Google’s not your traffic partner anymore.
It’s your competitor.

Creators need to build email lists and own their audience.

Otherwise, you're building your brand on rented land. And the landlord is Google.

6. The zero-click future is here

SERPs used to send people places.
Now they trap them in a maze of AI answers, carousels, snippets, and ads.

You don’t win with good content anymore.
You win by owning your distribution.

5. Product widgets stealing buyers

Google Shopping boxes, AI product summaries, and affiliate-style carousels — all above your organic listings.
Good luck ranking for “best VPN” or “top gifts 2025.”

4. YouTube favoritism

You write a 2,000-word guide.
Google ranks a 90-second YouTube video above it.
Guess who owns YouTube? 🥴

3. Featured snippets that don’t link back

They grab your best line, paraphrase it, strip your brand, and give users the illusion of a source.
Meanwhile, your traffic tanks.

2. Auto-translated proxies

If your site isn’t localized, Google will auto-translate it and host it on their domain:
your-site.translate.goog

You don’t get credit. Or traffic. Or trust.
(H/T @ahrefs.bsky.social for uncovering this one.)

1. AI Overviews = Zero-click death trap

Google now "answers" everything using your content, summarized by AI, with no clicks back to your site.
It’s your work. Their box. Your audience never sees you.