"this is certain to negatively impact our ability"
Visits to major news websites have dropped significantly since Google launched its AI Overviews feature, new data reveals.
Of the top 50 news domains, 37 saw year-on-year traffic declines following the May 2024 rollout, according to data from SimilarWeb. Some outlets have reported drops of up to 40%.
The decline comes despite high-profile events dominating the news cycle, including the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, his unexpected victory over Kamala Harris, and controversy surrounding new US tariffs.
Danielle Coffey, President and CEO of News/Media Alliance, said:
“The data absolutely shows the new AI products Google has announced are affecting news publishers’ traffic.”
“On top of all the SEO changes that have decreased traffic recently in traditional search, this is certain to negatively impact our ability to invest in quality journalism.”
According to SimilarWeb, Forbes and HuffPost lost the most, each seeing a 40% drop.
DailyMail.com declined by 32%, while CNN.com fell 28%. The New York Post and the Wall Street Journal saw traffic fall 27% and 17%, respectively. FoxNews.com dropped 24%.
Fox News’ parent company, Fox Corp, and the New York Post’s parent, News Corp, are both owned by Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.
Data from ComScore, which tracks traffic differently, also shows a downward trend.
It found that the NYPost Network, including Page Six and Decider, had 433 million page views in June 2024. That fell to 381 million by May 2025, a 12% decline.
ComScore data did show slight gains for WSJ.com and FoxNews.com, while The New York Times and Washington Post dropped by 0.7% and 6% respectively.
Some websites bucked the trend. SimilarWeb reported that MensJournal.com saw a 415% increase, CoolDown.com rose 96%, and Indiatimes.com was up 77%.
Google denies that its AI features are responsible for the traffic collapse.
A spokesperson said: “More than any other company, Google prioritises sending traffic to the web, and we continue to send billions of clicks to websites every day.”
The company added: “We’ve seen many inaccurate claims about traffic from Search, often based on speculative or incomplete information, questionable methodology, or data that predates AI Overviews.
“New AI experiences in Search enable people to ask even more questions, which creates new opportunities for businesses and content to be discovered.”
The spokesperson also noted that SimilarWeb’s figures don’t account for app-based browsing, only desktop and mobile web.
AI Overviews, powered by Google’s Gemini model, provide short, automated answers at the top of search results. This often reduces the need for users to click through to original sources.
Since their introduction, several studies have found steep declines in click-through rates. Data shows that CTR for top organic results on queries triggering AI Overviews dropped from 7.3% in March 2024 to just 2.6% by March 2025.
Google has since rolled out AI Mode, a more advanced tool that answers complex questions in a conversational tone.
Despite promises to keep AI Overviews away from breaking news or sensitive topics, one appeared atop results for “Anne Burrell death” shortly after the story broke.
The company later updated its policy, stating AI Overviews will appear if the system is confident in the response and believes it adds value.
However, efforts continue to limit results on dangerous or controversial topics.
Google insists that overall web traffic and search visits are rising. It said AI Overviews are meant to help users by highlighting a wider range of links and sources.
It also argued that traffic fluctuations can stem from seasonal changes, evolving user habits or regular algorithm updates, not just AI.
Still, publishers fear that if AI continues to erode traffic, the long-term impact on independent journalism could be severe.
Loading ...