Wikipedia Confirms They Are Steadily Losing Google Traffic

There has been a lot of rumors about the decline in traffic Google is sending Wikipeda’s way. There have been reports that Wikipedia has shown a “sudden” and “massive” decline in traffic from Google’s organic search results.

But Jimmy Wales, the co-founder of Wikipedia, said this is not a sudden or drastic drop in traffic from Google but rather a “longterm issue with decreasing traffic from Google.”

Jimmy Wales also added that the article also misrepresents how Wikipedia needs those clicks from Google. He wrote, “It is also false that “Wikipedia thrives on clicks”, as least as compared to ad-revenue driven sites.” “The relationship between “clicks” and the things we care about: community health and encyclopedia quality is not nothing, but it’s not as direct as some think,” Mr. Wales added.

The truth is, Jimmy Wales seems to be correct. Wikipedia is noticing a long term and gradual decline from Google. SearchMetrics shows this in their charts:

I noticed this decline back in March, so this has been happening for a long time now.

Back in the day, Wikipedia dominated Google’s search results. It was likely the most visible site in the Google search results.

The question is why is there a decline in Wikipedia’s traffic from Google? Some have theorized it might have to do with the Google Answer box, others say the algorithm has changed. It is hard to say for sure, but overall, Wikipedia is noticing a steady decline in traffic from Google.

The post Wikipedia Confirms They Are Steadily Losing Google Traffic appeared first on Search Engine Land.