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[SDS 1.4.1] Synthesize what we know about trends in our traffic
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Description

Project doc (WMF only).

Event Timeline

nshahquinn-wmf triaged this task as High priority.
nshahquinn-wmf moved this task from Backlog to Doing on the Movement-Insights (FY25-26 H1) board.
nshahquinn-wmf added a project: Epic.

Last week, I:

  • Drafted initial investigation goals and plan
  • Did background reading about third-party traffic data, the effect of chatbots on referrer traffic, and market research findings

Last week, I:

  • Worked on getting access to data (e.g. Google Search Console data in BigQuery, latest Comscore data) and connecting with people with relevant expertise (Isaac in Research, Maryana in Future Audiences, Nino in Comms)
  • Collected sources and did background reading
  • Worked on scoping the investigation and figuring out what the output should be

Last week, I:

  • Continued pursuing access to SimilarWeb data and Google Search Console data in BigQuery
  • Started analyzing Comscore data
  • Dug through instrumentation data streams in search of one that can proxy for mobile web pageviews
  • Got a private GitLab repo to store the analysis (T404533)

Since my last update, I:

  • Came up with a shortlist of instrumentation data streams I can use
  • Started analysis template for Google Search Console data
  • Evaluated a sample of SimilarWeb traffic data shared by Nino in Comms
  • Got access to Google Search Console data in BigQuery and figured out it doesn’t go back far enough to be useful
  • Picked 8 wikis to focus on and got access to them all in Google Search Console

This week, I:

  • Analyzed Comscore and unique device data
    • Lots of contradictory signals, plus noise due to the ongoing traffic data backfill, which should finish by Tue, Oct 7.
  • Analyzed Google-reported clickthrough and Google-referred pageview data
nshahquinn-wmf renamed this task from Synthesize what we know about trends in our traffic to [SDS 1.4.1] Synthesize what we know about trends in our traffic.Oct 4 2025, 6:46 AM

Since my last update, I:

  • Did a ton of analysis and data visualization in preparation for public communications about recent declines in pageviews
  • Dug into trends in referrers
  • Tested and found support for the the hypothesis that iOS traffic declined less than Android traffic (suggesting that pageviews from people with high socio-economic status declined less)

Since my last update, I:

  • Produced lots more visuals and analysis
  • I'm on track to have this analysis and visualization work largely completed by the end of the day Tue, 28 Oct (since I'll be on vacation Wed-Fri)

Last week, I:

  • Wrapped up small wiki investigation and chose proposed example wikis
  • Started work on slides for the board meeting presentation

Last week, I:

  • Investigated the correlation between referral traffic from Google and from other external referrers
  • Finished slides for the board meeting presentation

Barring any last minute requests for changes to the slides, this work is done and the task will be closed shortly.