So I was thinking about this. My traffic dropped off massively on my sites around the same time. I have tried several things to fix it but nothing has.

I know AI has been around longer than just the last few years. People have been using it online since at least 2012 I would say.

Is there a chance that the traffic I was getting wasn't real but some form of AI the entire time? I mean I know real people were behind some of it but it just seems weird that it suddenly just all disappears.

I remember reading something maybe 10 or so years ago about bots accounting for 50% if not more of web traffic now. I would imagine with AI, it has gotten even worse but I would wager that a lot of the bots were AI this whole time, scraping the internet for information.

23 hours ago, Cozmic said:

I remember reading something maybe 10 or so years ago about bots accounting for 50% if not more of web traffic now. I would imagine with AI, it has gotten even worse but I would wager that a lot of the bots were AI this whole time, scraping the internet for information.

On 6/22/2026 at 10:01 AM, TJW1984 said:

People have been using it online since at least 2012 I would say.

I mean this is entirely possible. I think there was an increase in people using the internet around 2010 because of social media and younger people trying to become streamers and Youtubers. I think a second boost came in 2020 from the pandemic. I think it has since dropped off a bit. Yeah, sure more people are shopping online now but look at the gaming industry post covid. They are having to fired thousands of people because they hired when gaming sales increased from people being stuck at home.

If you had poor bounce rates this could impact traffic by signaling to search engines that your content is not any good.

I am not sure how AI would cause this unless the majority of your traffic was AI and it suddenly stopped.

I unironically asked AI.

AI agents and bots now account for the majority of global internet traffic, estimated between 51% and 57% as of mid-2026, surpassing human-generated activity for the first time. According to Cloudflare data, automated traffic reached approximately 57% of all web visits, with malicious or "bad" bots comprising 40% of that total.

So it is looking like we have officially been over-passed. It is pretty bad that 40% of the traffic is coming from malicious bots too. I think cyber security for this reason needs to be taken more seriously. Especially knowing that a lot of younger people (those under 25) tend to not have a clue about any of it or the threats.

On 6/25/2026 at 9:48 AM, simonsays said:

I think there was an increase in people using the internet around 2010 because of social media and younger people trying to become streamers and Youtubers. I think a second boost came in 2020 from the pandemic.

I can see this. I think the first increase was in the late 90s/early 00s. People started using platforms like eBay so online shopping and spending was picking up. Not everyone was online though. Then video games became a thing you could play online. Everything kind of compiled.

On 7/3/2026 at 12:19 PM, BlueDrag0n said:

So it is looking like we have officially been over-passed. It is pretty bad that 40% of the traffic is coming from malicious bots too. I think cyber security for this reason needs to be taken more seriously. Especially knowing that a lot of younger people (those under 25) tend to not have a clue about any of it or the threats.

I think so too. I mean if there are this many threats, people should be more aware of it. I wasn't even away of the percentage of these bots being an issue. I am going to have to look into it more myself. Thanks for sharing this!

The way I look at it now is that we need to adapt for an internet with AI. We have had bots for ages now. I noticed them way back in like 2006. We are 20 years into the future from that point and now we have smarter bots essentially and people using them as tools.

It is usually because of search engines. The bulk of your traffic comes from people Googling terms and clicking onto your URL. If Google (or other search engines) decide that your page isn't as valuable, it will get pushed down the page list for search results. This could quickly kill off a website in terms of traffic.

On 7/16/2026 at 8:41 AM, justdave said:

It is usually because of search engines. The bulk of your traffic comes from people Googling terms and clicking onto your URL. If Google (or other search engines) decide that your page isn't as valuable, it will get pushed down the page list for search results. This could quickly kill off a website in terms of traffic.

It is mostly down to Google being Google. I have heard of this happening so many times. I understand why certain things get moved or switched, especially when a search demands the latest information... But I have also seen Google recommend outdated and even wrong information over something newer and correct simply just because the site was newer which is a shame.

I didn't consider this. Both my blogs saw a massive decrease in traffic the last few years.

I have been trying to figure out why, looking up different things. I have tried everything I could find to fix this and nothing has worked for me. Maybe it is down to AI, I don't know much about it.

On 7/18/2026 at 11:28 AM, JoanZims said:

I didn't consider this. Both my blogs saw a massive decrease in traffic the last few years.

I have been trying to figure out why, looking up different things. I have tried everything I could find to fix this and nothing has worked for me. Maybe it is down to AI, I don't know much about it.

I think Dave is right that it isn't all down to AI but I would imagine having too many bot accounts scrapping things could make a site look worse? Maybe? I am not entirely sure what makes Google or any other search engine view a website as bad after ranking it well.

On 7/22/2026 at 8:33 AM, simonsays said:

I think Dave is right that it isn't all down to AI but I would imagine having too many bot accounts scrapping things could make a site look worse? Maybe? I am not entirely sure what makes Google or any other search engine view a website as bad after ranking it well.

Maybe you guys are right. I don't know. I am just so desperate to find a reason or cause so I could at least know the best approach to fix things. I know I am not in this alone. I see so many people online asking the same things.