Website traffic has dropped dramatically since ChatGPT and AI search

Since Google launched its AI Overviews feature in May 2024, Similarweb, a digital market data company, found that the number of web news searches that did not result in any clicks to news sites (zero-clicks) increased from 56% to nearly 69% after one year.

This shows that users are increasingly satisfied with information aggregated directly from AI without having to visit the original site.

Organic traffic to news sites has also dropped sharply, from more than 2.3 billion in mid-2024 (the peak) to less than 1.7 billion today.

Meanwhile, news-related queries/requests on ChatGPT increased 212% from January 2024 to May 2025. AI is changing the game for news publishers. Similarweb points out that appearing in Google search results and search engine optimization (SEO) methods may no longer be as valuable as they once were, as search rankings no longer translate into as many website visits as they once did.

Correlation between organic traffic and zero-clicks from January 2024 to May 2025. Photo: SimilarWeb

While ChatGPT traffic to news sites is increasing, it is not enough to offset the losses they are facing. From January to May 2024, ChatGPT referred just under 1 million visits to news sites. However, that number skyrocketed to over 25 million in 2025, a 25-fold increase.

However, as the news industry faces a major decline in organic search traffic, this increase is unlikely to offset the losses suffered by newsrooms.

SimilarWeb's report also shows that some sites are doing better than others at attracting traffic from ChatGPT.

Sites that saw the biggest increases in traffic from ChatGPT included Reuters (up 8.9% year-over-year), NY Post (up 7.1%), and Business Insider (up 6.5%).

Meanwhile, The New York Times, which is suing OpenAI for allegedly misusing its content, saw fewer visits from ChatGPT. While it remained in the top 10 sites receiving traffic from ChatGPT, its increase was just 3.1%.

Topics like stocks, finance, and sports currently account for the majority of news-related queries on ChatGPT. However, Similarweb’s report also shows that other topics like politics , economics, weather, etc. are growing.

Similarweb hypothesizes that this could signal a shift from seeking “quick-reaction information” to “deeper, issue-based engagement” through AI.

Along with the growth in traffic from AI, ChatGPT's website and app users have also increased significantly. In the past six months, app users have more than doubled, while website visitors have increased by 52%, according to Similarweb.

Solutions to the news industry’s crisis are few and far between. Under pressure from publishers as AI reduces traffic,

Google recently launched its Offerwall service, allowing publishers using Google Ad Manager to experiment with other ways of monetizing, beyond just relying on traffic like advertising.

With Offerwall, they can try things like paying per article (micropayment) or requiring users to sign up for a newsletter to access site content.

Other sites are also experimenting with paywalls or other ways to make money. Many newspapers have had to lay off staff or even shut down.

In a recent interview with The New York Times, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman answered a question about the impact of AI on the job market.

“I do think there will be areas where some jobs will disappear, or maybe there will be a class of jobs that disappear altogether. Whatever it is, even if it is good for society and the economy as a whole, it will be very painful – extremely painful – at that time,” he said.

(According to TechCrunch)

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Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/luot-truy-cap-website-giam-tham-hai-tu-khi-co-chatgpt-va-tim-kiem-ai-2417939.html