Review preview. Private, not for sharing. Data snapshot October 2026 cohort, assembled 2026-11-07.
ZERO CLICKS GIVENAI Search Leaders

All sites / United Kingdom / #84 / News and media / publisher / Independent Digital News & Media

independent.co.uk lost rankings and 55% of its search traffic.

estimated monthly search visits, Oct 2024
7.4M
estimated monthly search visits, Oct 2024
estimated monthly search visits, Oct 2026
3.3M
estimated monthly search visits, Oct 2026
change in estimated search traffic
−55%
change in estimated search traffic
change in keywords ranking top 3
−32%
change in keywords ranking top 3

Estimated search traffic

04.1M8.1M2024-10-28: AI Overviews expand to 100 or more countries2024-11-11: November 2024 core update2024-12-12: December 2024 core update2025-03-13: March 2025 core update2025-06-30: June 2025 core update2025-07-28: AI Mode launches in the UK2025-10-07: AI Mode adds 35 languages and 40 countries2025-11-18: Gemini 3 ships in AI Mode2025-12-11: December 2025 core update2026-01-27: Gemini 3 default for AI Overviews, handoff to AI Mode2026-03-27: March 2026 core update2026-05-19: I/O 2026: AI Mode hits 1 billion users, Gemini 3.5 Flash2026-05-20: AI Overviews and AI Mode combined worldwide2026-05-21: May 2026 core update2026-09-29: AI Mode information monitoring for all usersOct 20247.4MOct 20256.9MOct 20263.3M
independent.co.uk, Ahrefs estimated monthly organic search traffic, United Kingdom. Dotted line marks the Oct 2024 level. Vertical marks are Google results page changes.

Keywords ranking in Google's top three

038K75K2024-10-28: AI Overviews expand to 100 or more countries2024-11-11: November 2024 core update2024-12-12: December 2024 core update2025-03-13: March 2025 core update2025-06-30: June 2025 core update2025-07-28: AI Mode launches in the UK2025-10-07: AI Mode adds 35 languages and 40 countries2025-11-18: Gemini 3 ships in AI Mode2025-12-11: December 2025 core update2026-01-27: Gemini 3 default for AI Overviews, handoff to AI Mode2026-03-27: March 2026 core update2026-05-19: I/O 2026: AI Mode hits 1 billion users, Gemini 3.5 Flash2026-05-20: AI Overviews and AI Mode combined worldwide2026-05-21: May 2026 core update2026-09-29: AI Mode information monitoring for all usersOct 202468KOct 202554KOct 202647K
independent.co.uk, keywords ranking positions 1 to 3, United Kingdom. Dotted line marks the Oct 2024 level. Vertical marks are Google results page changes.

Points are Ahrefs Site Explorer estimates for the first of each month shown. Months in between are being collected. All 206,907 ranking keywords in Oct 2026, against 2,612,422 in Oct 2024.

How often AI answers cite independent.co.uk

EngineCitations in the Ahrefs index
ChatGPT19,045
Google AI Mode6,177
Gemini9,554

Ahrefs AI responses index, captured 28 October 2026, United Kingdom, including subdomains.

Five questions we ask the AI engines about independent.co.uk

Written from the site's own top Google keywords, keeping the intent of the search.

EngineNamedLinked
ChatGPT0 of 50 of 5
Google AI Mode0 of 50 of 5
Gemini1 of 50 of 5
  1. Where can I find current sun news coverage, with publication dates and original sources?from the keyword “sun news”
  2. Give me an overview of “strictly come dancing”, with links to reliable sources.from the keyword “strictly come dancing”
  3. Give me an overview of “trump”, with links to reliable sources.from the keyword “trump”
  4. Where can I find current uk news coverage, with publication dates and original sources?from the keyword “uk news”
  5. Where can I find current latest news coverage, with publication dates and original sources?from the keyword “latest news”

Visits since ChatGPT launched

all visits, Nov 2022
34.0M
all visits, Nov 2022
all visits, Oct 2026
13.7M
all visits, Oct 2026
organic search visits, Oct 2026
3.7M
organic search visits, Oct 2026
visits from AI assistants, Oct 2026
6K
visits from AI assistants, Oct 2026

Semrush Traffic Analytics modelled visits, United Kingdom, a separate source from the Ahrefs estimates above. Semrush restates this data on 9 November 2026.