Google’s AI Overviews feature is rapidly siphoning traffic from major online publishers. A Growtika analysis found that AI-generated answers in Search are cutting media outlets off from clicks that used to drive a large share of their revenue. Tracking 10 leading tech sites, Growtika reports that their combined U.S. traffic fell from about 112 million monthly visits at peak to under 50 million by January 2026.
The sharpest collapse hit Digital Trends: its organic traffic reportedly dropped 97 percent, from 8.5 million visits in March 2024 to about 265,000 by January 2026. Other big names such as The Verge, ZDNet, and HowToGeek were down more than 85 percent. Growtika also highlights a symbolic milestone: r/ChatGPT now receives more Google traffic than four top IT publishers combined.
Analysts usually point to three forces moving at the same time. First, the expansion of AI Overviews, which various datasets show has been volatile but at times reached “just under” 25 percent of queries during 2025. Second, Google’s increased surfacing of Reddit-style discussion results, which has become a default destination for many “best answer” queries. Third, users increasingly jumping straight to chatbots for quick answers, skipping the classic click-through path entirely.
There is also a behavioral layer that explains why this hurts publishers even when they still appear as citations. Pew Research found that when an AI summary appears, users are less likely to click on traditional results, and overall browsing paths get shorter because more intent is satisfied on the results page.
Google has pushed back on studies like this, arguing that traffic changes can reflect seasonality and shifting audience preferences, including more consumption via forums and podcasts rather than classic articles.
