There are myths circulating in your newsroom.

That is not surprising. It has been a year of great change, with the rollout of AI Mode and much talk of Google Zero. Meanwhile, your journalists likely witnessed a drop in audience numbers.

Reporters and editors are good at piecing together information. But they may have jumped to the wrong conclusions.

As we head into 2026, you must communicate clearly. Leave a void and false narratives will form.

I have a game for you to play. Go ahead and read the following statements — all of which I have read or heard this year — and decide if they are fact or fiction.

1. Google Zero is here. SEO is dead.

Myth. Google Search has changed dramatically. Ten blue links have morphed into search engine results pages (SERP) with zero-click features such as AI Overviews, knowledge panels, and a tab to AI Mode. But SEO is alive — and you need this expertise in your newsroom to help you navigate.

An SEO may tell you that users search Google to “Know, Do, Go,” that users perform:

• Informational queries to ‘know’ a fact
• Transactional queries to ‘do’ or buy something
• Navigational queries to ‘go’ to a page that they know exists

Know

• We need to accept and educate our colleagues that many fact-based searches are now zero-click, and the searcher won’t leave the SERP. An AI Overview or a YouTube video will provide the answer. These searches delivered traffic for years but this traffic has gone. If I just want facts on “best museums in NYC,” the AI Overview, sponsored results, and links from Google Maps are enough. However, searchers looking for deeper information — those in research mode — will trust your brand and click.

Do

• Transactional searches remain an opportunity, particularly for publishers with affiliate businesses. A user who is about to spend a few hundred dollars will likely want to read a product review from a person with personal experience.

Go

• If you have successfully built your brand, searchers are using Google to navigate to your site. To use Condé Nast examples, searchers are heading straight to the “New Yorker crossword” and “Pitchfork album reviews.”

2. Google Search drops are all due to AI Overviews.

Myth.

• In March 2025, 18% of searches produced an AI Overview, according to Pew data.
• Data just released found that 14% of news queries trigger an AIO in the U.S., 4% in the U.K. (The following slide was shared by John Shehata, CEO and founder of a suite of SEO for news tools — so someone who has access to a lot of data.)

Yes, AI Overviews do impact traffic — but there are losses due to other Google changes too, including:

• Other zero-click elements on SERP, where Google promotes its own properties such as YouTube, Google Shopping, or Google Maps;
• Algorithm changes that favor smaller sites and UGC forums such as Reddit.

3. Our traffic is down, and it is going to our competitors instead.

Myth. As illustrated above, the traffic drops are due to Google SERP features and algorithm changes. This is not a zero-sum game for news publishers.

4. SEO RIP. Long live GEO.

Myth. We’ve already established that SEO is alive and kicking. And while there is no shortage of courses and consultants promising to help you in Generative Engine Optimization, or GEO, the guidance is largely the same as it is for Google Search: the winners will be sites with a great experience, that demonstrate expertise, trust, and authority, and that publish new-to-the-internet information and perspectives.

Your website may be blocking LLMs or optimizing for answer engines. But the reality is that there is only limited opportunity in AI Chatbots: they present a complete answer, not a list of links.

In a study published in April, Axios found that Search delivered 383 times more referrals than AI chatbots.

5. Google Discover is mitigating Google Search declines.

True, but… Third-party analytics platforms may tell you that the traffic that Google sends to news sites is flat. That is likely because Discover is growing, masking a Search decline. And Google doesn’t make it easy; it doesn’t parse referrer data.

But Google Search and Discover are not equal, and we should not become reliant on Discover. High-intent Search drives more subscriptions and affiliate orders, while Discover — now with social videos from creators — has become Google’s social feed.

6. AI summaries in Google Discover will kill your Discover traffic.

Myth. While Discover has rolled out AI summaries, Google only summarizes the most superficial stories and users do still click through. There may be some story types that become zero-click, but summaries are not a traffic killer.

However, Discover should always be considered bonus traffic. Any long-range audience forecasts should have a view with Discover traffic removed. That will help you determine your immediate priorities and your mid-term strategy.

7. AI summaries in the email inbox will kill your newsletters.

Myth. Gmail and other clients are summarizing emails. But your well-crafted newsletter, with either personality from a journalist or a format that solves a problem for a reader, is safe.

You must focus on that reader-writer relationship, program for familiarity, and consider your newsletter an editorial product.

Ensure laser focus on the one hero metric: total list size, as this drives all areas of the business.

8. “Direct” traffic is in decline.

It’s complicated. Direct traffic is messy. In analytics platforms, “direct” includes people entering via the front door of your homepage, plus private sharing via SMS, WhatsApp, and private email.

For some brands, direct traffic is in decline. If fewer people find a story on your site search and social, it makes sense that fewer will share in private channels.

For other sites, direct appears to be growing. Several publishers are experiencing new bot traffic appearing as “direct,” and the latest iOS with new privacy features is likely bucketing some other referrers into “direct” too.

If you want grow true direct, you must map the audience journey, and understand how people become homepage enterers.

Growing true direct audiences requires distinctive journalism; brand affinity built off-platform; stories and sections with personality; articles and formats that solve problems for a reader, that surprise and delight; and you must deliver an uncluttered reading experience.

9. Social is becoming less social. It is all about creators.

True. And this is an opportunity. You already know how social has evolved. Social is less about keeping up with family and friends, now used more to follow celebrities. You probably saw this chart by John Burn-Murdoch of the Financial Times (also here).

Your internal talent is your social asset. Indeed, Wired is turning its “journalists into influencers” and The New York Times is making “writers into video stars.”

But, as Rachel Karten explains in this excellent post on “post-social media,” social is changing further. Instagram shared this slide with Karten — which shows how the platforms themselves are thinking full audience funnel.

Opportunities for 2026

This is where you will win in 2026 and beyond: In a world of AI facts and information, human personality and connections, and creative formats will shine.

• First-person viewpoints and expertise will help you win in search.
• Reader-writer relationships will grow your newsletter audience.
• Distinctive storytelling will bring people to the homepage.
• And among a feed of faces on social platforms, social videos featuring your own editors will reach new audiences.

Sarah Marshall is vice president of audience strategy at Condé Nast.