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Google Search referrals to the web have plummeted, AI links are 'less than 1%' of traffic (9to5google.com)
submitted 3 days ago by throws_lemy@lemmy.nz to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Data gathered by Chartbeat and shared by Axios reveals that, over the past year, Google Search traffic to publishers across the broader web have fallen drastically, and proportionally more so for smaller websites. Referral traffic from Google apparently fell by 60% for “small publishers,” while “medium publishers” (those with between 10,000-100,000 daily pageviews) saw a drop of 47%. “Large publishers,” meanwhile, saw a 22% drop. That last category would be any site getting over 100,000 daily pageviews.

It’s not just Google Search either. While Search traffic dropped by 34%, traffic from Google Discover has also fallen by 15% over the past year, the report found.

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[-] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 31 points 2 days ago

The first thing I do when searching google is to scroll past that AI shit they put at the top and look for a valid link to a valid website.

[-] dkppunk@piefed.social 2 points 1 day ago

I changed all of my default search engines to https://noai.duckduckgo.com/ and internet searches have been much better

[-] imjustmsk@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Do yourself a favor and don't use Google at all

Here are alternatives

  1. Brave Search or DuckDuckGo They do have similar AI features but you can disable them.
  2. Or, Just use StartPage, It's basically shows you Google results but without any if Google's bloat nor their tracking.

edit; stupif typ0

[-] buddascrayon@lemmy.world 14 points 2 days ago

DDG lets you just turn off the AI crap.

[-] Rooster326@programming.dev 5 points 2 days ago

The only thing I miss moving everything to DDG is that it doesn't have reviews for local businesses.

[-] coaxil@lemmy.zip 6 points 2 days ago

For local specific search that DDG just misses like those reviews and open hours you can throw the ol shebang in your search, !g, and it will search in Google for you

[-] BreadstickNinja@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago

Unfortunately, most of the first page of results is often AI slop at this point...

[-] BenchpressMuyDebil@szmer.info 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

https://udm14.com/ , you can also add "&udm=14" to your normal google link so you don't have to rely un udm14.com, there should be a tutorial on the site

[-] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 days ago

I made that the default on my computer at home so I wouldn't get into the bad habit of using the AI response. It still shows up on the computer at work and I have to remind myself not to believe what it says.

[-] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago

Thanks!

[-] Kkk2237pl@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

The first you should use other browser like ecosia or qwant

[-] LastYearsIrritant@sopuli.xyz 3 points 2 days ago

If you set your default browser search engine to this, it gives a much cleaner Google search result, without AI crap.

https://google.com/search?udm=14&q=%25s

I tried other searches like DDG and the like, but Google still gives the best results... If you bypass all their junk.

[-] MadBigote@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

Can i interest you in Kagi? Its a great web browser and AI is optional.

this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2026
386 points (99.2% liked)

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