Highlights
- Human pageviews on Wikipedia dropped around 8% compared with 2024.
- Search engines and AI chatbots providing direct answers are replacing traditional site visits.
- Wikimedia Foundation is taking steps to maintain engagement and support volunteer contributors.
Direct answers shift user behaviour
Wikipedia has reported a significant decline in human pageviews, with an 8% drop compared to the previous year. The decrease is linked to the rise of search engines and online platforms that deliver answers directly to users, often drawing on Wikipedia content. This means fewer people are visiting Wikipedia itself, even though the site’s information is still widely consumed indirectly.
Younger audiences, in particular, are increasingly turning to social media and video platforms for information rather than the open web. Wikimedia notes that this trend is mirrored across other publishers and content platforms, reflecting a broader change in how people access knowledge online.
Bot traffic and data reclassification
Earlier in 2025, unusually high traffic was recorded, much of it from automated bots attempting to appear human. Wikipedia revised its traffic data after updating bot detection systems, giving a clearer picture of genuine human engagement. While bot activity can strain Wikimedia’s infrastructure, the main driver of declining pageviews is the convenience of direct answers provided by AI systems and search engines.
Sustaining the knowledge ecosystem
Despite fewer direct visits, Wikipedia remains a key source of trusted information globally. Almost all large language models and search platforms rely heavily on volunteer-created content.
To ensure continued engagement, the Wikimedia Foundation is improving mobile editing, supporting new volunteers, and experimenting with projects to bring Wikipedia content to younger audiences via social media, games, and videos. Users are encouraged to visit Wikipedia, click through to original sources, and recognise the human effort behind the content to sustain this free knowledge ecosystem.
