Google AI Overviews Favor Prominent News Outlets: A Study’s Insights

New study: Google AI Overviews reference news sources in only 1 of 5 responses. BBC, NYT & CNN hold a 31% share.

New research reveals that Google’s AI Overviews generally prefer prominent news outlets.

The top 10 publishers command nearly 80% of all news mentions. Simultaneously, smaller organizations encounter challenges with visibility in AI-generated search results.

SE Ranking analyzed 75,550 AI Overview responses for this study. They discovered that only 20.85% include any news source whatsoever. This creates intense competition for limited citation opportunities.

Among those citations, three outlets are dominant: BBC, The New York Times, and CNN collectively account for 31% of all media mentions.

Citation Concentration

The research highlights a “winner-takes-all” dynamic in AI Overview citations. BBC leads with 11.37% of all mentions. This is notable even though the study concentrated on U.S.-based queries.

The concentration intensifies when we consider the broader scope. Just 12 outlets comprise 40% of those examined. Yet, they receive nearly 90% of mentions.

This leaves 18 remaining outlets collectively sharing only 10% of citation opportunities.

The disparity between major news outlets and minor ones is considerable. BBC appears 195 times more frequently than the Financial Times for the same keywords.

Several well-known outlets receive scant attention. Financial Times, MSNBC, Vice, TechCrunch, and The New Yorker combined make up less than 1% of all news mentions.

Beyond Traditional Search Rankings

The issue of concentration extends beyond citation counts.

40% of media URLs mentioned in AI Overviews also appear in the top 10 traditional search results for the identical keywords.

This suggests AI Overviews do not solely draw from the highest-ranking pages. Instead, they appear to favor sources based on authority indicators and the quality of their content.

The study measured citation inequality using a Gini coefficient. The score was 0.54, where 0 signifies perfect equality and 1 indicates maximum inequality. This demonstrates a moderate yet significant imbalance in how AI Overviews distribute citations among news sources.

Paywalled Content Concerns

The research also uncovers patterns regarding the utilization of paywalled content.

Among AI Overview responses that link to paywalled content, 69% contain copied segments of five or more words. An additional 2% include longer copied segments exceeding 10 words.

The reliance on paywalls is strong for premium publishers. Over 96% of New York Times citations in AI Overviews originate from behind a paywall. The Washington Post exhibits an even higher rate at over 99%.

Despite this substantial use of paywalled material, only 15% of responses with extended copied segments included attribution. This raises concerns about content licensing and fair use in AI-generated summaries.

Attribution Patterns & Link Behavior

When AI Overviews do cite news media, they average 1.74 citations per response.

However, here’s the crucial point: 91.35% of news media citations appear in the links section rather than within the main text of AI responses.

Media outlets face another obstacle with brand recognition. Outlets are four times more likely to be cited with a hyperlink than to be mentioned by name.

Yet, over 26% of brand mentions still appear without links. This frequently occurs because AI systems acquire information through aggregators rather than directly from original reporting publishers.

Query Type Makes a Difference

The nature of the search query influences citation probabilities.

News-related queries are 2.5 times more likely to incorporate media citations than general queries. The rates are 20.85% versus 8.23%.

This indicates opportunities exist for publishers who can become go-to sources for specific news topics or breaking news. Nevertheless, the overarching trend continues to favor large players.

What This Means

The research suggests that established outlets benefit from existing authority signals. This creates a self-reinforcing cycle where citation success leads to more citation opportunities.

As Google AI Overviews become more prevalent in search results, smaller publishers may experience reduced organic traffic and fewer chances to expand their audience.

For smaller publishers striving to compete, SE Ranking offers this recommendation:

• “To increase brand mentions in AIOs, gain backlinks from the sources they already cite for your target keywords. This is one of the most significant factors for enhancing your inclusion chances.”

Researchers also note that the technical infrastructure is important:

• “AI tools do observe certain restrictions based on website metadata. The schema.org markup, particularly the ‘isAccessibleForFree’ tag, plays a substantial role in how content is processed.”

For smaller publishers and content creators, the data points to a clear strategy: concentrate on building authority in specific niches rather than attempting to compete broadly across topics.

Some specialized outlets achieve higher text inclusion rates when cited. This suggests that topic expertise can provide advantages in specific instances.

We also suggest: Google AI Overviews Appear in 18% Of Publisher-Related Queries

Looking Ahead

SE Ranking’s research demonstrates that only 20.85% of AI Overviews reference news sources, with a few major news outlets dominating, capturing 31% of citations.

Despite this concentration, opportunities still exist. Publishers who establish authority in specific niches experience higher inclusion rates in Google AI Overviews.

Additionally, since 60% of cited content does not rank in the top 10, traditional SEO metrics alone do not guarantee visibility. Success now necessitates cultivating the trust signals and topical authority that AI systems prioritize, mitigating potential algorithmic bias.