Latest news with #searchresults
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
AI summaries causing ‘devastating' drop in online news audiences, study finds
News companies have been warned of a 'devastating impact' on online audiences as search results are replaced by AI summaries, after a new study claimed it caused up to 80% fewer clickthroughs. The threat posed by Google's AI Overviews, which summarise a search result with a block of text, has rapidly risen to the top of the concerns among media owners. Some regard it as an existential threat to outlets reliant on search result traffic. AI summaries can give users all the information they seek without ever clicking through to the original source of the content. Meanwhile, search result links are pushed further down the page, lowering the number of users that find them out. A new analysis by the Authoritas analytics company has found that a site previously ranked first in a search result could lose about 79% of its traffic for that query if results were delivered below an AI overview. The study also found links to YouTube – owned by Google's parent company Alphabet – were more prominent compared with the normal search result system. The research has been submitted as part of a legal complaint to the UK's competition watchdog about the impact of Google AI Overviews. A Google spokesperson said in a statement the study was 'inaccurate and based on flawed assumptions and analysis', using outdated estimations and a set of searches that did not represent all the queries that would generate traffic for news websites. 'People are gravitating to AI-powered experiences, and AI features in search enable people to ask even more questions, creating new opportunities for websites to be discovered,' the spokesperson said. 'We continue to send billions of clicks to websites every day, and we have not seen dramatic drops in aggregate web traffic as is being suggested.' A second study also showed a big hit to referral traffic from Google AI Overviews. A month-long survey of almost 69,000 Google searches, run by the Pew Research Center, a US thinktank, found users only clicked a link under an AI summary once every 100 times. A Google spokesperson said that study also used 'flawed methodology and skewed queryset that is not representative of search traffic'. Senior news executives say Google has repeatedly refused to share the data they need to calculate the impact of the use of AI summaries. While the AI overviews only make up a slice of Google searches, UK publishers have already said they are feeling the effects. The MailOnline executive, Carly Steven, said in May the site was experiencing a large drop in clicks from search results featuring an AI summary – with clickthrough rates dropping by 56.1% on the desktop site and 48.2% on mobiles. The legal complaint to the UK's Competition and Markets Authority is a collaboration between the tech justice group Foxglove, the Independent Publishers Alliance and the Movement for an Open Web. Owen Meredith, the chief executive of the News Media Association, accused Google of trying to keep users 'within its own walled garden, taking and monetising valuable content – including news – created by the hard work of others'. 'The situation as it stands is entirely unsustainable and will ultimately result in the death of quality information online,' he said. 'The Competition and Markets Authority has the toolkit to tackle these issues. It must do so urgently.' Rosa Curling, the director of Foxglove, said the new research demonstrated the 'devastating impact that Google's 'AI overviews' are already having on the UK's independent news industry'. 'It would be bad enough if Google were simply stealing journalists' work and passing it off as their own,' she said. 'But worse still, they are using this work to fuel their own tools and profits – while making it harder for media outlets to reach the readers they rely on to sustain their work.'
Gizmodo
22-07-2025
- Gizmodo
DuckDuckGo Is Hoping to Win Over AI-Hating Searchers
Are you tired of AI-generated images cluttering your search results? Lucky for you, there's a way out of the slop, and it starts with forgetting about Google. DuckDuckGo, the privacy-focused search engine and web browser, recently rolled out a new feature that allows users to hide images made with AI from their search results. You can try it yourself right now by running a search on the DuckDuckGo search engine and going to the images tab. You'll now see a new drop-down menu option titled 'AI Images' that can be toggled to hide or show AI images. 'Our goal is to help you find what you're looking for. You should decide for yourself how much AI you want in your life – or if you want any at all,' the company said in an announcement posted on the social media site X (formerly Twitter). The company's filter uses open-source blocklists to screen out the AI-generated images. Although it won't catch everything, it should significantly cut down the number of AI images in search results. The news comes as AI slop has been proliferating at an exponential rate. And while it's, at the very least, an eyesore, the bigger concern is how convincingly real these images are becoming. There has even been debate whether AI images should be watermarked by default to make them easier to spot. But, some argue that if the watermarks are easy to remove, they could backfire and give some AI-generated images a false sense of authenticity. Android Authority reported last week that OpenAI is already testing a watermark feature for images generated in the beta version of ChatGPT's Android app. Additionally, the site speculates that the ability to save images without a watermark might be granted to paid users. However, since the feature hasn't been officially announced, its final form, or whether it launches at all, could still change. DuckDuckGo launched in 2008 and now offers web browsers on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android. Its browsers come full with several privacy features, including blocking third-party trackers, stopping targeted ads (even on YouTube), and it doesn't track searches. The company says it makes money from private ads on its search engine. Although the company puts an emphasis on online privacy, it is not necessarily anti-AI. In its announcement of its AI image filter, the company said its philosophy for AI features is that they should be 'private, useful, and optional.' The company already offers several AI features, including which lets users access custom versions of popular models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Mistral, while keeping their conversations anonymous and untracked. In fact, the company announced today that users can now customize how those models respond, adjusting tone, length, and even what 'role' the model takes when replying.
Digital Trends
21-07-2025
- Digital Trends
Fed up with AI slop? Here's how DuckDuckGo can help
If you've had enough of AI-generated images filling up your search results, then the DuckDuckGo search engine is here to help. The Pennsylvania-based company recently announced an easy way to filter out AI-generated images from search results on its privacy-focused search engine. Recommended Videos To try it, simply make a search on DuckDuckGo and then head to the Images tab. You'll see a new drop-down option that says, 'AI images: show.' Select it and then select 'AI images: hide,' and then voilà, your page of images will appear slop-free! Alternatively — and this is a neat touch — if you want the feature auto-enabled on DuckDuckGo's search engine, all you need to do is bookmark This page also hides DuckDuckGo's AI-assisted summaries and AI chat icons. 'Our philosophy about AI features is 'private, useful, and optional,'' DuckDuckGo said in a post on X announcing the new feature. 'Our goal is to help you find what you're looking for. You should decide for yourself how much AI you want in your life — or if you want any at all.' The company said that its new filter blocks AI-generated images by using community-made lists that identify known AI image sources. It checks images against these lists and then hides from its search results the ones flagged as AI-generated. It added that while it won't catch 100% of AI-generated results, 'it will greatly reduce the number of AI-generated images you see.' DuckDuckGo's attempt to give people more control over the presence of AI-generated images in search results is a notable effort by the company toward preserving the integrity and usability of its search engine as the internet becomes increasingly filled with content created by AI tools. It's great that DuckDuckGo is listening to user gripes about the proliferation of synthetic images, with the new feature sure to prove popular among folks keen for real images in their results. Now, if only the social media sites would follow suit …
Entrepreneur
15-07-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
Everything You Need to Know About Reddit for Businesses in 2025
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. With over 1.2 billion monthly active users and a growing presence in Google's search results, Reddit has quietly become one of the most powerful drivers of brand visibility. Customers are no longer searching only on Google. Many are typing in your brand name plus "Reddit" to tap into the platform's unfiltered feedback and peer-to-peer advice. They want to know what real people are saying about your product, so much so that Reddit's appearance in Google search results has jumped considerably over the last year. If you're not showing up on Reddit — intentionally and authentically — you're not in control of your own reputation. What is Reddit, and why is it becoming an influential channel? Reddit is a user-generated content (UGC) platform divided into thousands of subreddits — topic-specific communities moderated by users. These are highly active contributors, critics and vocal fans. As of 2025, Reddit sees more than 97 million daily active users, 365 million weekly and 1.2 billion monthly. That's nearly triple the 430 million monthly users it had in 2019. Its appeal has expanded well beyond the tech-savvy demographic. Everyone from car shoppers to CFOs now turns to Reddit for research and peer insights. Related: 'Faster, Smarter, and More Relevant': Reddit Tests AI That Combs the Site For You Why Reddit matters for your brand Search behavior is changing. Users trust content that sounds like them — language from peers, not brands. That's why Google, Bing and AI search tools are increasingly surfacing Reddit content as authoritative responses. But visibility is only part of the equation. Reddit also functions as a brand barometer. A single negative comment can spin into dozens of upvoted replies. A helpful answer from a customer support rep can earn goodwill that outlasts a hundred emails. It's all about steering conversations at the moments that matter most. And Reddit's impact is sticky. Unlike social feeds where posts disappear in a matter of hours, high-ranking Reddit threads can stay visible — and relevant — for years. They show up in organic search. They're indexed by AI. They're cited in follow-up discussions. In short: They last. Related: How to Keep Eyes on Your Business Even When Google's Algorithm Changes, According to a Marketing Expert What makes Reddit SEO and marketing unique Marketing on Reddit is unlike any other platform. The audience is sharp, opinionated and allergic to fluff. What works here often runs counter to what succeeds elsewhere: No spray and pray : Broad messaging won't land. You need specificity. : Broad messaging won't land. You need specificity. No brand gloss : Highly produced content is viewed with suspicion. : Highly produced content is viewed with suspicion. No shortcuts: One-off posts get ignored or flagged. Trust is cumulative. Redditors value honesty, participation and domain knowledge. That makes it one of the most rewarding platforms for subject matter experts, but one of the harshest for brand reps who show up just to push product. Effective Reddit marketing starts with showing up where your audience already is and contributing to the conversation as a peer, not as a sponsor. How to leverage Reddit Done right, Reddit supports nearly every pillar of your marketing stack: Search visibility : Targeted engagement can help you rank for branded and unbranded queries, especially for long-tail and product-related queries. : Targeted engagement can help you rank for branded and unbranded queries, especially for long-tail and product-related queries. Content strategy : Reddit surfaces real questions and unmet needs. Treat this as fuel for content that resonates with your target audience. : Reddit surfaces real questions and unmet needs. Treat this as fuel for content that resonates with your target audience. Product development : Threads highlight where your offering falls short or exceeds expectations. It's a goldmine for refining features and messaging. : Threads highlight where your offering falls short or exceeds expectations. It's a goldmine for refining features and messaging. Reputation management : Active, authentic responses from branded accounts can clarify misinformation, defuse criticism and reframe the narrative. : Active, authentic responses from branded accounts can clarify misinformation, defuse criticism and reframe the narrative. Trust-building: Showing up regularly without selling earns credibility. Over time, that translates into influence. You can't fake it on Reddit. But if you're willing to do the work, the payoff — traffic, loyalty, influence — is unusually durable. Building your Reddit marketing strategy Reddit success is iterative. It's a slow burn, not a viral hit. That's why we recommend a three-phase approach to grow your brand on the platform: Crawl-Walk-Run. Crawl Start slow. This phase is about becoming fluent in Reddit's culture. Identify the subreddits where your audience gathers and begin reading, not posting. Pay attention to tone. Take note of the questions that get thoughtful responses and which get buried. Figure out what users consider helpful and what gets flagged. Set up one to three branded accounts, ideally with usernames that match your business identity but sound human, not robotic. You're not here to drop links. You're here to observe and engage lightly. Upvote useful content. Reply to a thread only when you can add meaningful context or value. Prioritize relevance over reach. Reddit doesn't reward flashy entrances. At this stage, your success depends on whether users accept you as a participant. If you rush this phase, you risk being flagged or shadowbanned. Take the time to learn the language before you speak. Related: I Trusted the Wrong Marketing Metrics for Years — Here's What I Track Now Instead Walk Now that you've got the context, you're ready to be more active. This is when you shift from listening to joining the conversation. Start responding to questions related to your expertise. Share insights and experiences. Reference tools or tactics that have worked for you, but avoid sounding like a commercial. When you do mention your brand, keep it natural. For example, you might share it as one possible solution among many. At this stage, start tracking mentions of your brand. Tools like Brandwatch or native Reddit search can help you monitor conversations and jump into relevant threads. Address questions. Clarify misinformation. Say thank you to users who recommend you. This is also the stage to test your content pillars — recurring themes that align with what users care about and what your brand knows best. That might mean sharing security best practices if you're in fintech or productivity hacks if you're in SaaS. The key? Show up regularly. Respond thoughtfully. And don't overreach. Run Once your brand is recognized and respected in key subreddits, you're ready to scale. The "Run" phase is about building infrastructure that supports deeper engagement. Launch a branded subreddit where your audience can ask questions, share tips or report issues. Think of it as your own space within Reddit. This gives you a centralized place to engage while maintaining a transparent, community-first tone. Host ask-me-anything (AMA) sessions with team members — founders, product leads or subject matter experts. This is a chance to show up as real humans. Just make sure your participants are prepared. Redditors ask sharp questions, and canned answers won't cut it. Explore Reddit Ads to amplify high-performing organic posts. Native ad formats can help you reach new users without sacrificing authenticity, as long as your content adds value. At this stage, you'll likely need to participate daily, moderate in real time and coordinate with your social, customer support and PR teams. Reddit isn't just part of your marketing stack anymore. It's a core channel that deserves real resourcing. Best practices and common pitfalls Reddit isn't a place where you can repurpose your Twitter threads or recycle blog copy. It's a space that demands sincerity and restraint. Here's what to do (and what to avoid): What to do: Be upfront about who you are and who you represent. Authenticity builds trust. Study each subreddit's rules before participating. Respect is a must if you want to gain traction on the platform. Focus on being useful. Solve real problems rather than pitch products. Monitor the impact of your activity, both on the platform and in search rankings. Commit to regular engagement. Relationships don't form overnight. What to avoid: Don't overproduce your content. Slick visuals or overly polished videos can feel out of place. Ignoring context is a recipe for disaster. What works in r/marketing may get deleted in r/startups. Don't go silent for long stretches. Inconsistency reads as inauthentic. Don't make promises you can't back up. Reddit users remember, and they will follow up. Boilerplate, copy-paste responses are a fast track to trouble. Reddit can spot scripted replies instantly. If it feels canned, chances are it'll get flagged or roasted. Measuring Reddit impact You can't manage what you don't measure. Here are the most relevant metrics to track as you scale your Reddit presence: Brand mentions (volume and sentiment) Comment upvotes and engagement rates Thread longevity and search visibility Traffic from Reddit to your site (via tagged links or direct) Conversions or assisted conversions from Reddit visitors Look beyond vanity metrics. A single, high-impact comment in the right thread might outperform a paid campaign in both reach and authority. Tools that can help with measuring these metrics include: If you're serious about measuring Reddit's impact, you need more than just upvotes and comments. Here are some tools to level up your tracking game: 1. Brand24 or Mention Use these for tracking brand mentions across Reddit (and the rest of the web). They pull in volume, sentiment, and trending conversations so you're not flying blind. 2. Reddit Keyword Monitor Pro This tool is tailor-made for Reddit. Set up alerts for keywords or brand names and get real-time updates when they're mentioned. Ideal for timely engagement. 3. Google Analytics (GA4) Track traffic and conversions from Reddit. Set up UTM parameters to see exactly what's driving clicks and sales—or where your funnel's leaking. 4. Ubersuggest While it's more SEO-focused, Ubersuggest can still show you if Reddit links are helping your pages rank or if any backlinks are giving you SEO juice. 5. Hypefury or Buffer If you're syndicating Reddit insights to other platforms (or vice versa), tools like these help schedule and measure cross-platform performance. 6. Sprout Social This one's more for social listening and engagement reporting. If Reddit is part of a broader strategy, you'll want centralized reporting. Conclusion Reddit is now an essential part of the digital marketing ecosystem. It shapes search results. It informs buying decisions. And it holds unmatched power for gauging brand sentiment. Ignoring it gives others the microphone. But for those willing to contribute with humility, value and consistency, Reddit offers reach and relevance. Start now. Your competitors already have.
Bloomberg
04-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Google to Propose Price-Comparison Box in Search to Appease EU
Alphabet Inc. 's Google will propose highlighting search results from other companies' shopping and travel platforms at the top of its page in an attempt to comply with the European Union's Digital Markets Act and fend off fines, people familiar the matter said. Under the plan, a box at the top of Google's search results will show ranked options from price-comparison companies' websites, the people said, asking not to be identified because the proposal is not yet public. Users will be able to either proceed to the sites of its competitors — such as Expedia or Booking — or click on individual results to go to the page of a hotel or airline, they said.
