Major news sites experience significant traffic decline post Google's AI search

Technology Jul 02, 2025

Google's AI Overviews, rolled out in May 2024, use the Gemini model to give quick summaries right at the top of search results.
While it's handy for users, it means fewer people are clicking through to actual news articles.

Major decline in traffic for top US news sites

Since these summaries launched, 37 out of the top 50 US news sites have lost traffic.
Forbes and HuffPost were especially affected—both saw visits drop by about 40%.
Click-through rates for search results also slid from 7.3% to just 2.6% within a year.

Publishers might struggle to fund original reporting

AI Overviews make searching easier but cut down on visitors and ad money for publishers.
This shift could make it harder for news outlets to fund original reporting and might change how quality journalism is supported going forward.