Google has launched a secret pilot program through which it pays financial sums to about 100 digital publishers when their content is used in generative answers via its search engine and Gemini bot. These payments come amid criticism over their low value and coincide with a sharp decline in traffic to original websites.
- Pilot program to compensate publishers for generative answers
- Obscure calculation mechanism and dramatic drop in visitor clicks
- Publisher resistance and European legislative and judicial pressure
- Frequently asked questions
Pilot program to compensate publishers for generative answers
Press reports published by The Information platform on Tuesday revealed that Google has been providing secret financial compensation to approximately 100 digital publishers and websites through a special pilot program, issuing cash payouts when their content contributes to generating smart answers via “AI Overviews,” “AI Mode,” and the Gemini chatbot.
Despite this, participating parties described these payments as very modest and marginal for the majority of sites. For small and medium-sized blogs and websites, the payments do not exceed one-tenth of one percent of their total usual advertising revenues. The amounts vary widely, with some small sites receiving less than $1,000 over several months, while another publisher raked in between $50,000 and $60,000 just months after joining. Only one major primary site among the earliest participants managed to achieve annual revenues exceeding $1 million.
Obscure calculation mechanism and dramatic drop in visitor clicks
The program allows participating publishers to track the frequency of Google’s use of their content and the revenue generated via a dedicated dashboard in Google Search Console. Payments are linked to how much each source contributes to drafting the smart answer; however, many publishers complained to the platform that they are completely unable to understand the algorithm Google uses to calculate these dues. They noted that figures fluctuate from month to month without any logical explanation, while observing that specialized content—such as animation and video game news—achieves better returns.
The launch of this pilot program, which started less than a year ago, reflects a fundamental shift in Google’s philosophy. Google has long argued that referring visitors and traffic via its search engine represents sufficient compensation for publishers. This shift coincides with a severe hemorrhage in website visits. Analytical data from Advanced Web Ranking, reported by The Desk network, showed that the first result in organic search enjoyed a click-through rate of 20.02% in the absence of generative answers, but plummeted to just 9.69% when the AI summary appeared, marking a devastating drop of about 52%. Furthermore, 74.3% of searches involving smart answers ended without the user clicking on any external link, compared to about 53.6% in traditional searches.
Publisher resistance and European legislative and judicial pressure
These facts have driven major global publishers to boycott the program and refuse to join it, in an effort to collectively pressure Google to secure fair and rewarding financial licensing agreements. In the European Union, independent publishers filed a formal complaint with the European Commission in July 2025 against the AI Overviews feature, prompting the Commission to open an extensive antitrust investigation in December 2025 to verify whether Google is imposing unfair terms by exploiting content without fair compensation or providing a genuine opt-out mechanism.
In a prominent legal development, a German court ruled that generative answers in the search engine constitute independent content owned by Google rather than mere summaries of external sources—a legal interpretation that, if generalized, gives publishers a solid judicial basis to demand mandatory licensing fees. Until now, Google has maintained a tight grip on the program’s terms by negotiating individually with each publisher to avoid collective bargaining and keep compensation caps under control.
Frequently asked questions
Question: How many publishers are currently receiving pilot financial compensation from Google?
Answer: The pilot initiative includes about 100 digital publishers and websites from various specializations around the world.
Question: By how much did the click-through rate on the first search result drop after the appearance of AI answers?
Answer: The click-through rate on the first result dropped from 20.02 percent to 9.69 percent, marking a sharp decline of nearly 52 percent.
Question: What is the gist of the historic court ruling issued by the German court against Google?
Answer: The court ruled that AI answers are considered Google’s own content rather than mere quotes, opening the door to demanding commercial licensing fees from it.
