Search Reinvented: The Latest AI Breakthroughs Transforming Discovery - WAN-IFRA 2026 - Marseille - Clara Soteras

The talk “Search Reinvented: The Latest AI Breakthroughs Transforming Discovery” was delivered on June 1, 2026, at the World News Media Congress 2026 in Marseille, organised by WAN-IFRA, at the Palais du Pharo. The session examined how the latest AI advancements, including those showcased at Google I/O, are reshaping search and content discovery, with a particular focus on AI Overviews and their implications for publishers. It also explored how news organisations are adapting their traffic strategies, audience development approaches, and overall digital visibility in an increasingly AI-driven information ecosystem.

Transcript

1. Search Reinvented: The Latest AI Breakthroughs Transforming Discovery
4. “Every year, our search traffic was down more than we had forecast. So last year I told our teams, ‘Assume there’s no search.’ You have to have your businesses planned as if search is zero.” Roger Lynch (CEO Condé Nast) told TBPN that Condé Nast doesn’t expect search traffic to literally reach zero. He expects it to settle at a single-digit percentage of total traffic.
5. What Has Happened in Search Over the Past Few Weeks?
6. Google publishes the first guide to optimize for generative AI features in Search 1 https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/ai-optimization-guide
7. Google publishes the first guide to optimize for generative AI features in Search 1
8. Google publishes the first guide to optimize for generative AI features in Search 1
9. Google publishes the first guide to optimize for generative AI features in Search • Providing a unique point of view: first-hand review, unique content based on personal experience. • Creating non-commodity content that’s helpful, reliable and people-first. • Organizing content in a way that helps your readers: clear structure with paragraphs and sections, along with headings. • Add high-quality images and video • Focus on what your users want and avoid overdoing it: high quantity of pages doesn't make a website higher quality or more relevant to users. • Meet the Search technical requirements • Follow crawling best practices • When it comes to semantic HTML, focus on human readability • Provide a good page experience • Reduce duplicate content 1
10. Commodity Content vs. Non-Commodity Content Danny Sullivan (Director within Google Search) presented this term in his slides at the Google Search Central event in Toronto. Produce "unique, authentic and non-commodity content." Be sure that you're writing non-commodity content that your readers will find helpful and reliable. • Commodity content: "7 Tips for First-Time Homebuyers”: based on common knowledge, which could originate from anyone, and typically adds little unique insight for readers. • Non-commodity content: "Why We Waived the Inspection & Saved Money: A Look Inside the Sewer Line” provides unique expert or experienced takes that go beyond common knowledge and the ordinary. 2
11. Google I/O 2026 announcements: Google Reveals First AI Mode Usage Numbers After One Year • AI Mode has surpassed 1 billion monthly active users globally. • Queries have more than doubled every quarter since launch. https://storage.googleapis.com/gweb-uniblog-publish-prod/documents/AI-Mode- US-Insights.pdf 3
12. Google I/O 2026 announcements: Google Reveals First AI Mode Usage Numbers After One Year • More than 1 in 6 AI Mode searches are multimodal (non-text). • Searches with image input are one of AI Mode’s fastest growing query types, growing by more than 40% month-over-month since launch. • Follow-up queries in AI Mode have increased by more than 40% on average per month in the U.S. 3
13. Google I/O 2026 announcements: Is AI Mode creating a new stage of user needs? “But people aren’t just searching more. They’re searching differently.” 3
14. Google I/O 2026 announcements: Google launched the ability to ask follow-up questions directly from an AI Overview and continue a conversational back-and-forth in AI Mode. 3
15. AI Overviews are available in 200+ countries with AI Mode, but not in France due to regulatory reasons. 3 !
16. AI Overviews are available in 200+ countries with AI Mode, but not in France due to regulatory reasons. 3 ! https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2026/787211/IUST_ BRI(2026)787211_EN.pdf?ref=weekly-digest.ghost.io
17. Amid the Noise: 10 Things We Still Need to Keep in Mind to Succeed in Search
18. Google Zero vs. What’s Actually Happening 1 Journalism and Technology Trends and Predictions 2026 https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2026-01/Newman%20- %20Trends%20and%20Predictions%202026%20FIN
19. Google Zero vs. What’s Actually Happening 1 Journalism and Technology Trends and Predictions 2026 https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2026-01/Newman%20- %20Trends%20and%20Predictions%202026%20FIN
20. Similarweb. April 2026. Google Zero vs. What’s Actually Happening 1
21. Google Zero vs. What’s Actually Happening 1
22. Google Zero vs. What’s Actually Happening 1
23. Oh... wait! Google Discover is still the #1 traffic channel for many publishers 2
24. Oh... wait! Google Discover is still the #1 traffic channel for many publishers 2 US UK FR
25. Search Console could soon include social engagement metrics 3 https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2025/12/social- channels-search-console
26. It’s time to embrace content creators 4 https://blog.google/products-and- platforms/products/search/discover-updates- september-2025/
27. Become a preferred source in Top Stories. Stay top of mind. Stay relevant. 5
28. From PVs to UUs to new KPIs: success can no longer be measured only by quantity 6
29. An educational board game that teaches kids and parents in Argentina how family economics work in everyday life by El Cronista. What you know best is your strongest bridge to your audience 7
30. From SEO-driven evergreen recipes to creator- powered audiovisual content by NYT Cooking. Transform yourself. Embrace audiovisual formats and meet your audience where they are 8
31. Ride the trend. Be part of the social conversation. The Pope invites Anthropic’s founder: a masterclass in digital PR. Digital PR is back — and it’s for media too. 9
32. SCOPE: Rethinking Media: My New Methodology for the Search Era 10
33. Thank you! I am Clara Soteras. • SEO Consultant and Digital Strategy for Media • Founder The Audience Club. • Advisory Board member – Future Audiences Initiative – WAN-IFRA • Associate professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona • Judge of journalism and SEO awards with Global, European, and UK Search Awards • Collaborator of international journalism organizations such as WAN-IFRA, Online News Association (ONA), and LION Publishers. • I have been Head of Innovation and Digital Strategy at AMIC. • I have been the SEO and Product Director at El Nacional. You can find me at: clarasoteras.com / hello@clarasoteras.com
34. My latest book
35. Qr the au NEXT EDITION 25 JUNE – LONDON INFO & REGISTRATION My new project
36. Search Reinvented: The Latest AI Breakthroughs Transforming Discovery clarasoteras.com hello@clarasoteras.com