Is the website dying?

Very few, if any, in digital media know the name, Claude E Shannon, which is a great shame.

This American mathematician, computer scientist, cryptographer and MIT master’s degree student, had much in common with a contemporary, Alan Turing, who pretty much all in digital media have heard of.

Like Turing, his combination of skills and intellect gave birth to an influential thesis, in 1937, called, ‘A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits’.

Building on the work of George Boole, who invented the algebraic system of logic known as Boolean algebra, (which is where we get the phrase Boolean logic for search operators from), Shannon realised that this logic was how electrical circuits function, and the thesis became the starting point for the use of binary code.

This paper is considered by many academics to be the ‘magna carta’ of what became known as the Third Industrial Revolution or the Information Age, a phrase Shannon coined, which ultimately resulted in the birth of the world wide web in 1989, something that has shaped the lives and livelihoods of all in digital media.

After nearly 80 years of the Information Age and over 40 years of the world wide web, we are now facing what some are calling an existential crisis about whether websites as we know them have a long-term future.

There is ongoing debate about whether the Information Age has already ended, and the Fourth Industrial Revolution has begun, because of the rapid technological advancement of artificial intelligence (AI).

Decline in search traffic

How AI changes the way people search and engage with information is likely the most fundamental structural adjustment for media since the smartphone, and for some use-cases, it could be completely transformational.

AI means search traffic is no longer a given, threatening existing monetisation strategies and increasing the urgency for innovation.

This theme was central to the keynote address, ‘The consumer evolution: what will drive growth for publishers in 2025 and beyond?’ at the PPA Festival in May this year.

Outlining the findings of a specially commissioned report for the PPA by Enders Analysis, Douglas McCabe, Enders’ CEO, presented delegates with a compelling and detailed narrative highlighting the erosion of the website’s centrality, and the multiple challenges media companies face as user choice has grown, and consumer behaviour changes.

In the report, Enders posed the question, ‘Is the website dying?’.

The main thrust of the argument was that publishers face declining website traffic and monetisation challenges as younger users increasingly rely on social platforms like TikTok for personalised content discovery, trusting algorithms that prioritise interests over direct search queries.

In addition, Google’s AI summaries reduce clicks to publishers, causing significant search traffic declines, while attribution models struggle to adapt.

Community engagement

Despite this gloomy forecast, positives did shine through. Whilst print media faces challenges adapting to digital platforms and competition from platform-native creators, it retains value in niche, high-value publications and can leverage events to strengthen community engagement and in-person value, as evidenced by rising event attendance post-pandemic.

This is where the 365-event model, supported by strong trusted brands, and deep and narrow content is a particularly attractive one for all publishers but particularly B2B and specialist markets, that have a strong face to face event portfolio.

An intriguing insight was that in 2022, over half of 18—24 year olds increased spending on subscriptions despite cost-of-living pressures, with entertainment, streaming, utilities, and digital / print content being most popular.

The report highlighted that 59% of those aged 25—34 held four or more subscriptions, the highest among all age groups.

Successful subscriptions require clear, consistent consumer value, often driven by personality connections, as exemplified by Marina Hyde’s expansion from column to podcast. The alignment of content and format is crucial, with many subscribers maintaining both print and digital subscriptions, indicating these formats offer distinct value and are not interchangeable.

Digital-native platforms such as Reddit and Discord are among the fastest-growing online platforms, adeptly positioned to offer hyper-niche communities that users can curate themselves, effectively creating a digital ‘personal magazine shelf’ of authentic and relevant voices.

Despite competition from platforms and video, quality content with added utility may still succeed in traditional website formats.

These platforms combine convenience with the ability for users to curate their content, bringing together numerous interest areas in one online location. The necessity to provide specialist content, discussion, and community extends beyond simple user needs, as online destinations now compete with all other platforms for the same time and attention.

“Community is the buzzword right now, and rightly so. If you have a strong and loyal community, they will visit you. This isn’t about driving subscriptions necessarily, but more of a direct to consumer (D2C) approach to content sharing that keeps people coming back. Rather than attracting one and done visitors from search engines, who never come back, a strong community can ensure you meet them where they are — newsletters, websites, social, events, creating a stronger direct bond,” believes Mel McVeigh, a product and content strategic digital adviser, currently consulting for the PPA.

Building a community adds value beyond user attention, particularly in content categories where consumers’ identities are tied to the broader community interests and values. This increases the willingness to pay for content through subscriptions or ecommerce offers and enhances receptiveness to advertising and other messaging, driving cyclical growth.

Douglas McCabe summarised this eloquently by saying, “We talked in our research about the collapse in traffic, and the downstream effects including the death of the website. I am hopeful existential threats to revenues correlated with traffic will reinforce the only sustainable strategy for media assets: investment and commitment in the unique purpose, usefulness, impact and community reinforcement of each brand. For many brands, the most consistently underrated attribute of success is its utility for a community.”

With so many changes taking place regarding AI and machine learning (ML), and major changes bringing large language models (LLMs) into the mix, SEO is getting harder, but more so for publications. Effectively, they end up competing against Google, which is already using their content to train its AI.

And there are so few opportunities for attracting new visitors to news and information sites with so called “zero click” results.

Don’t rely on search engines

Many in the SEO space believe this seismic change was inevitable. Mike Grehan, veteran digital marketer, and host of the popular YouTube video show ‘Inside Marketing with Mike Grehan’, believes: “The harsh reality is that publishers have relied on search traffic as a primary source for audience development and growth. Yet, there is no contract, no agreement between Google and any given website to send potential new customers free of charge because they are in some way obliged to do so.”

It is foolish for any publishing company or company of any kind to assume, “I have a website therefore I will receive search traffic ad infinitum.” It’s more a case of publishers having to take the stance, “well that was nice while it lasted, time for plan B, which should have already been considered,” he concluded.

The challenge is clear: the traditional model of creating content, getting a top ranking on Google, and earning ad revenue from clicks is no longer reliable, maybe even viable going forward, as a growth strategy.

The most resilient publishers in this unfamiliar environment will be those who are not reliant on a single traffic source. The focus must shift from “rented” traffic, from Google and social media, to “owned” traffic, from direct visitors and subscribers.

Despite the hype and concern around the replacement of traditional search engines by ChatGPT and Perplexity in particular, Google is still by far the 800-pound gorilla in search.

According to Danny Goodwin, editorial director of SearchEngineLand.com, reporting on a 2024 Semrush Study, “Even if all ChatGPT’s 1 billion messages per day were search-related, its total share of the search market would be less than 1%, whilst Google saw more than 5 trillion searches in 2024, or about 14 billion per day, giving it a 93.57% market share, or 373 times as many searches as ChatGPT”.

Stuart Forrest, global SEO director at Bauer Media Group believes, “The key for publishers is to really get inside that data, separate signal from noise and be clear on where you are impacted, and where you are not.”

It is certainly not the end of search traffic, or what is still currently called SEO.

As Stuart Forrest concluded, “It’s really important to myth bust, simply because AIO is generating so many headlines; organic search remains the lion’s share of traffic for publishers, and whilst the top priority must be diversification, don’t lose sight of the fact that focusing on organic search optimisation still delivers substantial volume, and mustn’t be ignored.”

As a more strategic, long-term approach, some publishers are exploring licensing agreements with LLMs that use their content for training data, but that route is far from the only option (see my article in the Jan/Feb 2025 issue of InPublishing).

The use of small language models (SLMs), or what are more commonly known as retrieval augmented generation (RAGs), trained on specific subject matter data such as selected content from specialist publications, is going to proliferate. It’s more important now than ever before in online publishing to adapt or die!

Build the brand

The data confirms that the decline in search traffic for news and magazine publishers is a real and profound challenge. However, this is not the end of digital publishing; it is a transformation. The publications that will survive and thrive are those that recognise that their value is no longer just in being a click destination.

A strong brand will become increasingly important as click-through erodes, acting as a shield protecting user attention.

It is now about being an indispensable source of authority, building a direct and loyal relationship with the audience, and embracing new monetisation models that go beyond the old ad-supported, traffic-dependent system. It is also all about engaged known audiences, not fly by unknown ones, and describing that audience and its interaction with the brand clearly and explicitly to commercial partners, to demonstrate value and cement trust.

The future of publishing lies in becoming a trusted brand that users seek out directly, and commercial partners can rely on, regardless of what the search engine’s front door looks like.

A website is still an important part of the digital mix but is no longer or always the primary destination to drive audience.

Some will be able to make small adjustments to their product and format to maintain relevance, but others will need to fully reimagine their product. Valuable first party data and audience understanding will be key, underpinning consumer knowledge, brand strategy, and future action.

The role of the website needs to evolve beyond the templated format of articles, galleries and landing pages. A strategy and business that focuses on driving traffic to a URL is at risk due to search traffic decline, as discussed earlier.

Customer focused

Key to success will be the need to be crystal clear on what type of content still has relevance and what will and can be replaced by AI. Then understand where that content will need to live and be distributed consistently across platforms.

As Mel McVeigh puts it, “Customer, Customer, Customer: Focus on the needs of the customer and the role of the website will become clear. You need to create content from a clear brand and community perspective and then understand what the best platform or format is, then distribute to it.”

So, as we enter the Fourth Industrial Revolution, or AI Age, media brands must understand evolving consumer preferences for engaging content and be prepared to question and change their positioning to meet these demands, adopting cohesive, multi-touchpoint approaches to serve diverse needs effectively.

The shift from search-driven to algorithmic distribution requires product innovation and investment, integration of product with content and brand, multi-revenue models, data utilisation, and, where appropriate, maintaining an offline presence to address digital fatigue and privacy concerns.

As Douglas McCabe so aptly concluded in his excellent keynote, “Never forget, only one person puts any money into the system: a customer who buys something. Everyone else — all media, all advertising, all distribution — simply shuffles that money around. No one is better placed to bring joy and inspiration to the public and a community than a great media asset. The rise of non-human content in the AI era should reinforce media’s advantage rather than otherwise.”

The Enders report can be accessed by PPA members via the PPA website.

Stop press: Google AI Mode went live in the UK on 29 July. This is expected to further erode referral traffic…