Google’s Search AI is decimating blogs and media outlets, wiping out massive amounts of ad network and affiliate revenue while sending fewer readers to the websites that created the content in the first place.
People shocked at Brooklyn Vegan being gutted lets me know just how little the average person knows about blogs and media, both independent and corporate-owned, being completely slaughtered this past year due to AI.
Blogs and media outlets have lost nearly all network and affiliate revenue. Some of us, specifically those of us that remained independent and don’t have to answer to corpos, are finally seeing some progress. This freefall has been happening for the past two years, but the major dip, at least for Grimy Goods and me, surfaced in 2026. With the main culprit being AI, especially Google Search AI.
Every time you ask Google a question and it gives you an answer through its AI Overviews, it literally pulls that information from a blog or media outlet that Google deemed authoritative. It serves you up your answer right away. That’s one less reason for someone to visit the website Google sourced that information from.
Obviously, some folks do the right thing and click on the actual website link, and I applaud them for their fact-checking and media literacy; however, the average Internet user just wants instant gratification and answers delivered in seconds.
BTW, those Google AI Overviews are not always accurate. The retrieved information can often be treated like getting an average mathematical sum, and/or it pulls information that is out of date. It’s been reported to be flawed by 50 % according to Oumi’s Study. Wire shared an article about how Google’s AI Overviews Can Scam You while Popular Science reported that Google’s AI Overviews show millions of wrong answers every hour.
Word is not bond, homie, when it comes to Google’s AI Overviews.
While Grimy Goods and I have reached a lot of wins over the past couple of months—especially when Google gives Grimy Goods proper link credit in the first line of an AI Overview after scraping my content—it’s still wild that I feel like I’m starting all over again. And the weird thing is, over the past few months, Grimy Goods’ website traffic and social media reach haven’t been this consistently high in quite some time. It’s like sitting on a golden egg and not quite knowing how to offer it up. I mean, I know how, but in 18 years I’ve never had to actively seek out new direct advertisers and partnerships, especially outside my immediate industry.
This past year, at music festivals and through DMS and texts, I have spoken to several of my fellow publishers, and Google’s Search AI has decimated anywhere from 50 to 70 percent of our ad network and affiliate revenue. According to Forbes, more than 60 percent of Google searches ended without a single click to a website. There are other factors that contributed to this as well, specifically for music blogs, which I’m saving for an upcoming conversation because there’s so much to say. This lil piece is the just the primer, but I have a 10+ minute video I’ll be publishing soon on the Grimy Goods YouTube.
But just know it has been absolutely challenging and soul-crushing, especially for us independents now operating on a skeleton crew. It sucks not to be able to employ the same amount of staff as we have the past few years. And it sucks to burn the midnight oil nearly every night as the owner and publisher, who already wears too many hats.
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But at least we still have our agency, unlike the once-independent outlets that sold to corpos and VC a long time ago. And you’re only going to see more outlets fold. As well as majors cut the fat by using AI for their basic reporting. It’s already happening.
So many of these articles have no soul. No personality. That’s what made us music blogs, and blogs in general, stand out in the first place.
It was our personalities, our curation, our love for indie and cultivating the scene, our informal way of writing, our humanity. You would see us at the same shows and fests, dancing and yelling for the bands we love.
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When corpos run your sh*t, you lose real community. And you lose your agency.
Churn them in and churn them out.
Chime in and let us know your thoughts through a comment below or on our Instagram, where the conversation has already started.
To those who have already joined the discussion, here’s my follow-up THANK YOU video, which offers a bit more insight into what’s going on. At least until I carve out some time this week to edit and publish the lengthy YouTube video I mentioned above.
