<![CDATA[The author of @allaboutberlin on how Google AI Overviews are killing independent web publishing, citing a 70% drop in traffic after seven years of steady growth.]]>The author of @allaboutberlin on how Google AI Overviews are killing independent web publishing, citing a 70% drop in traffic after seven years of steady growth. His work trains the model. The model is replacing his site. There is no credit, clicks, or revenue. This is what the "enshittification" of the open web looks like in practice.

Hard to imagine moving to Berlin without stumbling upon his guides at some point.

Link Preview Image
All About Berlin

Guides for people who want to settle in Berlin. Information about getting a visa, finding a job, finding an apartment, and a lot more.

favicon

All About Berlin (allaboutberlin.com)

Link Preview Image
AI is killing All About Berlin. When you Googled something, you used to get a link to my website. Now you get an AI-generated answer trained on my work. This has a devastating impact on traffic… | Nicolas B. | 170 comments

AI is killing All About Berlin. When you Googled something, you used to get a link to my website. Now you get an AI-generated answer trained on my work. This has a devastating impact on traffic. It's hard to fund my work with 70% fewer visitors. In another year, it will be impossible. Instead of writing new guides, I spend my days preparing for that future. Yesterday, Google announced two things: AI-generated answers will completely replace search results, and AI-generated answers will soon contain ads. This is the future of the web. I don't know where All About Berlin fits in that future. | 170 comments on LinkedIn

favicon

LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com)

Link Preview Image
]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/topic/307af650-9284-462d-824f-c9ea5a531bff/the-author-of-@allaboutberlin-on-how-google-ai-overviews-are-killing-independent-web-publishing-citing-a-70-drop-in-traffic-after-seven-years-of-steady-growth.RSS for NodeMon, 25 May 2026 11:25:47 GMTThu, 21 May 2026 15:40:07 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to The author of @allaboutberlin on how Google AI Overviews are killing independent web publishing, citing a 70% drop in traffic after seven years of steady growth. on Sat, 23 May 2026 20:47:37 GMT]]>@everton137 @allaboutberlin
It sounds like theft,
it looks like theft,
It takes money from one person like theft,
It rots away the very base of itself like theft,
How is this not just theft?

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mstdn.social/users/Seruko/statuses/116625850850370754https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mstdn.social/users/Seruko/statuses/116625850850370754Sat, 23 May 2026 20:47:37 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The author of @allaboutberlin on how Google AI Overviews are killing independent web publishing, citing a 70% drop in traffic after seven years of steady growth. on Sat, 23 May 2026 20:45:15 GMT]]>@schmaker @everton137 @allaboutberlin I think it’s a combination of laziness and ignorance. It reminds me of the early days of the web (not the internet) where domain names were just bought up, because they thought (and the users did..) they’d just type an address to find what they wanted. Instead if people had to use search engines I think we’d have a different situation nowadays.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.bida.im/users/desantis/statuses/116625841563760765https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.bida.im/users/desantis/statuses/116625841563760765Sat, 23 May 2026 20:45:15 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The author of @allaboutberlin on how Google AI Overviews are killing independent web publishing, citing a 70% drop in traffic after seven years of steady growth. on Sat, 23 May 2026 19:05:44 GMT]]>@hellomiakoda @everton137 @allaboutberlin

Exactly. Eating their own seed corn seems to be the new business model. I guess executives' the plan is to burn Google and jump clear on golden parachutes.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/Phosphenes/statuses/116625450237508411https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/Phosphenes/statuses/116625450237508411Sat, 23 May 2026 19:05:44 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The author of @allaboutberlin on how Google AI Overviews are killing independent web publishing, citing a 70% drop in traffic after seven years of steady growth. on Sat, 23 May 2026 18:49:26 GMT]]>@everton137 @allaboutberlin Why do we act like there is only one search engine?]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://schmaker.eu/objects/c83e3896-116a-11f6-b642-948804799237https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://schmaker.eu/objects/c83e3896-116a-11f6-b642-948804799237Sat, 23 May 2026 18:49:26 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The author of @allaboutberlin on how Google AI Overviews are killing independent web publishing, citing a 70% drop in traffic after seven years of steady growth. on Sat, 23 May 2026 18:00:59 GMT]]>@gunchleoc @allaboutberlin @everton137

Well there you go. You made a change by not using google services, therefor taking a bit of their power. 🙂

Bit by bit, individual by individual, people will switch as long as other people make notice about it, untill the critical mass is reached and the corporate is powerless.

And excactly that, is the goal of 'acting'.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://illo.social/users/itchi5/statuses/116625195614739754https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://illo.social/users/itchi5/statuses/116625195614739754Sat, 23 May 2026 18:00:59 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The author of @allaboutberlin on how Google AI Overviews are killing independent web publishing, citing a 70% drop in traffic after seven years of steady growth. on Sat, 23 May 2026 17:50:57 GMT]]>@gunchleoc @allaboutberlin @everton137

Raising awareness is always good, but not looking for substitutes is just making it worse.

The gigantic corporation Google started growing with a few people, so can substitutes.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://illo.social/users/itchi5/statuses/116625156154554750https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://illo.social/users/itchi5/statuses/116625156154554750Sat, 23 May 2026 17:50:57 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The author of @allaboutberlin on how Google AI Overviews are killing independent web publishing, citing a 70% drop in traffic after seven years of steady growth. on Sat, 23 May 2026 17:50:26 GMT]]>.org 😉

Pepijn (@Pepijn@mastodon.online)

This received some questions. Specifically 'In today's siloed internet its usefulness is gone.' Search was the largest driver of traffic to the website. Informing the general public was the goal. For years it worked truly well, with for example traffic spikes around national holidays involving consumption of fish :) The website had no ads, nor external "social" (tracking) integrations. All information was properly referenced. It was used and referenced in lots of educational material. 1/x

favicon

Mastodon (mastodon.online)

@joeltruher @everton137 @allaboutberlin

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.online/users/Pepijn/statuses/116625154121453592https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.online/users/Pepijn/statuses/116625154121453592Sat, 23 May 2026 17:50:26 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The author of @allaboutberlin on how Google AI Overviews are killing independent web publishing, citing a 70% drop in traffic after seven years of steady growth. on Sat, 23 May 2026 15:22:39 GMT]]>@everton137 @allaboutberlin

Let them open an account on non-US social media, and see if Mojeek (a 100% UK searchmachine) can do something for them.

The worst thing to do is to complain (which is understandable) but then change nothing.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://illo.social/users/itchi5/statuses/116624573022970267https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://illo.social/users/itchi5/statuses/116624573022970267Sat, 23 May 2026 15:22:39 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The author of @allaboutberlin on how Google AI Overviews are killing independent web publishing, citing a 70% drop in traffic after seven years of steady growth. on Sat, 23 May 2026 14:54:37 GMT]]>@sterpeto @everton137 @allaboutberlin

Bring back webrings. In fact, I am going to add one to my site this weekend!

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://wandering.shop/ap/users/116565844272969849/statuses/116624462821054567https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://wandering.shop/ap/users/116565844272969849/statuses/116624462821054567Sat, 23 May 2026 14:54:37 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The author of @allaboutberlin on how Google AI Overviews are killing independent web publishing, citing a 70% drop in traffic after seven years of steady growth. on Sat, 23 May 2026 14:20:13 GMT]]>@Ooze @ayl @everton137 @allaboutberlin
I put some webring links here:
https://mastodon.ie/@dec23k/116624249351912791

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.ie/users/dec23k/statuses/116624327526539777https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.ie/users/dec23k/statuses/116624327526539777Sat, 23 May 2026 14:20:13 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The author of @allaboutberlin on how Google AI Overviews are killing independent web publishing, citing a 70% drop in traffic after seven years of steady growth. on Sat, 23 May 2026 14:09:19 GMT]]>@dec23k @Steve @everton137 @allaboutberlin thanks for sharing!

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/ayl/statuses/116624284682024096https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/ayl/statuses/116624284682024096Sat, 23 May 2026 14:09:19 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The author of @allaboutberlin on how Google AI Overviews are killing independent web publishing, citing a 70% drop in traffic after seven years of steady growth. on Sat, 23 May 2026 14:00:20 GMT]]>@Steve @ayl @everton137 @allaboutberlin
Already done:

"Before Google, before Facebook, in the internet that time forgot, we needed a way to find websites. By joining a webring with similar-themed sites we can help each other out by cross-linking between them."
https://faircamp.webr.ing/directory.html

See also:
https://waywardweb.org/
https://www.webring.gg/

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.ie/users/dec23k/statuses/116624249351912791https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.ie/users/dec23k/statuses/116624249351912791Sat, 23 May 2026 14:00:20 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The author of @allaboutberlin on how Google AI Overviews are killing independent web publishing, citing a 70% drop in traffic after seven years of steady growth. on Sat, 23 May 2026 12:53:24 GMT]]>@everton137 @allaboutberlin Then stop supporting Google. If you're not making money from you better ignore it and do your work to be indexed by other search engines. They'll replace you anyway soon. Fuck SEO. Maybe we should come back to build curated indexes of directories.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.vivaldi.net/users/sterpeto/statuses/116623986179152688https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.vivaldi.net/users/sterpeto/statuses/116623986179152688Sat, 23 May 2026 12:53:24 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The author of @allaboutberlin on how Google AI Overviews are killing independent web publishing, citing a 70% drop in traffic after seven years of steady growth. on Sat, 23 May 2026 12:31:10 GMT]]>@everton137 This is exactly why I've stuck to native iOS apps over web tools, but even the App Store feels precarious now. Seeing years of hand-curated, high-quality work get digested into an LLM with zero return for the creator is incredibly demoralizing for any indie builder.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://indieweb.social/ap/users/116612219711864167/statuses/116623898729843875https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://indieweb.social/ap/users/116612219711864167/statuses/116623898729843875Sat, 23 May 2026 12:31:10 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The author of @allaboutberlin on how Google AI Overviews are killing independent web publishing, citing a 70% drop in traffic after seven years of steady growth. on Sat, 23 May 2026 12:26:15 GMT]]>@everton137 @allaboutberlin It's almost funny how on-the-nose another recent example is: overfishing.org. The content harvester/processor is literally overfishing the content fishery. In the real world, overfishing was allowed to happen until enough bounty was destroyed that the surviving processors recognized their doom and got laws passed to restrain each other. Is something like that possible here? It's not a perfect analogy (previously harvested fish can be endlessly recycled, the crisis is more on the margin, processor concentration is much higher), but maybe?

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://sfba.social/users/joeltruher/statuses/116623879377845081https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://sfba.social/users/joeltruher/statuses/116623879377845081Sat, 23 May 2026 12:26:15 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The author of @allaboutberlin on how Google AI Overviews are killing independent web publishing, citing a 70% drop in traffic after seven years of steady growth. on Sat, 23 May 2026 12:09:52 GMT]]>@everton137 @allaboutberlin
Qwant.Com
-->independence.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/Charlie_House/statuses/116623814978610475https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/Charlie_House/statuses/116623814978610475Sat, 23 May 2026 12:09:52 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The author of @allaboutberlin on how Google AI Overviews are killing independent web publishing, citing a 70% drop in traffic after seven years of steady growth. on Sat, 23 May 2026 12:01:58 GMT]]>@hellomiakoda a handful of "news providers" with licensing deals, and just making stuff up

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://critter.cafe/users/irina/statuses/116623783915393116https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://critter.cafe/users/irina/statuses/116623783915393116Sat, 23 May 2026 12:01:58 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The author of @allaboutberlin on how Google AI Overviews are killing independent web publishing, citing a 70% drop in traffic after seven years of steady growth. on Sat, 23 May 2026 11:31:42 GMT]]>@scottishwildcat
Trying to identify the AI Scraper and serve them other content than humans.
There are projects to do something like that, if i am not mistaken.

@NatureMC @everton137 @allaboutberlin

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/CyberPunker/statuses/116623664911302657https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/CyberPunker/statuses/116623664911302657Sat, 23 May 2026 11:31:42 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The author of @allaboutberlin on how Google AI Overviews are killing independent web publishing, citing a 70% drop in traffic after seven years of steady growth. on Sat, 23 May 2026 11:30:57 GMT]]>@beandev @everton137 @allaboutberlin seems for tracking Google has a plan: they already own a large part of our mails, documents, phones,...

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://pouet.chapril.org/users/alci/statuses/116623661972814440https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://pouet.chapril.org/users/alci/statuses/116623661972814440Sat, 23 May 2026 11:30:57 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The author of @allaboutberlin on how Google AI Overviews are killing independent web publishing, citing a 70% drop in traffic after seven years of steady growth. on Sat, 23 May 2026 11:28:28 GMT]]>@CyberPunker @NatureMC @everton137 @allaboutberlin How do you do that without poisoning the sources you’re trying to preserve?

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.ie/users/scottishwildcat/statuses/116623652192067732https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.ie/users/scottishwildcat/statuses/116623652192067732Sat, 23 May 2026 11:28:28 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The author of @allaboutberlin on how Google AI Overviews are killing independent web publishing, citing a 70% drop in traffic after seven years of steady growth. on Sat, 23 May 2026 10:14:32 GMT]]>@everton137 @allaboutberlin Thing is, I would be prepared to bet it's _not_ being trained on their site specifically. I bet it's a generically trained LLM that is live querying Google's cache of their website and "summarising" it (and other related content). In other words, it would bypass the debate about training and copyright. It could be incontrovertibly live copyright infringement.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/decoderwheel/statuses/116623361498527238https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/decoderwheel/statuses/116623361498527238Sat, 23 May 2026 10:14:32 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The author of @allaboutberlin on how Google AI Overviews are killing independent web publishing, citing a 70% drop in traffic after seven years of steady growth. on Sat, 23 May 2026 10:08:13 GMT]]>@everton137 @allaboutberlin just subscribed to RSS
Didnt know about the sitr. Pretty nice 🙂

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.gamedev.place/users/made/statuses/116623336660676603https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.gamedev.place/users/made/statuses/116623336660676603Sat, 23 May 2026 10:08:13 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The author of @allaboutberlin on how Google AI Overviews are killing independent web publishing, citing a 70% drop in traffic after seven years of steady growth. on Sat, 23 May 2026 09:46:18 GMT]]>@ayl @everton137 @allaboutberlin webrings. They still exist.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://wirejunkie.net/users/Ooze/statuses/116623250456194920https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://wirejunkie.net/users/Ooze/statuses/116623250456194920Sat, 23 May 2026 09:46:18 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The author of @allaboutberlin on how Google AI Overviews are killing independent web publishing, citing a 70% drop in traffic after seven years of steady growth. on Sat, 23 May 2026 09:05:08 GMT]]>@brad @allaboutberlin thanks for sharing.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.vivaldi.net/users/everton137/statuses/116623088572449945https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.vivaldi.net/users/everton137/statuses/116623088572449945Sat, 23 May 2026 09:05:08 GMT