The rise of Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT or Google AI Overviews has completely transformed search. These advanced systems deliver quick answers to your daily questions, from finding the best Italian restaurant in town to learning how to code your next app. But, if users are now getting their answers from these tools instead of clicking on blue links, are LLMs replacing publisher traffic, or simply changing how discovery works?
What are LLMs?
Large Language Models (LLMs) are sophisticated Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems designed to understand and generate human-like responses. The outputs they provide are based on a large amount of data from different sources that the models have been trained on through machine learning methods. For online search, LLMs provide AI-generated summaries in the form of easy to digest responses to users’ queries.
How has organic search changed?
The way we search for information is way different now than it was barely a couple of years ago. With the introduction of LLMs, users are now able to get instant answers without clicking through different websites. As Semrush explains, informational searches like “how-to” guides, definitions, comparisons, and recipes are the easiest for AI to summarize. As a result, some publishers may be noticing a decrease in their organic traffic.
It may seem like the end of an era for publishers, but this is what the search landscape is evolving to. However, even if your website gets fewer visits because people read the answer provided by the LLMs, it may not hurt your business results because those visits were mostly from people just looking for information, not intending to convert. It all comes down to adapting to the new search behaviors, understanding user intention, diversifying your traffic sources, and adjusting your content strategy accordingly.
Are LLMs stealing publisher traffic?
In the past year, some publishers have noticed a decline in traffic, but not everyone has been hit in the same way. It truly depends on the type of website, it’s content categories, the technical setup, the keywords they use, seasonal patterns, and the search algorithm.
Even though LLMs are growing, organic search remains a strong source of information for users. The Drum states that Google alone, towards the end of 2025, accounts for 90% of the search market, and AI Overviews have been linked to a 25% dip in publisher referral numbers. So how do you rise to this challenge?
How can publishers protect themselves from traffic loss?
Diversify your traffic sources
As zero-click answers are likely to continue driving attention away from organic results, it’s better not to rely only on organic search traffic for business growth. Try optimizing different channels to drive traffic to your website, including social media, newsletters, Google Discover, podcasts, or apps.
Optimize your SEO strategy
SEO is the base for online discoverability whether you want to still appear at the top of the organic search results (which are still relevant) or be recommended by the LLMs. Some pro-tips that could work in your favor are:
- Enhance your on-page SEO by properly using schema markup, establishing your site hierarchy, and optimizing your internal linking structure.
- Improve your user experience to keep audiences engaged and reduce bounce rates by keeping an eye on your Page Speed and layout.
- Audit your current setup to make sure it’s working properly and that it’s not causing any issues with your Core Web Vitals.
- Build site authority through off-page SEO by acquiring high-quality backlinks pointing right at your amazing content.
Adapt your content strategy
- Don’t always focus on zero-click queries when choosing the keywords for your strategy. The Search Engine Journal has shared, based on a report conducted by SimilarWeb, that zero-click searches increased from 56% to 69% between 2024 and 2025. This number is most likely to continue going up with the increase in LLMs user numbers so fast.
- Create unique content that is not so easy for the LLMs to summarize. For example, downloadable assets, templates, or special content that can be accessed via a subscription.
Optimize for IA Visibility
Yes, even though LLMs can potentially reduce the number of clicks you’re getting to your site, it’s important to still keep them in mind as an opportunity to build your authority. Being recommended by these systems positions you as a trustworthy source. This increases your chances to be revisited directly by users in future searches. Also, AI search visitors that land on your site are very likely to be high-quality users. This could boost the value of your ad inventory.
Implement robots.txt and llms.txt files
Use robots.txt and llms.txt files to guide how web crawlers and AI systems interact with content on your website. Robots.txt files are used to suggest what search engine crawlers should access. On the other hand, llms.txt files are an emerging initiative for providing information to AI systems. We have an article coming out on this very soon, so sign up to our Newsletter to stay tuned!
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Final thoughts
LLMs are changing search and, in some cases, reducing search-driven clicks for publishers. However, they are not wiping out publisher traffic across the board entirely (for now). As LLMs continue to grow, this is a good time to diversify your traffic sources, improve content quality, and optimize user experience. Traditional search remains a strong discovery channel and feeds AI-generated answers. This shift is pushing publishers to adapt to this new reality of how discoverability is evolving.
Need help handling your monetization in this new landscape? Get in contact with our experts for guidance on how to keep your ad revenue stream going strong.
