14 spots left to join us for the Digiday Publishing Summit

Join us Sept. 14-16 in Miami to connect with top publishing leaders

SECURE YOUR SEAT

Stat Snapshot: Google’s Algo Change Boosts Publishers

It turns out Google’s recent algorithm change has helped many publishers. Outbrain, the content recommendation service with nearly 100 publishers like USA Today and Boston.com, said its data shows national publishers received a 53 percent increase in traffic and local sites got an additional 41 percent. The information is another piece to the puzzle of what Google’s “Farmer” algorithm change means to publishers. At the time it undertook the shift, Google said it was singling out “content farms.” Many publishers quickly applauded the move.

The data underscores how much publishers depend on Google due to its stranglehold on search. Most publishers see well over 50 percent of their traffic from Google.

More in Media

An anatomy of the creator brand trip’s midlife crisis

The brand trip as we know it may be dead, but a newer, more genuine and engaging format is rising from its ashes.

European publishers are getting hit harder by AI bot scraping, report finds

European publishers face more AI bot scraping, fewer referrals and more ignored robots.txt rules than North American sites, report finds.

Walmart-backed gaming publication lays off editorial team

Brandy Berthelson — who had been Restart’s editor-in-chief — said on Bluesky last Friday that the “entire editorial team” at Restart was laid off.