𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝗕𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗗𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗔𝗜

Google AI Overviews answer most questions without a click.

If you search for "best AI tools for video editing," Google gives you a list right on the search page. My three new sites—Top AI Tools, Find Games Like, and Open Alternative To—face this exact problem.

I launched these sites on April 23, 2026. My goal is to see if people still want to click through to a dedicated site instead of reading an AI summary.

I am making a public bet.

By October 2026, at least one site must get 200 organic clicks per month for two months straight. These clicks must come from specific comparison or filter pages, not just the homepage. If I fail, I will publish my data and explain my mistake.

Why do I think directories can still win?

AI Overviews are good at summarizing what exists. They are bad at three things:

  • Attribute filtering: If you need an "offline Notion alternative with a mobile app," AI gives you a paragraph. My site uses a database to let you filter by those exact features.
  • Negative space: AI usually stays positive. My site uses AI to find reasons to avoid a tool. It tells you who should skip a product.
  • Real freshness: AI relies on old web mentions. My site pulls GitHub data weekly to show if a tool is actually being maintained.

I am also targeting the "downstream" search.

People use AI for broad discovery. But when they want to compare two specific tools, like "Appflowy vs Anytype," they want data and a verdict. They want a fast, structured comparison. That is where my sites live.

My setup costs only $25 per month. This allows me to run the experiment for a year without pressure to make money immediately.

I will watch for three warning signs:

  1. High impressions but zero clicks on comparison pages.
  2. Google AdSense continues to reject the sites despite high quality.
  3. People stop using search engines for comparisons and move entirely to LLM chats.

I will share the results in October 2026 with raw screenshots from Google Search Console.

Source: https://dev.to/morinaga/why-im-betting-on-ai-curated-directories-when-google-ai-overviews-answer-the-same-queries-2ch8

Optional learning community: https://t.me/GyaanSetuAi