Decline in Traffic for US News Sites After Google AI Launch

New data indicates that visits to major US news websites have significantly decreased since Google introduced its AI search feature last year.

Research from Simorweb reveals that 37 out of the top 50 news websites experienced a year-over-year decline in traffic following the rollout of Google’s AI overview.

This decline is notable despite various high-profile events, such as an attempt on Donald Trump’s life last summer, his surprising election win over Kamala Harris, and discussions surrounding the new president’s tariff policy, which typically draw significant public interest.

“The data clearly shows that Google’s newly announced AI product is impacting the traffic of news publishers,” commented Danielle Coffey, president and CEO of News/Media Alliance, on Tuesday.

Coffey noted that, combined with recent changes in search engine optimization, this situation is likely to hinder the ability of news organizations to invest in quality journalism. Her organization represents over 2,200 news entities.

According to the report, both Forbes and Huffpost were hit hardest, experiencing a 40% drop in traffic. Dailymail.com saw a 32% reduction while CNN.com’s traffic fell by 28%.

The New York Post and its affiliated publication, the Wall Street Journal, faced declines of 27% and 17%, respectively, while Fox News.com’s traffic decreased by 24%.

Interestingly, comScore, using different methodologies, showed that news traffic fell to 381 million in May 2025, representing a 12% drop from 433 million page views in June 2024.

CNN.com experienced one of the sharpest declines, with traffic dropping 28% year-over-year to 311.7 million visitors, a notable figure according to Simorweb.

In contrast, publications like wsj.com and Fox News.com recently reported slight increases during the same period.

The New York Times and Washington Post, generally seen as left-leaning competitors, reported minimal changes, only dropping by 0.7% and 6%, respectively.

Meanwhile, some publications did see growth, with Mensjournal.com jumping by 415%, Cooldown.com rising by 96%, and Indiatimes.com increasing by 77%.

A Google spokesperson denied claims that their AI features were responsible for the drop in traffic.

“Google is more committed than any other company to directing traffic to the web, continually sending billions of clicks to websites,” the representative stated on Tuesday.

The spokesperson added that many assertions about traffic drops are based on incomplete or questionable data. They emphasized that the AI capabilities allow users to ask more questions, enhancing their search experience.

Google indicated that Simorweb’s data has limitations, focusing primarily on desktop and mobile web traffic, excluding app usage.

The AI overview, powered by models like Gemini, appears at the top of search results, answering queries directly and often reducing the necessity to access original information sources.

Since the introduction of AI overviews, many publishers have reported significant reductions in traffic and click-through rates (CTR). Studies suggest that the average CTR for organic results that trigger these AI responses dropped from 7.3% in March 2024 to just 2.6% a year later.

Google recently launched its AI mode to provide more detailed, conversational answers to complicated queries.

Initially, there were claims that AI summaries would not cover “hard news topics” due to concerns about accuracy and freshness. Yet, an AI summarization box appeared rapidly following breaking news, highlighting a quick adaptation by the system.

Documentation suggests that AI overviews will appear when they add value and when the system is confident in the responses, but there are efforts to avoid sensitive subjects.

Google contends that overall web visits and organic search traffic are growing year-over-year and that the AI overview is meant to enhance user experience by presenting a broader range of links.

Finally, the company noted that fluctuations in traffic can result from various factors unrelated to AI, including seasonal trends and shifts in user preferences.