We tracked the organic search traffic of CNET, Wired, The Verge, TechRadar, and six others from early 2024 to today. Combined, they lost 65 million monthly visits.

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A data-driven analysis tracking US organic search traffic for 10 major tech publications from early 2024 to January 2026 reveals a combined loss of 65 million monthly visits — a 58% decline from their peaks. Digital Trends suffered the worst drop at 97% (8.5M to 265K), followed by ZDNet at 90% and The Verge at 85%. Even the least-affected sites lost 30-47%. The steepest declines occurred in the second half of 2025, coinciding with Google's expanded AI Overviews rollout. Sites focused on how-to and informational content (HowToGeek, Digital Trends) were hit hardest, as AI Overviews now answer those queries directly. The pattern extends beyond tech: NerdWallet lost 73% and Healthline lost 50% of their traffic. Three contributing factors are identified: Google AI Overviews reducing click-throughs, Reddit gaining rankings for commercial keywords, and users bypassing Google entirely for AI assistants like ChatGPT and Perplexity.

Tech Publications Lost 58% of Google Traffic Since 2024

Most of the Damage Happened After Mid-2025

Raw Data: Monthly Traffic for All Ten Sites