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Publishers now pay Google for the clicks they used to get free

Simon Owens’s Media Newsletter reports that publishers in Similarweb’s Top 100 Media index spent an estimated $113 million on paid search in July 2026 as organic referrals keep eroding amid zero-click search.

Why it matters. Publishers that once relied on free organic search now face a recurring cost of distribution, with Google capturing revenue that used to flow to them.

Signal from Simon Owens's Media Newsletter · Simon Owens · read the original.

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