--- title: "Tech Publications Lost 58% of Google Traffic Since 2024 | Growtika" description: "We tracked CNET, Wired, The Verge, TechRadar and six others from 2024 to today. Combined, they lost 65 million monthly Google visits. Full data inside." lang: en json-ld: | { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Article", "@id": "https://growtika.com/blog/tech-media-collapse#article", "headline": "The Internet's Most-Read Tech Publications Have Lost 58% of Their Google Traffic Since 2024", "description": "We tracked the organic search traffic of CNET, Wired, The Verge, TechRadar, and six other major tech publications from early 2024 to today. 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[Home ](/) 2. [Blog ](/blog) 3. Tech Media Traffic Collapse Original Research # The Internet's Most-Read Tech Publications Have Lost 58% of Their Google Traffic Since 2024 We tracked the organic search traffic of CNET, Wired, The Verge, TechRadar, and six others from early 2024 to today. Combined, they've lost 65 million monthly visits. Some lost over 90%. By Yuval Halevi February 2026 8 min read At their peaks, ten major tech publications pulled a combined 112 million organic visits per month from Google in the US. By January 2026, that number had fallen to 47 million. All ten sites are down, though not by equal amounts. Some lost 30%. Others lost over 90%. Loading chart… ![Growtika](/images/logo.webp) ### TL;DR - 10 major tech publications lost a combined 65M monthly organic visits since their peaks. That's a 58% decline. - Digital Trends: 8.5M → 265K (-97%). ZDNet: 7.6M → 769K (-90%). The Verge: 5.3M → 790K (-85%). - Even the least affected sites are down significantly: CNET lost 47%, Tom's Guide lost 50%, Wired lost 62%. - NerdWallet lost 73% (25M → 6.8M) and Healthline lost 50% (111M → 56M), suggesting the pattern extends beyond tech. - The steepest declines started in mid-2025, coinciding with the expansion of Google's AI Overviews. #### Methodology We pulled monthly US organic traffic estimates from Ahrefs for ten major English-language tech publications from February 2024 through January 2026. For each site, we identified the peak traffic month and compared it to January 2026 (the most recent complete month). All figures are Ahrefs estimates for the US market. A Note on Methodology (Updated March 2026) Several editors from publications featured in this study have publicly questioned these figures, noting that only the publications themselves know their real traffic numbers. That is a fair point, and worth clarifying. All figures in this study are third-party estimates sourced from Ahrefs, measuring US organic search traffic only. Ahrefs does not capture direct visits, newsletter clicks, app traffic, or social referrals. A publication can have a strong and healthy total audience while simultaneously seeing a decline in the organic search portion of their traffic, and that distinction is exactly what this research is measuring. This study is not a commentary on the health or quality of any individual publication. It is a look at a broader trend: how Google's evolution is changing the way readers discover content that was once built on search. The findings reflect that shift, not the value of the journalism behind it. ## Site-by-Site Breakdown 112M Combined peak monthly traffic 47M Combined traffic, January 2026 \-58% Average decline Publication Peak Traffic Peak Month Jan 2026 Decline **Digital Trends** 8,530,891 Mar 2024 264,861 \-97% **ZDNet** 7,610,480 Feb 2024 768,792 \-90% **The Verge** 5,322,037 Feb 2024 790,002 \-85% **HowToGeek** 1,974,331 Feb 2024 293,898 \-85% **TechRadar** 15,577,298 Jul 2024 4,045,783 \-74% **Wired** 7,754,067 Nov 2024 2,976,994 \-62% **Tom's Guide** 16,013,790 Jul 2024 7,986,572 \-50% **CNET** 20,294,300 Nov 2024 10,655,803 \-47% **PCMag** 12,667,236 Jul 2025 7,449,728 \-41% **Mashable** 16,114,803 May 2024 11,331,018 \-30% Sorted by decline percentage. All figures are estimated US organic traffic from Ahrefs. ## Key Stats - 65M monthly visits lost across ten publications in under two years - Digital Trends lost 97% of its traffic — from 8.5M to 265K monthly visits, the steepest decline in the dataset - Four publications combined (2.1M) get less traffic than the r/ChatGPT subreddit alone (4.68M) - TechRadar's loss (11.5M) exceeds the current traffic of Wired, The Verge, ZDNet, HowToGeek, and Digital Trends combined (5.1M) - Healthline alone lost 55M visits — more than all ten tech publications currently have combined (47M) - NerdWallet (NRDS) lost 73% of its organic traffic — from 25M to 6.8M monthly visits as a publicly traded company ## Most of the Damage Happened After Mid-2025 For most of these publications, the traffic curves held through early 2025 and then dropped sharply in the second half of the year. The monthly data makes the timing visible. Monthly organic traffic: the four steepest declines Estimated US organic visits per month, Feb 2024 to Jan 2026. Hover for exact figures. - TechRadar (-74%) - Digital Trends (-97%) - ZDNet (-90%) - The Verge (-85%) ![Growtika](/images/logo.webp) TechRadar peaked in July 2024 at 15.6 million monthly visits and fell to 4 million by January 2026. Digital Trends went from 8.5 million in March 2024 to 265,000, a 97% decline. ## Not All Sites Declined Equally The ten sites fall into roughly three groups when sorted by severity. ### Down 85% or more: Digital Trends, ZDNet, HowToGeek, The Verge These four sites lost enough traffic that their search-dependent revenue models face serious questions. Digital Trends went from 8.5M to 265K monthly visits. ZDNet, which was one of the larger enterprise tech publications online, dropped from 7.6M to 769K. HowToGeek is worth noting specifically. Its content was predominantly step-by-step how-to guides: "how to take a screenshot on Windows," "how to change your DNS settings," etc. That's exactly the type of query Google's AI Overviews now answer directly in the search results without requiring a click. The site lost 85% of its search traffic. Peak vs. January 2026: traffic lost by each publication Estimated US monthly organic visits. Hover for exact figures. - Peak traffic - Jan 2026 traffic ![Growtika](/images/logo.webp) ### Down 47-74%: TechRadar, Wired, Tom's Guide, CNET These four still have substantial traffic but have lost roughly half or more since their peaks. TechRadar went from 15.6M to 4M. CNET, the largest of the group, dropped from 20.3M to 10.7M. CNET entered this period navigating [a high-profile editorial moment around AI-generated content](https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/02/wikipedia-downgrades-cnets-reliability-rating-after-ai-generated-articles/) that drew industry attention in early 2024. On top of that, Google's product review algorithm changes and the expansion of AI Overviews hit the informational queries that had long been central to its traffic. A lot of headwinds converging at once. ### Down 30-41%: Mashable, PCMag Mashable went from 16.1M to 11.3M (-30%). PCMag peaked later than most — in July 2025 at 12.7M — and dropped to 7.4M by January 2026 (-41%). Both sites still operate at scale. Why these two fared better than the others isn't entirely clear from traffic data alone. Mashable's content skews more toward entertainment and culture, which may be harder for AI to summarize. PCMag has strong product-specific review traffic. But that's speculative. ## Same Pattern in Finance and Health We checked two of the largest publishers outside tech to see if the pattern held. Publication Category Peak Traffic Jan 2026 Decline **NerdWallet** Personal finance 25,056,888 6,803,920 \-73% **Healthline** Health / medical 111,338,257 55,820,936 \-50% NerdWallet is publicly traded (NRDS) and its business depends on converting search visitors into financial product referrals. It went from 25M monthly organic visits to 6.8M, a 73% decline. Healthline lost 55 million monthly visits, going from 111M to 56M. That's more traffic lost by a single site than the entire tech media category combined. ## Possible Explanations We can't prove causation from traffic curves alone, but three developments overlap with the decline timeline. First, Google rolled out AI Overviews broadly starting in mid-2024. For informational queries like "how to change DNS settings" or "best wireless earbuds 2026," Google now generates an answer directly in the search results. The user gets what they need without clicking through to a publisher. The sites most dependent on these queries (HowToGeek, Digital Trends, ZDNet) are the ones with the steepest drops. Second, Reddit has gained ranking position for commercial "best X" keywords that historically belonged to these publications. In a [separate analysis](/blog/reddit-backlinks-research), we found anonymous Reddit posts ranking in the top 3 for keywords like "best screen recorders," "best free VPN," and "best wireless earbuds under $200." Third, a growing number of users are skipping Google entirely for product research, going directly to ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity. There's no reliable public data on how large this shift is yet, but it represents traffic that never enters the search funnel at all. It's likely some combination of all three. The timing of the steepest declines (second half of 2025) coincides with AI Overviews expanding to more query types and AI assistants reaching broader adoption. ## Raw Data: Monthly Traffic for All Ten Sites Full monthly organic traffic estimates for each publication, February 2024 through January 2026. Month CNET Tom's Guide TechRadar Digital Trends The Verge ZDNet Feb 2024 13,802,351 8,568,233 7,829,401 7,700,949 5,322,037 7,610,480 Mar 2024 14,056,758 9,712,685 9,579,511 8,530,891 4,279,257 6,853,929 Apr 2024 16,659,423 10,537,850 11,811,937 6,197,537 4,833,403 6,725,549 May 2024 20,234,379 14,070,586 13,097,564 5,907,347 3,787,933 4,615,543 Jun 2024 20,219,141 15,560,640 13,867,491 6,050,149 3,683,688 3,537,135 Jul 2024 19,581,872 16,013,790 15,577,298 6,138,865 3,625,655 4,074,793 Aug 2024 18,507,863 14,753,188 15,283,408 5,031,362 3,256,722 4,085,538 Sep 2024 18,966,179 14,462,481 14,508,483 3,016,031 3,299,569 4,105,952 Oct 2024 19,390,527 14,364,137 12,807,239 2,426,441 2,985,709 3,816,738 Nov 2024 20,294,300 15,993,202 15,324,834 2,748,185 3,046,460 5,207,106 Dec 2024 16,065,464 14,301,908 13,566,064 3,010,674 2,424,885 3,124,594 Jan 2025 16,669,933 12,410,672 11,535,517 2,616,015 2,458,832 2,670,747 Feb 2025 16,943,407 12,133,886 10,139,597 1,700,666 2,422,789 2,459,003 Mar 2025 17,741,566 11,473,009 8,836,252 1,190,869 1,860,685 2,576,403 Apr 2025 16,804,845 11,494,629 8,143,339 691,841 1,978,756 2,859,929 May 2025 14,956,131 11,671,023 7,809,370 598,839 1,657,207 2,847,849 Jun 2025 13,378,476 10,063,899 6,465,955 614,946 1,196,643 2,236,170 Jul 2025 14,780,240 9,648,021 6,878,289 601,485 1,211,517 1,331,110 Aug 2025 14,237,958 9,311,091 6,148,342 530,548 1,083,174 968,123 Sep 2025 12,260,518 9,509,067 6,320,467 504,976 997,188 923,913 Oct 2025 11,497,795 9,039,513 4,919,562 339,553 794,725 721,173 Nov 2025 10,930,545 10,300,990 5,821,057 391,447 1,230,951 1,140,753 Dec 2025 10,642,423 7,771,564 4,941,017 308,296 986,485 803,314 Jan 2026 10,655,803 7,986,572 4,045,783 264,861 790,002 768,792 Month Mashable PCMag Wired HowToGeek Feb 2024 9,400,731 9,537,448 5,523,064 1,974,331 Mar 2024 14,035,492 9,457,559 6,477,535 1,713,756 Apr 2024 14,535,453 8,940,377 7,001,671 1,531,428 May 2024 16,114,803 7,655,723 5,974,118 1,643,313 Jun 2024 13,028,433 6,354,480 5,135,765 1,636,132 Jul 2024 11,436,357 7,118,765 6,247,987 1,649,525 Aug 2024 10,817,802 7,715,094 6,128,515 1,485,446 Sep 2024 10,612,495 9,118,342 7,038,349 1,507,896 Oct 2024 10,110,220 9,377,344 7,000,807 1,462,014 Nov 2024 10,151,394 10,487,432 7,754,067 1,467,094 Dec 2024 10,330,064 10,241,706 6,191,710 1,493,316 Jan 2025 10,664,380 9,871,695 4,869,102 1,301,888 Feb 2025 11,697,365 8,768,448 4,715,258 1,224,591 Mar 2025 12,385,378 9,428,404 5,015,869 1,062,844 Apr 2025 13,574,935 9,605,043 5,140,600 977,853 May 2025 12,911,220 9,811,982 4,658,824 856,014 Jun 2025 11,875,561 7,589,124 3,136,665 753,705 Jul 2025 13,219,303 12,667,236 3,375,514 851,230 Aug 2025 13,970,097 10,343,209 3,948,057 571,443 Sep 2025 13,138,387 7,275,747 3,841,198 449,365 Oct 2025 12,668,102 5,533,471 3,939,513 322,779 Nov 2025 11,590,333 5,734,964 4,440,363 319,852 Dec 2025 11,745,707 6,978,806 3,713,650 304,151 Jan 2026 11,331,018 7,449,728 2,976,994 293,898 Summary Ten major tech publications lost a combined 65 million monthly organic search visits between their peaks and January 2026. Four lost over 85% of their traffic. The same pattern appears in personal finance (NerdWallet, -73%) and health publishing (Healthline, -50%). The steepest declines coincide with the expansion of AI Overviews, increased Reddit rankings for commercial keywords, and growing use of AI assistants for product research. Our analysis is based on Ahrefs estimates and may not be perfect. We welcome corrections, different perspectives, and data challenges — if you work at one of these publications and have a different story to tell, [reach out here](https://growtika.com/contact). ## Responses & Corrections This section will be updated as we receive feedback from publishers and industry experts. ![Yuval Halevi](/images/yuval-halevi.webp) #### [Yuval Halevi](https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuvalhalevi/) Helping SaaS companies and developer tools get cited in AI answers since before it was called "GEO." 10+ years in B2B SEO, 50+ cybersecurity and SaaS tools clients. #### Company - [About Us](/about) - [Blog](/blog) - [GEO HubNew ](/geo-hub) - [Contact](/contact) - [Free ToolsNew ](/tools) - [Robots.txt Checker](/tools/robots-txt-checker) - [Robots.txt Generator](/tools/robots-txt-generator) #### Solutions & Use Cases - [GEO Marketing](/services/geo-marketing) - [AI Search SEO](/services/ai-search-seo) - [ChatGPT SEO](/services/chatgpt-seo) - [Perplexity SEO](/services/perplexity-seo) - [SaaS Not on ChatGPT](/use-cases/saas-not-on-chatgpt) - [Competitors Cited](/use-cases/competitors-ai-citations) - [AI Visibility Audit](/use-cases/ai-visibility-audit) - [Entity Optimization](/use-cases/entity-optimization) #### Sectors - [Tech](/sectors/tech) - [Cybersecurity](/sectors/cybersecurity) - [Fintech](/sectors/fintech) - [AI](/sectors/ai) #### Top Content - [New Guide ChatGPT Search Optimization Guide ](/guides/chatgpt-search-optimization-guide) - [All Guides](/guides) - [Black Hat 2026 Field Guide](/black-hat-2026) - [LLM Visibility Guide](/blog/llm-visibility) - [SEO After LLMs](/blog/seo-after-llms) - [ChatGPT Recommends Competitors](/geo-hub/chatgpt-recommends-competitor) - [Breaking SEO Best Practices](/blog/breaking-seo-best-practices) #### Earn a Link the Hard Way A game in a footer? 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