Google pilots paying select publishers via Search Console

Google is piloting a program that pays a small group of publishers when their content “contributes significantly” to an AI-generated answer in Gemini, AI Overviews or AI Mode, per Search Engine Journal’s report on Digiday’s reporting. Content that only confirms a fact or shows up as a link after an answer is already generated doesn’t qualify. Participants see a monthly earnings figure inside a Search Console panel and can opt out at any time; Google confirmed to Digiday it’s an “early-stage pilot” and pointed to a June 18 blog post about testing partnerships tied to answer “freshness and factuality.” Google hasn’t disclosed payment rates or eligibility criteria, and sources described early payouts as small relative to ad revenue.