The definitive publisher guide to what’s in and out in the era of Google’s AI Overviews

In
Strip-mining content
Out
Driving traffic

In 
Zero-click searches
Out 
Click-through rates

In 
Lobbying as a content strategy
Out
Content strategy as a content strategy

In 
Reader revenue, whether readers like it or not
Out
Assuming advertising can do the heavy lifting

In 
The quiet publisher pivot to YouTube Shorts and TikTok
Out
Optimizing for Google’s evolving SERP layout

In 
Google the frenemy who doesn’t text back
Out
Google the partner who takes you to Cannes

In
Publishers hoping Apple will rescue them
Out 
Publishers ignoring Google’s conflicting incentives

In
Fury at continued unauthorized scraping
Out
Trust that bots honor robots.txt

In
“Strategic alliances” with arch frenemies
Out
Publisher consortiums with moral high ground

In
AI-generated answers with citation links buried 12 rows deep
Out
Top three results as a badge of honor

In
A stronger desire to diversify away from Google 
Out
Hamstrung by Google relations 

In 
Content as raw material for training data
Out 
Content as a product 

In
SEO editors with existential dread
Out
Meta descriptions crafted like poetry

In
Publisher content as AI compost
Out
Publisher content as monetizable IP

In
Legal threats as a revenue strategy
Out
AdSense checks covering payroll

In
Grim traffic charts in publisher Slack channels
Out
Google Analytics as a sign of life

In
Blue-link nostalgia
Out
Blue-link referral dependency 

In
Worrying about AEO/GEO 
Out
Worrying about SEO

In
IP protection strategies 
Out
AI licensing deals