Google urges publishers to diversify distribution beyond search

Publishers have attempted to diversify their traffic sources in recent years as it’s become clear that relying on single platforms risks derailing their businesses if (or when) the priorities and needs of those platforms change. Now, Google itself is urging publishers to diversify their distribution efforts beyond search if they want it to send traffic to their properties. 

Google has been stepping up its efforts to prioritize content in search results from sites that genuine human audiences find valuable, and those sites typically attract attention from a range of channels besides search, according to the company’s Search Liaison Danny Sullivan. Publishers hoping to attract traffic from Google might therefore benefit from focusing a smaller portion of their attention on it, he said.

“One of the ways to be successful with Google Search is to think beyond it,” Sullivan wrote on X earlier this week. 

“Great sites with content that people like receive traffic in many ways. People go to them directly. They come via email referrals. They arrive via links from other sites. They get social media mentions… It just means you’re likely building a normal site in the sense that it’s not just intended for Google but instead for people. And that’s what our ranking systems are trying to reward, good content made for people,” he added.

In other words: If a publisher’s site receives the majority of its traffic from Google, that could negatively impact its performance in Google’s search results.

Google has repeatedly urged publishers to focus on creating content and experiences for humans rather than search engines in recent years, particularly as the use of generative artificial intelligence for content creation has accelerated. 

As the company’s algorithms continue to improve and AI plays a more central role in both interpreting and surfacing content in search results, the era of pure search-engine optimization for publishers appears to be drawing to a close, giving way to an era of brand and audience optimization instead.

Sullivan reinforced this idea with a personal example: “I like to do hikes. I found a great single-person hiking site a few years ago when looking for information about a particular hike and signed up for the newsletter. Now I’m a regular and connect [sic] customer, so to speak. Search is a great introduction, in a way, to what can become a long-term relationship with readers and customers,” he wrote.

This new approach will impact different publishers to different degrees and in a variety of ways, as any update to Google’s systems and ranking algorithms inevitably does. Some publishers have invested years in diversifying their traffic sources and building touchpoints across multiple platforms and channels, for example, including through “direct” connections such as email and text. Based on Sullivan’s language it seems those publishers would likely exhibit the hallmarks of “normal” websites and audiences as a result.

By contrast, those pouring the majority of their time and resources into hunting for search clicks rather than cultivating genuine audience engagement could find themselves deprioritized as Google’s ranking approach continues to evolve.

Going forward it appears the best way to attract traffic from Google is to look like a genuine site with a genuinely engaged audience. And the best (and possibly only) way to look like you have a genuinely engaged audience is to focus on actually building one.