Google has about 100 publishers in its AI contribution pilot, which pays sites when their content meaningfully improves answers in AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Gemini, and for most the money is small, according to Alix Coutures and Catherine Perloff at The Information. Several small and midsize sites are earning less than 0.1% of their ad revenue from it, and some have made under $1,000 in several months, though one early participant now brings in over $1 million a year. Those small payouts have kept some larger publishers out of the pilot, holding out for better rates. Participants can see earnings in Search Console but say Google hasn’t explained how they’re calculated, though niche topics with big audiences like anime and gaming seem to pay more.
