Expending on the recent Google SERP --> AIRP change thread.

>There's little time left for publishers to adapt.

What are you doing to adapt?

I'm considering advertising ($$$$) heavily to generate newsletter signups and own an audience. Yes, I'm late.

I understand many publishers are considering paywall/subscription models.

This could significantly change the wide availability of information we've all taken for granted for 25 years. It also gives AI companies incredible power to give us the answers it wants us to hear.

Honestly, I don't think anyone knows yet. Debbie says it's going to be a mix or organic/ppc and ai until they sort out the ads side for ai. Once they have figured out how to extract as much or more than they currently earn from ppc, then we'll be pushed fully into the ai realm. Reality probably won't be as clean or clear as that, but I expect we'll morph our way there by fire.

I've always said G would make the whole serp ppc if they could get away with it. This will get them closer than ever.

They have already been testing AI results for stuff like plumber city state. It will just pop up here and there as they test. This accelerated what we're doing for AI, when I saw it a few weeks ago.

ChatGPT has a beta ad model, but it requires a 50k buy-in. That's supposed to drop to 5k or less soon, but hasn't happened yet.

AI ads are going to be the new landscape for search profit if this push succeeds. Outside of that, AI optimize the hell out of all of your content. Start now and you won't be behind imo. So far its just been buzz and bullshit. Now chatgpt traffic is over 5% of referrers and G is losing search traffic so things are about to get weird. Optimize your content now and start putting your paid budget together. Nothing else to do yet.

> It also gives AI companies incredible power to give us the answers it wants us to hear.

*ALL* while keeping you on-page.  Every click just takes you to another one of their ai-gen pages within their walls.

There is a LOT of blowback to this on social and my feeds. Enough so that I'm not sure it's going to stick in the form that G is pushing now.

Buffet's firm just tripled their Alphabet holdings last week, so I don't know what to make of that. I'll just stick that tidbit in here.

>newsletter

Can't hurt, but I think it's got to be a "deal sheet" or who's-playing-at-what-club to catch travelers' interests ...sorta like the old newsprint flyers they used to put in store & restaurant foyers.  But what do I know.

Personally, my 1st thought was "Man, I'm glad I have kept a bunch of bookmarks."

Along that line of thinking, I believe type-ins are going to benefit.  Maybe the handjobs for official sites will suffer?

<+>
I'd definitely start an old-school "Links Page" 

>AI optimize the hell out of all of your content.

Anything specific you've seen work, Drastic? I have added FAQs to many articles.

>There is a LOT of blowback to this on social and my feeds.

I've seen the same on Reddit. But I suspect most of those voices are publishers or older users. Younger users just want the AI answer.

>Younger users just want the AI answer.

And I think that non-tech older users will use it, too.  LPJ hates search, she wants passive engagement.

BUT have you seen the number of college grad ceremonies where the keynote speaker is boo-ed for ai comments?  That and large amounts of social vitriol directed at anything ai have caused some of the business journals to start 2nd-guessing about how widespread adoption will be.

So, I think G might temper this full frontal exposure a bit, but it is still likely to be front-and-center.

On Google declaring war on the Web
https://tante.cc/2026/05/20/on-google-declaring-war-on-the-web/

>war

Non-commercial bloggers, are starting to discuss banning all Googlebots. "If Google sends no traffic they should not have access to our content for thei AI."

Sometime in the future I think we will see easier and better ways to ban bots that go beyond the suggestion of robots.txt either on both a platform level (ie Wordpress) or a server level.

>Links Page

Or blogrolls, these have made a comeback over the last few years.  They do send direct traffic although not in commercial quantities for SEO's. They also reinforce the linking structure of the Web which is good.

>newsletter

Also RSS is starting to be rediscovered and used in new ways. Not sure if it will catch on but worth exploring/promoting.

The backlash against AI is just starting and is being fought on both the Web but also in the dirt world, with data centers right next door.  You mess with somebodies home and family and you have made an enemy for life.  Every data center built (or even just proposed) creates more opposition to AI.

The AI battles are just starting.

>Also RSS is starting to be rediscovered

I have a brilliant techie 18yo working for me on the downsizing.  (Organizational skills off the charts. Companies have been hiring him since 15-16yo to organize their inventory. He's graduating with all kinds of state awards & has a full ride to a state university.)  Just this morning I offered to set him up with my feed super-power and show him how to tune it for his career interest --financial planner.  He had never heard of RSS.