Are blog traffic numbers way down?

[wwa2b]

I'm looking for blog pages that are popular with US women so I've looked up a few articles that list them, but when I check the traffic numbers in Ahrefs the numbers way way below what these sites claim.
Has blog traffic gone down across the board?

 

[Information Hub]

Blog traffic hasn’t died, it’s just more competitive now. Many sites still get traffic, but only strong niche-focused blogs grow consistently.

 

[wwa2b]

Thanks for the replies.
If Ahrefs can't reliably measure traffic, is there another tool that can?

 

[monakhans]

I'm looking for blog pages that are popular with US women so I've looked up a few articles that list them, but when I check the traffic numbers in Ahrefs the numbers way way below what these sites claim.
Has blog traffic gone down across the board?

Blog traffic can fluctuate due to various factors like algorithm changes, seasonality, or content relevance.

 

[wwa2b]

For example cupofjo.com which is supposed to be a highly successful women's blog with 1 million unique visitors per month. Ahrefs indicates 44k monthly visits.
And it's the same with most blogs I look up.

 

[Q3Network]

I'm looking for blog pages that are popular with US women so I've looked up a few articles that list them, but when I check the traffic numbers in Ahrefs the numbers way way below what these sites claim.
Has blog traffic gone down across the board?

Yes, overall blog traffic has declined for many.
Some of the audience has shifted to social media and short-form content, and search results have changed — with more aggregators and Google-owned features. That’s why numbers in articles often look inflated compared to reality.
Ahrefs is usually closer to the truth, but not perfect - it’s better to look at trends rather than just raw numbers.

 

[CarlosTheGaucho]

I'd figure that each successful blog from the days before probably had to make the shift to distribute its content also across all the other places where the traffic is these days, such as social media.

The same would apply for a new blog that would want to get traction these days.

 

[pauliakas]

For example cupofjo.com which is supposed to be a highly successful women's blog with 1 million unique visitors per month. Ahrefs indicates 44k monthly visits.
And it's the same with most blogs I look up.

Semrush shows 100k + but this is normal all these sites has a lot of traffic from social like pintrest etc...

 

[GeeLark]

Thanks for the replies.
If Ahrefs can't reliably measure traffic, is there another tool that can?

Maybe you can try SE Ranking? Their keyword tracking is incredibly accurate, and the data feels much closer to what I see

 

[wwa2b]

Semrush shows 100k + but this is normal all these sites has a lot of traffic from social like pintrest etc...

Thanks. So Ahrefs doesn't count the traffic cming from social?

 

[geo_hall]

Yes I think it is more about Google changes and estimation tools, not that blog traffic is gone everywhere.

 

[ads studio]

It’s pretty common to see that kind of mismatch, a lot of “top blog” lists are outdated or based on inflated/estimated figures. Traffic patterns have also shifted quite a bit in recent years, especially with social media and Google updates affecting blogs differently.

 

[wwa2b]

Looks like it. Must be pretty depressing for blog owners.
But who isn't complaining about algo updates destroying their traffic

 

[UmbraQuest]

not fully gone but yes traffic is lower now because Google answers more queries directly and tools like Ahrefs don’t show full data

 

[pauliakas]

Thanks. So Ahrefs doesn't count the traffic cming from social?

No, they predict organic traffic from google, no Bing etc...

 

[Faisal Mirza]

Sites claim traffic they're exaggerating for advertisers, and Ahrefs only tracks organic (so it misses social, direct, email traffic). Both are lying to you in opposite directions

Real answer? Blog traffic HAS dropped 20-40% thanks to AI Overviews stealing clicks and social algorithms changing. Cross-check with SimilarWeb or ask for actual Google Analytics screenshots if you're serious about partnerships.

What are you looking for – guest posts or ad placements? That changes which metric actually matters.

 

[wwa2b]

What are you looking for – guest posts or ad placements?

Ad placements

 

[Faisal Mirza]

Good, ad placements are way more negotiable on real metrics than guest posts.

For ad deals, traffic quality matters WAY more than volume. A site with 5K real engaged visitors monthly beats 50K bot traffic any day. Advertisers care about conversions, not vanity numbers.

When you're vetting sites: ask for their actual Google Analytics screenshot (CTR, bounce rate, time on page). That tells you if traffic is real or fake.

Most sites won't share it = red flag.

Which ad networks are you planning to work with? (AdSense, direct sponsors, affiliate?) That changes how strict you need to be with traffic quality.

 

[DangerJones]

You can’t really estimate real traffic numbers with tools these days, at best it’s an inference. You’d have better luck guesstimating based on topical post traffic across x, threads, etc etc to approximate value for stand alone off site traffic minus SEO.

 

[mommiedom]

Yes, many blogs are seeing a decrease in traffic, especially from Google, due to increased competition, content saturation and algorithm changes. Additionally, data from Ahrefs is only an estimate and is often lower than the actual figures. Many sites are also shifting traffic to social media and email, so SEO results will show a decrease