Artificial intelligence hits websites: Traffic loss reaches 30 percent
AI-powered search engines like Google, ChatGPT, and Perplexity satisfy users with summarized results, eliminating the need to click through to websites. Many sectors, from media to finance, are experiencing traffic declines driven by artificial intelligence.
The integration of artificial intelligence technologies into search engines is revolutionizing internet usage. Tools such as Google's "AI Overviews," OpenAI's ChatGPT, and Perplexity.ai allow users to access the information they are looking for without directly visiting a website. This situation is leading to significant traffic losses, particularly in content-focused sectors such as media, e-commerce, finance, and lifestyle.
REMARKABLE DECLINE IN WEB TRAFFIC
According to SimilarWeb data for the 2024–2025 period, the decline in search-driven traffic for US-based sites by sector is as follows:
Travel and tourism: 20%
News and media: 17%
E-commerce: 9%
Finance and food sites: 7%
Lifestyle and style: 5%
Information-based sites have also been affected by the situation. For example, Wikipedia's daily visitor count, which was 165 million in March 2022, fell to 128 million in March 2025, marking a 23% loss.
GOOGLE AI OVERVIEWS REDUCES DIRECT CLICKS
According to research by BrightEdge, the AI Overviews feature, which Google has been testing for some time and is gradually rolling out, provides summary information directly below search results. Thanks to this feature, users access information without clicking on other sites. This has led to a decline of up to 30% in direct site clicks.
NEWS CONSUMPTION HABITS ARE CHANGING
Artificial intelligence is fundamentally changing not just information consumption, but news consumption as well. According to data published by The Decoder, there was a 212% increase in news queries made via ChatGPT between 2024 and 2025. During the same period, news queries made via classic Google searches increased by only 5%.
NEW MOVE FROM OPENAI: AI-POWERED WEB BROWSER IS COMING
OpenAI is now in the development phase of its own AI-powered web browser. This new browser, which will be a direct competitor to Google Chrome, aims to fundamentally change the way people browse the internet.
With this move, it is assessed that OpenAI plans to gain direct access to user data and become a partner in Google's most valuable resource.
News Source: 12punto
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