New data shows just how impactful AI has been to the web, with Google Search referrals falling off of a...

Data gathered by Chartbeat and shared by Axios reveals that, over the past year, Google Search traffic to publishers across the broader web have fallen drastically, and proportionally more so for smaller websites. Referral traffic from Google apparently fell by 60% for “small publishers,” while “medium publishers” (those with between 10,000-100,000 daily pageviews) saw a drop of 47%. “Large publishers,” meanwhile, saw a 22% drop. That last category would be any site getting over 100,000 daily pageviews.

It’s not just Google Search either. While Search traffic dropped by 34%, traffic from Google Discover has also fallen by 15% over the past year, the report found.

  • melsaskca@lemmy.caEnglish
    26·
    23 hours ago

    The first thing I do when searching google is to scroll past that AI shit they put at the top and look for a valid link to a valid website.

    • imjustmsk@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6·
      17 hours ago

      Do yourself a favor and don’t use Google at all

      Here are alternatives

      1. Brave Search or DuckDuckGo They do have similar AI features but you can disable them.
      2. Or, Just use StartPage, It’s basically shows you Google results but without any if Google’s bloat nor their tracking.

      edit; stupif typ0

        • coaxil@lemmy.zipEnglish
          6·
          19 hours ago

          For local specific search that DDG just misses like those reviews and open hours you can throw the ol shebang in your search, !g, and it will search in Google for you

      • samus12345@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        3·
        18 hours ago

        I made that the default on my computer at home so I wouldn’t get into the bad habit of using the AI response. It still shows up on the computer at work and I have to remind myself not to believe what it says.