Small online publishers are suffering the steepest decline in search-driven web traffic as artificial intelligence transforms how people find information online. Axios reports that small publishers, defined as those receiving between 1,000 and 10,000 daily page views, have lost 60% of their referral traffic from traditional search engines over the past two years. Medium-sized publishers saw a 47% decline, while large publishers lost only 22%.
The data comes from Chartbeat, an analytics company that tracks traffic across thousands of websites globally. Page views from Google Search fell 34% between December 2024 and December 2025, while Google Discover dropped 15%.
AI chatbots are not filling the gap. Although referrals from ChatGPT grew by more than 200% in the same period, chatbots still account for less than 1% of all publisher page view referrals.
Overall web traffic has not collapsed. The average number of weekly page views across all publishers dropped just 6% between 2024 and 2025, a figure Chartbeat considers within normal range.
Larger publishers are adapting by diversifying traffic sources. Email newsletters, apps, and direct visits are growing as referral channels, particularly for news and media sites.
The Chartbeat data also reveals a telling pattern for AI traffic. News sites receive many page views from chatbot users but low engagement per article. Practical, utility-focused sites, such as those offering health or gardening advice, generate deeper reader engagement from AI referrals.
