Digital publishers hit hard as Google tightens search policies

Digital news publishers across India and globally are confronting a crisis as Google has tightened its search indexing rules which threatens to unravel the advertising-based revenue model many publishers rely on.

Following Google’s ‘Core Updates and New Spam Policies’ released in March 2024, which bans indexing of pages containing sponsored content, product review and coupons for SEO rankings, search visibility of the world’s top digital news publishers such as Forbes, Wall Street Journal and CNN has fallen dramatically in recent months. Several Indian news publishers too are believed to have witnessed a 25-30 % decline in traffic over the past six months due to these updates. 

That lost traffic is cumulatively worth at least $7.5 million globally, according to the search visibility analytics firm Sistrix. 

These news publishers had been allegedly generating revenue by working with third-party vendors, which operate affiliate businesses for these publishers on their domains using their branding. This included pages of paid content, product reviews, coupons among others. 

“Discount coupons and paid articles have been a major source of our traffic and thus revenue over the last few years. Sponsored content contributed over 30 percent to our total digital revenue and coupons contribution has been 5-7 percent. The ban on indexing of such content means we are at the risk of losing one third of our revenue,” digital heads of leading English and Hindi dailies told e4m. 

Media houses that continue to “violate” the new policies, have been served with notices of “penalty,” e4m has learnt. 

This blow has come at a time when publishers are already battling a drop in traffic due to AI-overviews provided by the search engines. 

Update that hit 

On 5th March of 2024, Google launched the combined Core Update and Spam Policies, the longest and biggest core update in its history. With these updates, which took 52 days and finished on April 19th, Google significantly reduced the rankings of websites it determined were more focused on search engine optimization than delivering genuine value to human readers.

How elaborate this update was, can be understood from Google's own blog. “The March 2024 core update is a more complex update than our usual core updates, involving changes to multiple core systems. It also marks an evolution in how we identify the helpfulness of content.”

“Just as we use multiple systems to identify reliable information, we have enhanced our core ranking systems to show more helpful results using a variety of innovative signals and approaches. There's no longer one signal or system used to do this, and we've also added a new FAQ page to help explain this change.”

“As this is a complex update, the rollout may take up to a month. It's likely there will be more fluctuations in rankings than with a regular core update, as different systems get fully updated and reinforce each other….There's nothing new or special that creators need to do for this update as long as they've been making satisfying content meant for people.”

On June 5 last year, Google updated its policy further which stated that white-label services redistributing coupons to manipulate search rankings violate its site reputation abuse policy. The update specifies that publications must be actively involved in sourcing coupons directly from merchants to avoid penalties. 

“The earlier version of the FAQ did not specify the need for publications to clarify how they source coupons. This change aimed to ensure that coupon content provides genuine value to readers and is not merely a tactic to boost search rankings,” said an expert. 

Google’s response on the story was awaited till the time of filing this story. The copy will be updated as and when they respond. 

Challenging times 

The digital revenue issue of publishers has many layers, each with its own complexities. 

The impact of AI, for instance, is huge, suggests a WARC report released last week. Referring to a SEER Interactive analysis, the report noted, “Prior to AI Overviews (AIOs), publishers could expect around a 4% click-through rate from an organic Google search placement. However, Google searches are increasingly no-click, with 58.5% of US searches either leading to no further action or another search. Only a minority – around 36% of searches lead to the open web.”

The combined impact of AI-driven search and Google’s new policies is believed to have reduced organic visibility and diminishing ad impressions throughout 2024. 

Moreover, CPM (Cost Per Mille) rates have not been increased over the years, instead dropped. In 1995, the online advertising landscape was in its infancy, with CPM (Cost Per Mille) rates averaging around $75 (approximately ?3,000 at that time) for web banner ads in the United States. 

“In India, during the year 2000, CPM rates ranged between ?250 and above ?1,000, depending on the site's popularity. Right now, in India, the average CPM for online banner ads now ranges from ?50 to ?150, influenced by factors such as ad format, platform, and targeting specifics”, experts say. 

An executive shared, “The drop in the CPM rates can be attributed to the exponential increase in online ad inventory, driven by the proliferation of websites and digital platforms. As the supply of ad spaces expanded, the competition among publishers intensified, leading to more competitive pricing for advertisers.”

To make matters worse, click-through rates (CTRs) have also dropped over the years, instead of rising. “During early days of online advertising, click-through rates (CTRs) were high, sometimes around 40%. This was due to the novelty of internet ads and low ad saturation. Today, even the DVAP considers 0.3% CTR as acceptable. This shows how ad effectiveness has declined over time due to ad fatigue, saturation, and changing consumer behaviours”, industry experts say. 

“This decline in traffic has the potential to affect programmatic advertising, which depends heavily on traffic volume. Lower impressions mean lower ad revenue—a major concern for publishers already struggling with tight margin,” said an expert. 

With stiff competition and challenges mounting, it’s evident that publishers can no longer rely solely on advertising for financial sustainability. Many are already exploring new monetization strategies which include paywalls and premium memberships, Event Hosting, Branded Content and Native Advertising. 

“Data Licensing is another revenue source. Some publishers are monetizing their consumer insights by offering anonymized data sets to advertisers and marketers,” said a publisher. 

The Road Ahead

Digital news is expected to reach 70 crore users in India by 2026 across a diverse range of formats, according to a report by Dalberg Advisors. The average time Indian citizens spend consuming news content is also forecast to increase from 44 minutes per day in 2020 to 49 minutes in 2026, with much of this growth driven by time spent on digital news. 

Digital has also facilitated access to Hindi and regional language news online, and consumption is expected to grow 6-8 times faster than English news — both in terms of the number of viewers and time spent, the report noted. 

Amid these growth projections, it is clear that the advertising model for digital news publishers is undergoing a significant transformation. 

“To thrive in this new era, publishers must embrace innovation, prioritize audience engagement, and diversify revenue streams. Those who adapt quickly and strategically will be best positioned to weather these headwinds and emerge stronger in the evolving digital ecosystem,” quips a media executive.