit has discussed shutting off Google’s access to its content for AI use, citing anonymous sources. That would mark a sharp shift: Google pays Reddit $60 million a year under a 2024 deal to scrape its content for AI.
Other media companies are also reassessing the trade-off between search visibility and AI reuse. Reuters President Paul Bascobert told the Journal:
“We are certainly looking at the economic trade-offs between search and AI summaries.”
Gannett CEO Mike Reed, whose company publishes USA Today, was more blunt:
“It’s time to take a stand and say enough is enough.”
And Dotdash Meredith CEO Neil Vogel said:
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“Turning them off and blocking them entirely is 100% on the table.”
The Journal said Politico and The Economist are also considering their options. The core problem is that publishers can block crawling for Google’s AI training, but generally must still allow crawling for both AI query results and traditional search if they want their content to appear in either.
There are narrower tools short of a full break. According to BotDetector, publishers can use Google-Extended to stop content from being used to train models such as Gemini. To stay out of Google AI Overviews, BotDetector said publishers would likely need the “nosnippet” tag, though that could also hurt search performance. The more drastic “noindex” tag would remove pages from Google search indexing altogether.
Google told the Journal that its AI sends “billions of clicks to the web every week,” adding that it “highlight[s] links to the web and help[s] creators and publishers grow their audiences” while offering “clear controls for website owners to manage their content.”
Enterprise Editor
Marcus follows the money. He covers enterprise software, cloud architecture, and the tectonic shifts in Big Tech strategy. He translates dense earnings calls and complex M&A activity into actionable insights about where the industry is actually heading. If a tech giant makes a silent pivot, Marcus is usually the first to notice.
via Gizmodo
