The A2A Experiment
I recently enabled the Agent-to-Agent (A2A) protocol on my blog, curious about its potential impact on traffic and discoverability. What I’ve observed in just a short time has been genuinely exciting.
Initial Traffic Spike
The first thing I noticed was an immediate spike in traffic after two key changes:
- Enabling A2A protocol support
- Updating my robots.txt with Creative Commons attribution statements
This wasn’t just a small bump – it was a noticeable increase that caught my attention right away.
The Game Changer: AI Referrals
But here’s where it gets really interesting: I’m now seeing referrer traffic from ChatGPT and Perplexity.
Let that sink in for a moment. AI agents are not just crawling my site – they’re actively referring traffic to it. This means that when users interact with these AI systems and my content is relevant, the AIs are directing them to the source material.
Why This Matters
This is a fundamental shift in how content discovery works. We’re moving from:
- Traditional search engine optimization
- Social media sharing
- Direct navigation
To a new paradigm where:
- AI agents discover and understand your content
- They attribute and reference it properly
- They send actual human traffic your way
The Creative Commons Connection
The addition of Creative Commons attribution statements in robots.txt seems to play a crucial role here. By explicitly stating how my content can be used and attributed, I’m making it easier for AI systems to:
- Understand the licensing terms
- Properly attribute content
- Feel “confident” in referencing and recommending the material
Early Days, Promising Signs
While it’s still early days, these initial observations are very promising. The fact that major AI platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity are already sending referral traffic suggests that:
- A2A is working - The protocol is being recognized and utilized by AI systems
- Attribution matters - Clear licensing and attribution requirements are being respected
- The ecosystem is forming - We’re seeing the beginning of a new content discovery ecosystem
What’s Next
I’ll be monitoring these trends closely over the coming weeks and months. Key metrics I’m watching:
- Referral traffic patterns from different AI agents
- Which content gets referenced most often
- How attribution affects traffic quality and engagement
- The long-term impact on overall site visibility
For Other Content Creators
If you’re a blogger, documentation writer, or content creator of any kind, this early data suggests it might be worth exploring A2A for your own sites. The combination of:
- A2A protocol implementation
- Clear Creative Commons licensing
- Well-structured, authoritative content
Could position your content to benefit from this emerging AI-driven discovery mechanism.
Conclusion
We’re witnessing the early stages of a significant shift in how content is discovered and shared on the web. AI agents are becoming active participants in the traffic ecosystem, not just passive crawlers.
The promising early results from enabling A2A and providing clear attribution guidelines suggest we’re on the right track. As more AI systems adopt these protocols and more content creators participate, we could see a more equitable and attribution-respecting web emerge.
Stay tuned for more updates as this experiment continues. The future of content discovery might be more agent-driven than we imagined – and that future might be arriving faster than expected.