This market hit a two-year low. Without one site, it grew.

In September, one site lost more visits than the whole market did. Here is how that happened.

Written by Miles Foster, Owner and tester, RankDude.22 October 2026 / 2 min read

In September, AI content automation had its lowest month in two years, at about 8.7 million visits from Google. But take out Publer and the market actually grew 2.9%. So how can one site outweigh everyone else?

The short version

8.7 million: market visits in September, a two-year low.
2.9%: market growth in September without Publer.
997,000: visits Publer lost in September alone.
Nearly 5x: Publer's climb from October to May.

WorldAI content automation visits from Google

Low 8.7MHigh 29MAverage 21M

Hover, tap, or use the arrow keys to inspect a month

Estimated monthly visits from Google, worldwide, all tracked sites. Source: RankDude analysis of DataForSEO data.

The rocket ride

Last October, Publer had about 3.5 million visits from Google.

Then it climbed every month but one.

By May, it was nearly five times bigger.

So what happens after a climb that fast? You can probably guess.

The crash

After May, Publer fell every single month.

By September, it had about 2 million visits. Nearly 9 in 10 were gone.

It is still the most visited site here, with nearly 1 in 4 visits.

But here's the bigger question. Did it drag the market down too?

The market rode along

The whole market peaked in May too.

September was its lowest month in two years, at about 8.7 million.

That's less than a third of May. It's also down 48% in a year.

My guess? Publer's ride made the market look bigger than it was. I can't prove that from this data.

The numbers

Publer visits lostsince May: 9 in 10
Whole market's visitsin 12 months: -48%
Market without Publerin September: +2.9%

The plot twist

In September, the market fell 8.5% in one month.

Publer alone lost about 997,000 visits. The market lost only about 810,000.

Without Publer, the market actually grew 2.9%. That's wild.

So who was doing the growing?

The quiet climbers

SocialPilot jumped 45.1% in one month, to about 193,000.

Blotato rose 54.4%, to about 22,000.

Over a year, Hypefury grew the most. It rose 61.3%, to about 53,600.

Others had a brutal year. Tailwind fell 90.5%. Taplio fell 79.5%.

And one more thing changed. People started typing a new name.

The name swap

Look at name searches in the US.

A year ago, Hootsuite had about 60,500. Metricool had about 40,500.

Now Metricool has about 60,500. Hootsuite has about 33,100.

So Metricool took Hootsuite's old number. Funny how that works.

You can see every month on my AI content automation statistics page.

“One site's sugar rush is not a market boom. It never was.”
Miles Foster

How I measured this

Visits are DataForSEO estimates of visits from Google search, worldwide. They are estimates, not people. Name searches are US Google Ads figures.

More in my methodology and on the DataForSEO page.

Source: RankDude analysis of DataForSEO data, September 2026.

On this site

Miles FosterOwner and tester, RankDude. Miles Foster owns RankDude and runs every hands-on test in person: one written procedure per category, the same sample sizes and scoring for every tool in it, with the measurements and screenshots published on each review's full test results.