Investigative report tears into Google AI Overviews & other nails Google has hammered into the web publishing coffin

A new comprehensive investigation by House Fresh reveals the dark truth behind Google’s AI Overviews feature. The report paints a damning picture of how Google’s AI system operates more like a pushy salesperson than a helpful search tool. It says Google’s AI Overviews are akin to a salesman who can even sell you non-existent products.

The investigation found that Google’s AI Overviews will enthusiastically recommend purchasing products that don’t even exist. The publication tested the system with completely made-up air purifier models and discovered the AI would still generate glowing recommendations filled with marketing speak. The problem runs deeper than imaginary products. House Fresh found that 43% of facts cited by AI Overviews come directly from product manufacturers through press releases, sponsored reviews, and retailer product listings rather than independent sources.

Even when users specifically asked about product downsides, the AI would spin negative information into positive sales pitches. The system only provided balanced information when users explicitly asked for “good reasons not to buy” specific products. This creates what the publication calls “a problematic pattern” where Google’s AI essentially becomes a mouthpiece for marketing materials.

While Google executives promise that AI Overviews will send more traffic to websites, the reality tells a different story. House Fresh analyzed 507 web publishers across 43 categories and found devastating results. Nearly four in five publishers experienced traffic losses since June 2023, with almost half seeing their Google search traffic drop by at least 60%. The situation becomes even more stark when looking at sites Google previously celebrated. The investigation found that 81% of publisher websites featured in Google’s own “Success Stories” have lost traffic since 2023.

Meanwhile, Reddit experienced a 990% traffic increase from Google Search during the same period. This dramatic shift isn’t accidental. Google struck a $60 million deal with Reddit in February 2024, giving the search giant programmatic access to Reddit’s content. The partnership has created an unexpected side effect where affiliate marketers have infiltrated major subreddits, with moderators allegedly being bought off to allow product spam. According to research cited in the report, Reddit appears in 97.5% of product review queries.

This report clearly shows that Google has evolved from helping users navigate the web to doing its best to lock them in their own ecosystem. A search for “dinosaurs” now generates 69 opportunities to trigger new searches and 28 chances to click on advertisements, but only 11 opportunities to actually leave Google’s platform. This transformation accelerates with Google’s AI Mode, which CEO Sundar Pichai describes as “a total reimagining of Search.”

Google built its business on the promise of sending traffic to websites, but Google’s own Martin Splitt recently admitted at a conference that while impressions might increase for sites shown in AI Overviews, “clicks are likely to stagnate or fall a little bit.” So it’s clear that his AI wave is will only widen the gap between how often content appears in search results and how often users actually click through to websites.

That said, for those who want to stand up against Google or don’t want to see nonsensical AI-generated garbage, we’ve already covered some ways to disable Google AI Overviews. 

The report comes as Google faces increasing scrutiny from regulators. The European Union recently launched an antitrust complaint over AI Overviews, while Cloudflare announced its plan to block AI crawlers by default. As the BBC recently explored, Google’s AI Mode could change the internet forever.

The House Fresh investigation serves as a wake-up call about the true cost of Google’s AI revolution. While the company profits from regurgitating content created by others, the websites and publishers that make this possible are slowly being squeezed out of existence.

For web publishers and content creators, the implicit deal with Google has been broken. The search giant is no longer just an intermediary connecting searchers with websites, but has become a competitor that uses their content to keep users away from their sites.