For decades, the path for UK media graduates was clear: start at a small independent title, learn the ropes of SEO and digital storytelling, and move up to a major legacy brand. Today, that ladder is missing several rungs. As Google tightens its grip on the flow of information, the 'Open Web' is shrinking, and with it, the entry-level job market.

Google’s recent Core Updates and the rollout of AI Overviews have fundamentally changed the economy of the internet. Instead of sending users to websites, Google now summarises content on the search page itself, causing click-through rates for some publishers to drop by as much as 89%. For small and medium-sized publishers, this represents a death knell.

When traffic evaporates, recruitment budgets are among the first to be slashed.........

© journalism.co.uk