Google traffic – People CEO Neil Vogel says Google’s traffic decline hasn’t derailed growth—thanks to strong brands, diversified distribution, and AI partnerships backed by Barry Diller’s IAC.
Google has been losing its grip on publisher traffic for years, but the anxiety is getting sharper as algorithms change and “zero referral” fears spread across the industry.
For People Inc.. CEO Neil Vogel. the scary scenario is closer to reality than most executives would like to admit—yet his company is still growing at a double-digit pace.. Vogel’s case rests on a simple shift: less dependence on search. more control over channels. and a publishing model built around brands that people actually trust.
The Google referral shock—and how People adapted
Vogel says Google referrals once drove roughly 70% of traffic across People’s properties.. Over the last couple of years, that share has fallen quickly—now closer to about 25%.. The decline could have been existential for companies that built their websites mainly to harvest search traffic.. People, however, appears to be doing something the industry is still struggling to replicate: preparing early for platform disruption.
When Google’s search page started changing. Vogel’s view was that the problem wasn’t just “less traffic” but a structural shift in how visibility works.. First came more content taking prominence inside Google itself.. Later, additional competitors—such as Reddit—showed up in search ecosystems.. Then came AI-related experiences appearing alongside results, changing what users click.
Instead of treating those changes as a temporary dip, People moved to reduce the concentration risk.. Vogel describes building “ownable” assets: stronger email presence, and growing distribution through TikTok, Instagram, Apple News, and more.. The point wasn’t to replace Google overnight—it was to make Google less important over time.
Barry Diller’s vote of confidence changes the stakes
This week, Vogel’s strategy got a major signal of backing from Barry Diller. Diller renamed his IAC holding company to People Inc. and placed Vogel in charge of the full enterprise, according to the company’s memo announcing the reorganization.
The move also comes with costs: the restructuring is expected to involve layoffs, with severance charges estimated at $14 million.. In business terms. that’s not just corporate reshuffling—it’s a commitment to a single operating direction. and a bet that People’s brand and distribution approach can scale.
The deeper message is that the business is no longer framed primarily as a collection of legacy magazine properties chasing search. Vogel argues People’s growth now relies on audience relationships built across platforms rather than a single traffic source.
A publishing model that’s wider than websites
One of the most striking parts of Vogel’s argument is his refusal to anchor success to one delivery method. He says the company is not trying to win solely on “web traffic” anymore, and that People’s approach spans multiple formats and environments.
That matters because the publisher value chain has been changing.. A decade ago, visibility in search could make or break a site.. But as attention fragments across feeds. apps. and AI-driven answers. publishers that only optimize for search can get stuck—especially when visibility changes faster than they can adapt.
People has also reorganized its thinking around revenue.. Vogel describes the company as having many brands and business models. with only a subset considered truly central to its strategy.. Instead of one formula—bring traffic, sell ads—the company leans into licensing, events, and other brand-led monetization.
For example, Better Homes and Gardens is described as prioritizing licensing through product placements, while Food & Wine is positioned more around events. Southern Living and other brands are treated as distinct businesses rather than interchangeable content properties.
AI partnerships: opportunity, but also a different risk
Alongside the shift away from search, Vogel is comfortable with deals involving AI companies, including OpenAI.. He acknowledges a real worry that has been on many publishers’ minds: partners could become unreliable. or publishers could end up exposed to new intermediaries that don’t prioritize long-term value for creators.
His answer is partly strategic and partly practical. Vogel argues that AI firms need three things—an underlying model, compute power, and data. In his view, much of the crawlable information has already been collected, making publishers’ fresh creation and archives valuable.
At the same time, he doesn’t pretend the threat is imaginary.. If data can be substituted. summaries can be commoditized. and AI outputs can be produced without direct publisher involvement. publishers could see the value of their content diluted.. Vogel’s counter is that People produces a large volume of new material and maintains extensive historical and multimedia assets—so the company’s content remains material to AI systems.
There’s another subtle layer to his reasoning: People believes AI-driven scenarios have already been absorbed into their broader traffic reality.. In other words. the company is aiming to build enough brand strength and direct audience relationships that even further referral declines wouldn’t collapse the business.
Why “brand trust” becomes a competitive advantage
In Vogel’s framing, the center of gravity for publishers is shifting toward trust. When uncertainty rises—both across media and in the wider economy—audiences often default to recognizable brands rather than anonymous or purely artificial experiences.
That’s a human rather than technical argument: readers want to know what’s real, and they want experiences that feel authored, not generated. AI answers might be convenient, but they don’t replace the emotional comfort of brands people recognize, follow, and buy from.
For investors and industry watchers, this is the part that matters most. Search traffic can fluctuate with algorithm changes. Platform reach can ebb and flow. But brand equity—especially when paired with a diversified distribution strategy—tends to be stickier.
People’s case suggests a path for other publishers: reduce dependency on any single platform. invest in channels you can control. and build multiple revenue streams tied to brand identity.. The hard question for the rest of the industry is how many can genuinely reach “the small group” of publishers Vogel implies will survive and scale in an environment where intermediaries increasingly define attention.