Ziff Davis Reports Significant Drop In Organic Google Referrals
Ziff Davis experienced a 37% decline in organic Google referrals, according to CEO Vivek Shah. This decrease may impact the company's revenue
Original reporting · searchenginejournal.com
Original: “Ziff Davis Says Organic Google Referrals Fell About 37% via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern”
Read “Ziff Davis Says Organic Google Referrals Fell About 37% via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern” at Search Engine Journal →
How this was written. CTCV wrote this article with a language model from Search Engine Journal’s reporting (model: @cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast); it describes that reporting rather than adding to it. The original, linked above, is the full story.
Key points from Search Engine Journal’s report
- Ziff Davis experienced a 37% decline in organic Google referrals in the third quarter.
- The company's referrals have fallen over 50% in the past two years.
- Ziff Davis is not expecting a recovery in search referrals and anticipates that they will continue to decline.
Ziff Davis, a digital media company, has seen a substantial decline in organic referrals from Google, with a 37% drop in the third quarter. This decline is part of a larger trend, as the company's referrals fell 23% in the same quarter last year. As a result, the two-year decline is over 50%.
CEO Vivek Shah discussed the decline in referrals during the company's earnings call, citing data from Google Search Console. He noted that the number of impressions from generative AI features was nearly 10 times the number of clicks from Google Search. This discrepancy may indicate a shift in how users interact with search results.
Shah explained that an impression refers to the number of times a link to a page is displayed within generative AI features. This figure is tracked by Google Search Console, which provides insights into a website's performance. The data can be used to compare the number of impressions from AI features to the number of clicks from Google Search.
The decline in referrals has impacted Ziff Davis' revenue, which fell 5.6% to $289.3 million in the third quarter. However, the company's businesses that do not rely on Google traffic, such as subscriptions and apps, have helped to offset the decline.
Shah stated that the company is not expecting a recovery in search referrals and anticipates that they will continue to decline. He highlighted the importance of diversifying revenue streams, citing the success of social commerce and the relaunched RetailMeNot app.
Ziff Davis' tech and shopping brands have been particularly affected by the decline in search traffic, with revenue declining 3.8% year over year. However, the company's largest property, IGN, has held up relatively well due to its focus on game help and maps, which are difficult to duplicate.
The company is exploring ways to monetize its content in AI answers, including licensing agreements. Shah also mentioned the pending litigation against OpenAI, which may help clarify the use of content in AI features. This article is based on reporting by Search Engine Journal.
Questions and answers
What is the main reason for the decline in Ziff Davis' organic Google referrals?
The decline is attributed to the disruption of search traffic by Google and LLMs.
How is Ziff Davis planning to offset the decline in search referrals?
The company is focusing on diversifying its revenue streams, including social commerce and subscriptions.
What is the significance of the 2.7 billion impressions figure mentioned by CEO Vivek Shah?
The figure represents the number of times links to Ziff Davis' pages were displayed within generative AI features, which is nearly 10 times the number of clicks from Google Search.
