Ziff Davis Loses 37% of Google Referrals as USA Today Co. Cuts $100m in Costs
TLDR
Ziff Davis lost 37% of its Google referrals, USA Today Co. cut $100m in costs, Teads wrote off goodwill, and Meta and Google sued California over feeds.
Optimixed Overview
Optimixed's original report on this story.
PPC Land reports that Ziff Davis lost 37% of its Google referrals in the same period that USA Today Co. cut $100m in costs and Teads wrote off goodwill. Separately, Meta and Google sued California over feeds, adding legal pressure to an already strained publishing and ad landscape.
How we got here: earlier coverage
On November 6, Ziff Davis reported that it had lost 37% of its Google search traffic over a year, while Google's AI answers cited its sites 2.7 billion times and sent back far fewer clicks. That same day, USA TODAY Co. cut guidance and planned $100 million in annual costs, with programmatic and sponsored-link revenue down 32%. Now, Ziff Davis says it lost 37% of its Google referrals, USA Today Co. has cut $100 million in costs, Teads has written off goodwill, and Meta and Google have sued California over feeds.
Summary of earlier coverage
- Nov 6People Inc. core web sessions fell 26% as Google AI Overviews expanded, while licensing revenue rose 49%
People Inc., owner of PEOPLE and Allrecipes, reports licensing revenue up 49% to $52.7 million while digital ads fell 8%, and its core web sessions dropped 26% as Google AI Overviews spread.
- Nov 6Ziff Davis Google search traffic falls 37% in a year as AI answers cite its sites 2.7bn times
Ziff Davis lost 37% of its Google search traffic in a year as Google's AI answers cited its sites 2.7 billion times while sending back far fewer clicks.
- Nov 1Surveyed publishers saw referral traffic fall a median 22% over eight weeks in 2026
Referral traffic to surveyed publishers fell a median 22% over eight weeks in 2026, after a 10% drop in 2025, according to a publisher group's brief.
- Oct 20Publishers revamp strategies to prepare for reduced Google search referral traffic
Major publishers including Axios, The Verge, and Time are restructuring operations and business strategies in response to declining Google search referral traffic.