AI-generated summaries can answer a search before someone opens the source page. That is convenient for a quick question, but it creates a difficult question for a blogger: who will visit the article that supplied the information?
The original screenshot shows a summary placed above a conventional result. A reader looking for a short answer might stop there. A reader checking details, context, or reliability may still need the original document, especially because a fluent summary can omit qualifications.
My own Search Console screenshot showed a low click-through rate around the time of the original post. It was worrying, but it does not isolate the cause: query mix, rankings, impressions, competing results, and interface changes can all affect a site’s CTR.
Later, a Pew Research Center study of U.S. browsing in March 2025 found traditional-result clicks on 8% of visits with an AI summary, versus 15% without one. That observational comparison supports concern about clicks, but it does not prove the effect on my particular blog or that every kind of website will disappear.
Blocking certain crawlers can control some uses of a site’s content, but it is not a guaranteed way to restore referrals. For my own writing, the more useful direction is to offer original tests, screenshots, experience, and explanations worth reading in full. Search summaries change distribution; they do not remove the need for good sources.
Adapted from the original Chinese article, published on August 9, 2025.
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