Across sessions on search, advertising, content management and audience development, publishers and technology providers wrestled with the same question: what happens if Google can no longer deliver the traffic publishers have relied on for two decades?
The answer, according to many speakers, is not simply to replace SEO with the latest acronym.
AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) are rapidly becoming part of publishers' vocabulary, but industry leaders repeatedly warned that AI-driven discovery remains too small to compensate for declining search traffic.
Instead, the industry's most urgent priority may be far simpler: build direct relationships with audiences before platform-driven traffic becomes even less reliable.
The Great Search Transition
During the session "Discovery: How to Rethink Search in the AI Era," media consultants Clara Soteras, Barry Adams and David Buttle outlined how search is evolving from a link-based ecosystem into an answer-based one.
Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode, alongside ChatGPT Search and other AI assistants, are changing how people discover information. Rather than directing users to websites, these systems increasingly synthesize information directly into answers.
The shift is forcing publishers to rethink long-established audience acquisition strategies.
Publishers are experimenting with GEO and AEO techniques to improve visibility inside AI-generated responses. Yet speakers acknowledged that referrals from large language models remain tiny compared with traditional search traffic.
Even publishers actively optimizing for ChatGPT visibility reported that LLM-driven traffic still accounts for less than one percent of overall audience acquisition.
That reality creates a difficult transition period.
Google's influence appears to be weakening, but AI platforms have not yet become meaningful traffic generators.
As Barry Adams observed, the entire industry is effectively playing catch-up while the landscape continues to evolve.
Loyalty Matters More Than Traffic
The strongest consensus across multiple sessions was that traffic itself is becoming a less useful measure of success.
Barry Adams argued that publishers should focus less on traffic acquisition and more on audience loyalty. Building habits, encouraging repeat visits and strengthening direct relationships are becoming more valuable than maximizing pageviews.
The message resonated beyond the search session.
At a panel hosted by Sparteo titled "The Augmented Publisher: How AI Is Redrawing Programmatic," speakers from Le Parisien and Reworld Media echoed similar concerns.
Sophie Cassam Chenaï of Le Parisien noted that publishers can no longer depend on external platforms in the same way they once did. Search traffic is under pressure. Social referrals are declining. The only audience publishers can truly control is their direct audience.
For publishers, this means investing in subscriptions, newsletters, apps, podcasts and products that encourage users to return voluntarily.
The panel highlighted a growing sense that the open web itself is facing structural challenges.
Publishers are confronting declining audiences, unpredictable algorithms and increasing competition for attention. Several speakers stressed that traffic has become fluid and unreliable.
Instead of chasing every platform shift, publishers increasingly want to capture users inside their own ecosystems.
This explains why engagement has become a central metric.
Success is no longer measured solely by reach. Increasingly, it is measured by frequency, loyalty and depth of interaction.
One example discussed during the conference was Argentine publisher El Cronista's educational board game designed to teach families about personal finance. While far removed from traditional SEO, the project reflected a broader shift toward creating products and experiences that strengthen audience relationships.
As one participant suggested, publishers must move from creating content merely to rank toward creating content and products that connect.
AI Inside the Newsroom
While AI is disrupting discovery, it is also helping publishers improve their own operations.
Content management platform Melody showcased how publishers are integrating AI into editorial workflows while maintaining control over their content and data.
One case study demonstrated how AI-powered content management can automatically classify articles, extract key information and suggest related content.
Journalists remain responsible for editorial decisions, but repetitive tasks become significantly faster.
Features include AI-generated headline suggestions, standfirst recommendations, automated tagging and content organization.
Perhaps most interesting was the use of conversational search built directly into publisher archives.
Rather than relying on traditional site navigation, readers can ask questions and explore years of content through a natural-language interface. The system is designed to avoid hallucinations by acknowledging when information cannot be found within the archive.
According to the case study presented, improved navigation and content discovery helped increase pageviews significantly by surfacing more relevant content to readers.
AI Will Not Save Weak Audience Strategies
The conference's broader lesson was that AI alone will not solve publishers' business challenges.
Whether discussing advertising, subscriptions, search or editorial operations, speakers repeatedly returned to fundamentals: good contents, strong brands, and audience relationship.
AI may improve workflows, enhance discoverability and create new opportunities for engagement. But publishers that remain dependent on external platforms face the same strategic vulnerability they faced before generative AI arrived.
The future may belong to GEO and AI-assisted discovery.
But for now, the publishers making the most progress are focusing on something far less fashionable: earning loyalty.
Because regardless of whether audiences arrive through Google, ChatGPT, social media or a newsletter, sustainable publishing businesses depend on readers choosing to come back.
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