Ziff Davis: Google referrals down 37%, AI citations 2.7 billion

Organic Google referrals to Ziff Davis sites, including CNET, PCMag and IGN, fell about 37% in the third quarter of 2026 compared with a year earlier, CEO Vivek Shah told analysts on November 6. As reported by PPC Land, the company also said its content appeared in Google’s AI answers about 2.7 billion times. It is not planning for a search recovery.

How much Google traffic did Ziff Davis lose?

Ziff Davis lost about 37% of its organic Google referrals year over year in Q3 2026, per Shah’s prepared remarks on the earnings call. He said the drop a year earlier was about 23%, making the two-year decline more than 50%.

Shah’s second figure came from Google Search Console: content cited in AI Overviews and AI Mode roughly 2.7 billion times, nearly 10x the clicks the sites got from Google Search. Ziff Davis did not disclose its click total. Third-quarter revenue fell 5.6% to $289.3 million, and advertising and performance marketing revenue fell 7.7%. In a weekly roundup, PPC Land noted that USA TODAY Co., Teads and Yelp reported similar search-related pressure the same week.

Is the 2.7 billion AI citations figure a fair comparison?

Not entirely. PPC Land points out that Search Console’s generative AI reports count impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode but carry no click or query data. So the ten-to-one ratio compares AI impressions with all Google Search clicks, not with clicks from AI features. Treat it as a signal of visibility without payoff, not a measured click-through rate.

Shah’s reading is that the content has value to users even as referrals fall. He also said the company is open to licensing deals and expects its OpenAI copyright suit to bring clarity. That is the company’s view, not a settled outcome. This sits alongside the publisher group’s brief in the OpenAI case on AI-driven traffic loss.

What should publishers and SEOs do after Ziff Davis’s numbers?

Use Ziff Davis as a planning benchmark, not a forecast for your site. Its mix of reviews, coupons and game guides is search-heavy. Practical steps:

• Open the generative AI reports in Search Console and note which pages get AI impressions, then compare against clicks in the standard Performance report.
• Model your revenue with search referrals flat or declining, as Shah does, rather than assuming a rebound.
• Build non-search channels: Ziff Davis names social video, affiliate commerce on social, email, notifications and apps.
• Watch advertiser metrics. Ziff Davis reported more advertisers spending less each, and retention below 100% in its ad-supported segments.
• Report AI visibility to partners, since Shah says marketers increasingly factor it into media choices.

Follow more developments in our AI Search & GEO coverage.

Sources

• PPC Land: Ziff Davis loses 37% of its Google search traffic in a year
• PPC Land: Ziff Davis loses 37% of Google traffic as publishers count the AI bill