Publisher traffic sources: Google steady but social and direct referrals are down

Publisher traffic sources: Google steady but social and direct referrals are down

New data from Chartbeat suggests that “search” as a source of total traffic to major news publishers has remained stable over the last year. This appears to chime with a Google statement earlier this month downplaying the impact of AI Overviews and AI Mode on publisher referrals. However, this includes Google Discover – which has replaced search as the main source of Google traffic. Social media has however sharply declined as a source of publis…