Report: Google Overtakes Facebook In Referral Traffic

Dec 21, 2017 - 7:53 am 5 by
Filed Under Google

Facebook Google

A week or so ago, a report came out via Recode that Facebook is no longer the top site for referral traffic, Google has overtaken them to reclaim that as the top site in that category again.

Parse.ly, the data source, said in January, Facebook provided nearly 40 percent of publishers’ external traffic; now that’s down to 26 percent. And Google, which started the year at 34 percent, now generates 44 percent of traffic.

Here is the chart:

click for full size

Google's corporate communication rep, Maggie Shiels posted it on Twitter saying "Google is sending more traffic than Facebook to publishers - again."

One of the reasons for the change is that Google AMP is sending more traffic while Facebook Instant Articles is sending less now.

Forum discussion at Twitter.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Google Search Volatility

More Details

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Google

Google Search Broke All Usage Records With Highest Usage Yesterday

Jul 8, 2026 - 11:58 am
Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: July 8, 2026

Jul 8, 2026 - 10:00 am
Google

Google Tests google.com/goto Tracking URLs In Search Results

Jul 8, 2026 - 7:51 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Conversions Last Event Ping Timestamp

Jul 8, 2026 - 7:41 am
Google Ads

Google Ads New AI Max FAQs

Jul 8, 2026 - 7:31 am
Google

Google Search Product Results Contact Store For Price Label

Jul 8, 2026 - 7:21 am
 
Previous Story: Google: Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) Have No Advantage In Search