Google Is Rewriting Story Headlines. Publishers Are Concerned

Devin Emery, president at Morning Brew, pointed to a stark contrast in the way Google treats the headlines of text-based content versus those of its video creators on YouTube.

On YouTube, the platform has recently offered creators new tools that allow them to more finely tune their headlines, an acknowledgement of the importance of headlines as both communication tools and brand-building devices. When it comes to text content, however, Google gives the impression that such material is a commodity—that its voice or style are irrelevant compared to its contents. 

“It’s interesting to see that text and video are being treated differently,” Emery said. “You’re basically reliant on Google saying user satisfaction is up. There are no details on what that means.”

The slippery slope

Several executives said the headline experiment is concerning less for what it is than for what it might become and what could follow. 

Marc McCollum, the executive vice president of product and innovation at Raptive, which works with nearly 7,000 publishers and creators, raised the question of where this line of logic leads. 

“Would they also test changing the lead that shows up in Google?” he asked. “Would they consider imagery that didn’t come from the original publisher?” 

One media executive noted that Google’s trajectory over the past few years tells a coherent story: AI overviews began summarizing articles, Discover started rewriting headlines, and now Search is doing the same. 

“Each step increases the distance from the original work that we create,” the executive said. “It feels like it’s their work, or their interpretation of our work.”

Adding to that concern, Google previously described its AI headline rewrites in Discover as a “small experiment,” only to reclassify them as a standard feature roughly a month later. 

“It’s scary that this has gone from a test to a feature so quickly,” the executive said.

The case for cautious optimism

Not every executive was ready to condemn the experiment outright. 

McCollum said Raptive has not yet detected measurable changes in click-through rates or traffic patterns among its news publishers.

He acknowledged that there could be a scenario in which better-optimized headlines could benefit publishers, so long as the changes drive more clicks back to the original content. 

“Philosophically, it could be a net negative, but it could also be a net positive,” he said.

Tim Huelskamp, CEO of newsletter publisher 1440, drew a parallel to his own company’s editorial process. 1440 curates outside content while preserving original headlines, but Huelskamp said he understood the impulse behind what Google may be attempting. 

“If they are acting in good faith and driving more clicks and visitors to the site, that is interesting,” he said.

Both executives, however, attached a significant condition to that openness: transparency. 

McCollum said that if the program expanded, Google should share data with publishers, including what headlines were changed, what variations were tested, and what performed better. 

“If they’re really trying to serve the user,” he said, “provide some transparency to the publisher so that they can also improve.”