Websites Are Not Going to Die · Jens Oliver MeiertUse my latest work: latest tech book · latest non-tech book · latest optimization tool · latest digital defense tool<br>Websites Are Not Going to Die<br>Published on May 28, 2026, filed under misc, ai. (Share this post, e.g., on Mastodon or on Bluesky.)There is justified concern about AI in general and, amplified since Google’s announcements about AI search, the effect of AI on the open Web specifically.While AI companies have been known to steal content for some time (there’s no other way of saying it), the Google announcement hits particularly hard. As Declan Chidlow puts it:Website owners let Google scrape their sites and present them in Google Search, and, in exchange, Google Search sends traffic back to those sites. Google wins via adverts on the search page, and sites win due to however they monetise traffic.<br>With their plans for AI search, Google seems to have decided to do away with this unspoken agreement. This could be fair if they deleted all the data they harvested from site owners. However, that doesn’t seem to happen: Google will keep what they extracted and continue extracting from other people’s and organizations’ websites, breaking not only the agreement and therefore trust, but turning rather evil on the Web. *What AI Search May Mean for the Web, Part I<br>Declan then raises a question that’s on many site owners’ minds: “What is the incentive to publish if the only outcome is feeding Google’s AI with no return?”Kevin Powell expands on this, suggesting it may mean that Google has killed websites.While feeling pretty… empty about this development myself †, I would gently challenge the motivation as well as the logic. Let me exaggerate (friendly shout-out to Kevin!):PGoogle is not going to link to websites anymore.CTherefore, websites are going to die.Clearly, this doesn’t follow (it’s also not Kevin’s argument, so this is only to make a point). But I haven’t so far seen any chain of thought that would present a sound case of what will happen, including why websites would need to die, even if empirically we see some go dark.What AI Search May Mean for the Web, Part II<br>Here’s what I believe about AI search, and Google doubling down on it.If Google does not link to websites anymore, it stops being a web search engine. A search engine for the Web does not just index but must link to websites—that is attribution, that embraces the Web. If Google stops linking out, then they may still extract content and value from the Web—but they’re not a web search engine anymore. This matters:Just because Google stops being a web search engine, doesn’t mean people don’t need or want web search anymore. Even—or especially!—in a world full of AI content and actors, people will be interested in human views, creativity, and connection. This is a demand that will not go away, regardless of what Google says or does. If Google pivots away from web search (with web links), someone else will step in—and there may be real opportunities here in terms of choice, ethics, and quality. Maybe we will experience a renaissance of web search engines!The AI Web will actually strengthen the IndieWeb. While it’s frustrating to see what the US tech companies have done to the Web—steal and extract content, steal and sell attention—, let’s not take our eyes off the prize and promise of the Web: Independent websites are the true heart of the Web—this is where passion, humanity, and craft live. Decentralized networks like the Fediverse can act as its immune system, protecting against (at least containing) rather than spreading manipulation and abuse. And hyperlinks are always the arteries, connecting and supplying everyone. More people will realize this. More people will embrace this. The IndieWeb will flourish.Regarding the original concern, the mass extinction event for websites is websites ceasing to link to each other (i.e., the Web ceasing to be a Web). This may sound like exactly what the concern is—Google, as the Web’s center, stopping linking out—, and that some site owners respond to this. However, the Web is more than one single player, no matter how large, and the impulse to stop taking part in the Web is one that can be made because of anything. So while Google seems to have developed an AI-motivated anti-link, anti-Web stance, the decision to stop running a website may also mask a decision that has different causes. The takeaway here is that site owners are at liberty to pick from many reasons to maintain or shut down a website—something we can vaguely but not fully influence (as Kevin suggested elsewhere, maybe by reaching out and saying thanks)—, and that as long as websites embrace the Web by linking out to each other, the Web will continue.Humanity on the Inhuman Web<br>While I firmly believe that websites aren’t going to die—and maintain optimism that we may even see more of them—, life on the Web is pretty grim by now.There’s a constant pull on our attention; spam, slop,...