In parallel with the recent decision by the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to require Google to grant content publishers full control over how their content appears in AI-powered search results, questions have been raised about the impact on website traffic.

Google had announced that, starting June 3rd, it began testing a new control tool that allows publishers to manage how their links and content appear in AI-driven search features.

For its part, the Competition Authority indicated that its decision came in response to a series of long-standing complaints from publishers regarding the lack of transparency and control over how their content is displayed on Google's search engine.

Prior to the ruling, Google prevented publishers from blocking the use of their material in AI-generated responses without requiring them to remove their websites entirely from Google's main search index, the primary method relied upon by most users.

On the other hand, the introduction of Google's AI summaries has led to a sharp decline in traffic referred to websites and an increase in "no-click search" rates, as these summaries eliminate the need for readers to click on and navigate to the original source of the article, according to observers. While some considered this latest move promising, experts downplayed its positive impact on website traffic, but suggested it could be the beginning of a fairer negotiating position for publishers in the future.

Dr. Anas Najdawi, Director of Abu Dhabi University's Dubai branch and Associate Professor of Digital Business, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the media should "welcome the move, but with caution. What has happened is a partial development in the relationship between publishers and Google regarding content rights, and it can also be considered a defensive move by the company, which will not easily relinquish its ambitions for dominance."

He added, "On the other hand, Google's tools will give publishers the right to publish within AI feeds or stop publishing according to their wishes. However, this does not at all mean a return of referred traffic to its previous levels, because Google has succeeded in the past in changing user behavior, who have become accustomed to being satisfied with the feed and not clicking on the original links."