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Search SEO traffic to small publishers has dropped 60% over two years, according to Chartbeat data reported exclusively by Axios.
This is almost three times the decline observed among large publishers. The analytics company, which tracks traffic on thousands of client websites around the world, has segmented its network by size. Mid-sized publishers (10,000 to 100,000 page views per day) lost 47%and large publishers (more than 100,000 page views daily) have lost 22%.
What’s new
Chartbeat’s aggregate search traffic data is not new. Our January Reuters Institute coverage cited Chartbeat data showing a 33% global decline in Google search rankings. What is new is the distribution by size. Previous Chartbeat figures cited in previous coverage were aggregate figures, and this data shows that losses are concentrated at the low end.
Page views in Google search have dropped 34% between December 2024 and December 2025, according to Chartbeat data. Google Discover, the other main SEO source, has fallen 15% over the same period.
ChatGPT referrals increased by over 200% during this window, but chatbots still represent less than 1% of all publisher page view references. The growth in chatbot traffic is far from replacing what search has lost.
How big publishers pay
Large publishers appear to be finding alternative traffic sources to partially offset search losses. News and media sites in particular are experiencing growth in direct and internal traffic as a proportion of referrals.
Email and app referrals are also increasing among news publishers, according to the Axios report. Our Reuters Institute coverage in January found the same trend, with publishers saying they planned to invest more in owned channels.
Overall weekly page views across all Chartbeat network publishers fell 6% between 2024 and 2025. The company attributed this to factors outside the research, including a quieter election cycle, although this is their interpretation and not a measured cause.
AI SEO engagement varies by site type
One finding that stands out when it comes to content strategy is that news and media sites get the highest total page views from AI chatbot referrals, but the lowest engagement per article.
Axios reports that this model suggests readers use news quotes in chatbots for a quick fact or context check, not for further reading.
The other category of data is that of “utility sites”, that is to say publishers offering health or gardening advice. These publishers see fewer total referrals from AI platforms, but more page views per article.
Methodological notes
Chartbeat has been selling analytics tools to publishers and tracking traffic across its customer network for nearly two decades. Its data covers thousands of websites worldwide, but focuses on news and media publishers.
In this data, small publishers average 1,000 to 10,000 page views per day, medium publishers average between 10,000 and 100,000, and large publishers average over 100,000.
Axios received the data exclusively and Chartbeat did not independently publish it.
Why it matters
The loss of search SEO traffic affects sites with the fewest resources to create alternative traffic.
Most reports on search traffic declines have treated publishers as a single group. This Chartbeat data breaks down the data by size. For anyone working with small publishers, these numbers should be a game changer.
AI chatbot users click on news sites for quick checks, but spend more time on how-to content. This means that the value of an AI reference depends on what you publish.
Looking to the future
We’ll wait for Chartbeat to release the full data set. The way in which the SEO engagement of chatbots differs depending on the type of site is still a first piece of data that is worth monitoring.
Featured Image: sparkling/Shutterstock
