As artificial intelligence continues to reshape how we search and consume information online, Google’s latest feature, AI Overviews, has come under inspection. A recent study has revealed a concerning trend: Google AI-generated summaries disproportionately favour major news outlets, raising queries about fairness, visibility, and the future of online journalism.
The top 10 publishers account for almost 80% of all news mentions, leaving smaller organizations with very limited visibility in AI-generated search results. SE Ranking surveyed 75,550 AI Overview responses and discovered that only 20.85% include any news citations, making those spots fiercely competitive. Of the sources that do get cited, the BBC, The New York Times, and CNN alone make up 31% of all media mentions.
Citation Concentration
The study highlights a clear winner-takes-all trend in AI Overview citations. Although the survey focuses on US-based questions, the BBC tops the list with 11.37% of all mentions. The difference becomes even more striking on a wider scale—just 12 publishers make up 40% of the total outlets scrutinised, yet they get nearly 90% of all citations.
This leaves the remaining 18 outlets fighting over a mere 10% of the citation share. The range between major and minor sources is obvious: for identical keywords, the BBC is mentioned 195 times more often than the Financial Times.
Even some recognized media brands see minimal presence. Outlets like the Financial Times, MSNBC, Vice, TechCrunch, and The New Yorker account for less than 1% of all media mentions.
Beyond Traditional Search Rankings
The issue of concentration goes deeper than just citation numbers. According to the study, only 40% of media URLs cited in AI Overviews emerge in the top 10 traditional search results for the same keywords. This signifies that AI Overviews aren’t merely pulling from the highest-ranking pages. Instead, they prioritize content based on factors like authority signals and content quality rather than just search position.
The analysis used a Gini coefficient—a standard measure of inequality to quantify the distinction. The result was 0.54, where 0 represents perfect equality, and 1 illustrates maximum inequality. This score points to a moderate yet noteworthy imbalance in how AI Overviews allocate citations across various news sources.
Concerns Over Paywalled Content
The analysis also sheds light on how AI Overviews manage paywalled content. Among responses linking to paywalled sources, 69% include copied text segments of five or more words, while 2% feature longer excerpts transcending 10 words. This suggests that AI Overviews often extract meaningful portions of content from behind paywalls.
Premium outlets rely heavily on paywalled material. For instance, over 96% of The New York Times citations come from paywalled pages, and The Washington Post exceeds 99%. Despite this heavy use, only 15% of responses with extended copied text provided attribution, raising essential queries about fair use, content licensing, and how AI systems should manage protected content.
Attribution Patterns and Link Behavior
When AI Overviews include news sources, they cite an average of 1.74 media outlets per response. Nevertheless, there’s an effective caveat: 91.35% of these citations appear only in the links section, not within the main body of the AI-generated text.
This presents a branding challenge for media organisations. News outlets are four times more likely to be cited via hyperlinks than to be mentioned by name. Yet, more than 26% of brand mentions appear without any accompanying link, usually because the AI pulls information from content aggregators instead of directly from the original source.
These practices concern visibility, recognition, and fair attribution in AI-curated search results.
Query Type Influences Citation Likelihood
The probability of being mentioned in AI Overviews varies depending on the type of search query. News-related searches are 2.5 times more likely to feature media citations than general queries—20.85% versus 8.23%, respectively.
This suggests a potential opening for publishers who can present themselves as trusted sources for specific news topics or breaking stories. However, despite these possibilities, the broader trend favours major media outlets, making it difficult for smaller publishers to gain visibility.
What the Findings Mean
The study reveals that established media outlets benefit from strong existing authority signals, creating a feedback loop—being cited boosts their credibility, increasing their probability of being mentioned again.
As AI Overviews become more widespread in search results, smaller publishers may struggle to attract organic traffic and grow their audiences due to the limited exposure they receive in these summaries.
For those looking to enhance their presence, SE Ranking offers a critical suggestion:
“To increase brand mentions in AIOs, get backlinks from the sources they already cite for your target keywords. This is one of the greatest factors for improving your inclusion chances.”
Researchers also emphasize the significance of technical SEO and website structure.
“AI tools do observe certain restrictions based on website metadata. The schema.orgmarkup, particularly the ‘isAccessibleForFree’ tag, plays a significant role in how content is treated.”
The takeaway for smaller publishers and content marketers is to focus on building niche authority instead of competing across broad topic areas.
Interestingly, the analysis found that some specialized outlets had higher rates of text inclusion when they were cited. This implies that deep topic expertise can offer a competitive advantage, even in surroundings dominated by big media outlets.
Final Thought!
The research on Google AI Overviews demonstrates an obvious imbalance in how citations are dispersed, with prominent news outlets receiving the extensive majority of visibility. Although this creates challenges for smaller publishers, it also emphasises opportunities—particularly those focusing on niche authority, technical SEO, and strategic backlink building. As AI-generated content becomes more prominent in search, adapting to these modifications is paramount for staying competitive.
Revolute X Digital helps businesses and publishers steer the evolving digital realm with professional SEO techniques, content optimization, and AI-driven insights. Contact us today, and let us help you grow your visibility, authority, and impact online.
Jason
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