Getting Indexed No Longer Means Getting Visited

Show Notes: Getting Indexed No Longer Means Getting Visited

 The opt-out setting and the rules behind it

 Google Search Central Help: Search generative AI control: Google's documentation for the Search Console setting that excludes a site from AI Overviews, AI Mode, and generative features in Discover, including what it does not affect.

Search Engine Journal: Google Search Console AI reports rolled out worldwide: Coverage of the August 31, 2026 global rollout of the opt-out control and the Generative AI performance report.

GOV.UK: CMA secures fairer deal for publishers and improves Google search services in UK: The UK Competition and Markets Authority's June 2026 conduct requirement covering the opt-out, attribution, and no-retaliation rules.

Research on clicks and AI answers

Pew Research Center: Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears: Browsing data from 900 US adults showing an 8% click rate on traditional results with an AI summary versus 15% without.

Wang, Gleason, Bart, Wilson, and Metaxa: AI in Search Reduces Publisher Referrals Without Improving User Experience: Preregistered field experiment with 1,100 Google users; forced AI Mode cut external click-through by 18.8 percentage points (preprint, not yet peer reviewed).

Is the remaining traffic better?

Microsoft Clarity: AI traffic converts at 3x the rate of other channels: Study of more than 1,200 publisher and news sites on AI referral volume and sign-up conversion.

Kaiser and Schulze, Marketing Science: ChatGPT Referrals to E-Commerce Websites: Peer-reviewed analysis of 973 e-commerce sites over twelve months comparing ChatGPT referrals with traditional channels.

The travel agent precedent

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Travel Agents, Occupational Outlook Handbook: 2025 employment of 61,500, a flat 2025 to 2035 projection, and AI tools named as a factor limiting demand.

Perk: How online booking has changed the travel agent landscape: Analysis of BLS data showing roughly a 70% drop in travel agent employment between 2000 and 2021.

Travel Weekly: How many travel agents in U.S.? Depends on whom you're asking: ASTA's dispute with BLS counts and its use of the Census figure.

Host Agency Reviews: How much do travel agents make?: Industry income research on independent advisors and the earnings edge for luxury and adventure specialists.

 rom Duane

The SERP Stops Being the Default Between 2028 and 2030, and the Place It Moves To Already Exists: Last week's forecast for when the ranked results page stops being Google's default first view.

The Machine Layer on Amazon: Duane's book on how AI search and answer systems work underneath.