Google is paying some publishers through an “AI contribution” pilot in Search Console when their content plays a major part in answers in AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Gemini, according to Jessica Davies and Sara Guaglione at Digiday. Publishers who opt in see a monthly earnings figure in Search Console, but Google doesn’t explain how it values their content, and it pays only when it decides a page made a real difference to an answer. Google has pitched dozens of publishers or more, mostly small and mid-sized sites and many outside news. Early payouts have been tiny next to ad revenue, and some publishers have turned it down, worried that joining would weaken their hand in pushing for bigger licensing deals. Google confirmed the program and called it an early-stage test.
