Is Google killing the news industry — or are publishers doing it to themselves?

SEO veteran Barry Adams (Polemic Digital, FT Strategies) joins Vince Nero to challenge the "Google Zero" narrative: the growing belief among publishers that Google traffic is heading to zero. Barry argues the real story is more complicated — and more actionable — than the panic suggests.

We get into why some publishers are quietly thriving while others spiral, what the Chartbeat data actually shows (and doesn't), how AI overviews fit into a much longer pattern of Google enriching its results, and why digital PR may be entering a boom era even as the media landscape shifts.

⏰ TIMESTAMPS

0:00 — Introduction
2:40 — What is "Google Zero"?
7:46 — The problems with Chartbeat's traffic data
11:29 — Which publishers are actually thriving — and why
13:30 — AI overviews aren't new: a history of Google enriching results
15:41 — The New York Times model: smart diversification vs. chasing traffic
18:58 — How Americans are changing where they get their news
25:59 — The multimodal content strategy: one story, many channels
27:28 — What Google Zero means for digital PR
29:48 — Why mentions matter as much as links in the AI era

🔗 LINKS & RESOURCES

Full post → https://www.buzzstream.com/blog/google-zero-podcast/
Barry Adams on LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/barryadams/
SEO for Google News (Substack) → https://seoforgooglenews.substack.com/
Polemic Digital → https://polemicdigital.com/
List IQ (media list building tool) → https://www.buzzstream.com/listiq/

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