Google's AI Overviews are increasingly sourcing answers from social media platforms rather than brand websites, reducing direct traffic to corporate sites
Too little corroboration in the last 3 days to call a trend (3 articles). Watching for it to gain traction.
"A Google spokesperson said publishers can opt out of allowing their content to be used for training its Gemini AI models without removing themselves from search results. 'Google's AI Search features send billions of clicks to the web every week,' the spokesperson said, according to WSJ."
"When Google's AI answers a question, it is increasingly not reading a website. It is reading a Facebook post. New data suggests social platforms have become a core source for Google's AI answers."
"Google's AI does not treat social media as one thing. It appears to trust different platforms for different jobs... Facebook covers local and community signals. Instagram handles lifestyle and culture, TikTok viral trends and deals, Reddit firsthand experience, and YouTube how-to context."