Stack Overflow Is Falling

Over the past two years, our beloved Stack Overflow has seen around 35% drop in its traffic. ( source) But what’s causing this decline? You might be wondering, Isn’t it just AI taking over?

The ChatGPT gained significant popularity starting from November 2022. However the most noticeable drop occurred around April 2022. So we cant blame AI tools for this fall.

We need to rewind back to May 2022 when Google Analytics updated its cookie storing methodology due to data privacy laws. The result? A noticeable 15% traffic loss for Stack Overflow like many other websites. Plus, Google’s integration of its Knowledge Graph feature makes it more convenient for users to find information directly from the search engine itself.

It’s been 13 years since I became a member, but sadly, I can’t even recall the last time I’ve logged in.