Global publisher Google traffic dropped by a third in 2025
Google search traffic to publishers declined globally by a third in the year to November, according to new Chartbeat data.
In addition, referrals to more than 2,500 publisher websites from Google Discover, a feed served to users on Google’s native mobile apps and within its Android operating system, were down 21% year on year.
The new Chartbeat data was published in the Journalism and Technology Trends and Predictions 2026 report published by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.
Since May 2023, Google search referrals were down 21% globally, with Google Discover down 18% and all external referrals down 24%.
[Read more: Why publishers should worry about growing reliance on Google Discover]
In the US only, referrals from organic Google search were down by 38% year on year and Google Discover was down 29%. Since May 2023, they were each were down by 22%.
Chart showing referral traffic change to publisher websites from the Journalism and Technology Trends and Predictions 2026 report. Picture: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
The report noted that publishers that specialise in lifestyle or utility content such as weather, TV guides, or horoscopes were more likely to have seen traffic declines, linking it to the arrival of Google’s AI summaries at the top of search results from 2024.
The report, authored by senior research associate Nic Newman, is based on a survey of 280 media leaders (including 64 editors-in-chief, 64 CEOs or managing directors, and 51 heads of digital or innovation) from 51 countries carried out in November and December.
Respondents said they expect traffic to decline by 43% on average over the next three years, with the report noting this would be “not quite ‘Google Zero’ but a substantial impact none the less”.
A small amount said they expect their company’s search traffic to decline by less than 20% because of Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, while around a fifth of respondents said they expect a loss of more than 75%.
Most publishers who responded to the report now expect to put less effort into traditional Google search in 2026 (a net score of -25 when asked whether they would put more or less in).
Meanwhile social referrals were “flat or slightly up” globally, with X (formerly Twitter) up 15% year on year in November and Facebook up 9%.
In January 2025 Facebook began surfacing more news and politics content to users after previously deprioritising it in favour of videos. However Facebook referral traffic remains down 43% compared to where it was in May 2023.
Both platforms saw larger percentage growth in the US, with X up 29% and Facebook up 23%. But X had much less traction in Europe, with decline of 22% year on year. It was down 46% globally compared to May 2023.
The report suggested publishers have “given up” on both Facebook and X, with most planning to put less effort into them in 2026 (net scores of -23 and -52 respectively).
There has been a “rapid rise” in ChatGPT referrals to publisher websites since July 2024 but it still makes up just 0.02% of total referral traffic. Meanwhile Perplexity makes up 0.002%.
Nonetheless most publishers said they planned to put more effort into distribution and engagement on AI platforms in the coming year, with a net score of 61.
Just over two-thirds (69%) of survey respondents said they expected AI licensing deals to provide at least some revenue to their companies in the next three years with most seeing it as a minor source of income. A fifth of respondents did not expect to get anything.
Of the third-party platforms included in the survey, Youtube is the place most publishers plan to invest most extra effort in 2026, up from a net score of 52 last year to 74.
To combat the AI and referral traffic challenges, publishers were most likely to say original investigations and on-the-ground reporting would be increasingly important to focus on, followed by contextual analysis and community building. Service journalism, general news and evergreen content were seen as the least important to focus on going forward.
Report author Newman said: “Publishers face new competition from AI answer engines and next generation browsers that are able to summarise and remix content in a way that provides great utility for audiences. But tech platforms do not hold all the cards.
“Reliable news, expert analysis, and points of view remain important both to individuals and to society, particularly in uncertain times. Great storytelling – and a human touch – is going to be hard for AI to replicate.”
Overall confidence among media leaders in the future of journalism has continued to decline. In 2022, 60% of respondents to the survey said they were “confident about journalism’s prospects in the year ahead”, falling to 41% last year and now 38%.
The report said this was due to the adoption of AI and expected continued loss of visibility in search and on social media, a sense that traditional media is “losing touch with sections of society”, and the denigration by some politicians of journalism “as part of an international playbook to reduce scrutiny”.
The report also found that 76% of media leaders plan to encourage their staff to behave more like creators in 2026 while half want to partner with creators to help distribute their content.
Subscriptions and memberships remain the biggest revenue focus (76%) for commercial publishers, ahead of display (68%) and native advertising (64%), and events (54%).
Read the full Journalism and Technology Trends and Predictions 2026 report here.
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