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Why I'm betting on AI-curated directories against Google's AI Overviews

MORINAGA

19d ago· 8 min readenInsight

technology business ai directories search & discovery

Summary

The article presents a personal bet against Google's AI Overviews by building three niche directory sites (Top AI Tools, Find Games Like, Open Alternative To) that compete directly with Google's AI-generated summaries. The author acknowledges the obvious counterargument — that Google already provides curated lists via AI Overviews without requiring clicks — but makes a falsifiable 6-month bet that curated, human-maintained directories can still win on depth, trust, and specificity. The sites launched on 2026-04-23 with minimal traffic and a $25/month architecture, positioning this as a test of whether specialized directories can survive against AI-powered search features.

Source

bskyWhy I'm betting on AI-curated directories against Google's AI Overviewsdev.to

Key quotes

· 4 pulled

The obvious counterargument to everything I'm building is this: Google already does it.

You type 'best AI tools for video editing' into Google and an AI Overview surfaces a curated list, synthesized from the same kind of data I maintain, without requiring a click.

My three directory sites — Top AI Tools, Find Games Like, and Open Alternative To — are competing with a feature baked into the world's dominant search engine.

Traffic is essentially zero — the sites have been indexed for th

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The core counterargument to my three directory sites is Google's own AI Overviews. Here's the falsifiable 6-month bet I'm making and what would prove me wrong.

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