Hello all,
I've written a blog post about the decline in pageviews to some Wikipedia
pages over the last few years. The blog post can be found here:
http://vipulnaik.com/blog/the-great-decline-in-wikipedia-pageviews-full-ver…
I'm planning to post a condensed version of this to a more public and
widely-read forum, and *would like to get any feedback on it from people
who are more familiar with the analytics*.
*In particular, I'm interested in potential explanations of the pageview
decline that I might have missed, such as changes to the way the analytics
are logged, or changes to people's browser or operating system use
patterns, or changes in bot frequency*. I tried looking for data on trends
in these, and although I could find some overall data on the use of various
browsers and bot access, I couldn't get trend data that I could directly
compare with the individual pageview data. So if you have easily usable
sources of such trend data (stretching at least as far back as 2013), or if
you have some theories based on looking at such data in the past, I'd
really like to know.
So that you don't have to read the whole post to get an idea of what I'm
talking about, I'll paste below two sample tables from the post that
illustrate the sort of trends I am talking about:
Trends in colors (notice the sharp decline from 2013 to 2014; a monthly
breakdown found in the post shows that the decline was steady from March
2013 to June 2014):
Page name Pageviews in year 2014 Pageviews in year 2013 Pageviews in year
2012 Pageviews in year 2011 Pageviews in year 2010 Pageviews in year
2009 Pageviews
in year 2008 Total Percentage Tags Black
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black> 431K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2014&page=Black&language=en>
1.5M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2013&page=Black&language=en>
1.3M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2012&page=Black&language=en>
778K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2011&page=Black&language=en>
900K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2010&page=Black&language=en>
1M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2009&page=Black&language=en>
958K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2008&page=Black&language=en>
*6.9M* *16.1* Colors
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultipleyears.php?tag=Colors&language=en&allyears=allyears>
Blue <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue> 710K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2014&page=Blue&language=en>
1.3M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2013&page=Blue&language=en>
1M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2012&page=Blue&language=en>
987K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2011&page=Blue&language=en>
1.2M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2010&page=Blue&language=en>
1.2M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2009&page=Blue&language=en>
1.1M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2008&page=Blue&language=en>
*7.6M* *17.8* Colors
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultipleyears.php?tag=Colors&language=en&allyears=allyears>
Brown <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown> 192K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2014&page=Brown&language=en>
284K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2013&page=Brown&language=en>
318K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2012&page=Brown&language=en>
292K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2011&page=Brown&language=en>
308K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2010&page=Brown&language=en>
300K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2009&page=Brown&language=en>
277K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2008&page=Brown&language=en>
*2M* *4.6* Colors
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultipleyears.php?tag=Colors&language=en&allyears=allyears>
Green <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green> 422K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2014&page=Green&language=en>
844K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2013&page=Green&language=en>
779K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2012&page=Green&language=en>
707K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2011&page=Green&language=en>
882K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2010&page=Green&language=en>
885K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2009&page=Green&language=en>
733K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2008&page=Green&language=en>
*5.3M* *12.3* Colors
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultipleyears.php?tag=Colors&language=en&allyears=allyears>
Orange <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange> 133K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2014&page=Orange&language=en>
181K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2013&page=Orange&language=en>
251K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2012&page=Orange&language=en>
259K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2011&page=Orange&language=en>
275K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2010&page=Orange&language=en>
313K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2009&page=Orange&language=en>
318K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2008&page=Orange&language=en>
*1.7M* *4* Colors
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultipleyears.php?tag=Colors&language=en&allyears=allyears>
Purple <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple> 524K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2014&page=Purple&language=en>
906K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2013&page=Purple&language=en>
847K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2012&page=Purple&language=en>
895K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2011&page=Purple&language=en>
865K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2010&page=Purple&language=en>
841K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2009&page=Purple&language=en>
592K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2008&page=Purple&language=en>
*5.5M* *12.8* Colors
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultipleyears.php?tag=Colors&language=en&allyears=allyears>
Red <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red> 568K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2014&page=Red&language=en>
797K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2013&page=Red&language=en>
912K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2012&page=Red&language=en>
1M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2011&page=Red&language=en>
1.1M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2010&page=Red&language=en>
873K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2009&page=Red&language=en>
938K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2008&page=Red&language=en>
*6.2M* *14.6* Colors
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultipleyears.php?tag=Colors&language=en&allyears=allyears>
Violet <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violet> 56K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2014&page=Violet&language=en>
96K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2013&page=Violet&language=en>
75K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2012&page=Violet&language=en>
77K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2011&page=Violet&language=en>
69K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2010&page=Violet&language=en>
71K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2009&page=Violet&language=en>
65K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2008&page=Violet&language=en>
*509K* *1.2* Colors
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultipleyears.php?tag=Colors&language=en&allyears=allyears>
White <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White> 301K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2014&page=White&language=en>
795K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2013&page=White&language=en>
615K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2012&page=White&language=en>
545K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2011&page=White&language=en>
788K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2010&page=White&language=en>
575K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2009&page=White&language=en>
581K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2008&page=White&language=en>
*4.2M* *9.8* Colors
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultipleyears.php?tag=Colors&language=en&allyears=allyears>
Yellow <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow> 304K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2014&page=Yellow&language=en>
424K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2013&page=Yellow&language=en>
453K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2012&page=Yellow&language=en>
433K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2011&page=Yellow&language=en>
452K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2010&page=Yellow&language=en>
427K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2009&page=Yellow&language=en>
398K
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2008&page=Yellow&language=en>
*2.9M* *6.8* Colors
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultipleyears.php?tag=Colors&language=en&allyears=allyears>
*Total* *3.6M* *7.1M* *6.6M* *6M* *6.9M* *6.5M* *6M* *43M* *100* –
*Percentage* *8.5* *16.7* *15.4* *14* *16* *15.3* *14* *100* – –
Trends in the most populated countries (note the peaking in 2010 and
decline from then to 2014):
Page name Pageviews in year 2014 Pageviews in year 2013 Pageviews in year
2012 Pageviews in year 2011 Pageviews in year 2010 Pageviews in year
2009 Pageviews
in year 2008 Total Percentage Tags China
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China> 5.7M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2014&page=China&language=en>
6.8M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2013&page=China&language=en>
7.8M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2012&page=China&language=en>
6.1M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2011&page=China&language=en>
6.9M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2010&page=China&language=en>
5.7M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2009&page=China&language=en>
6.1M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2008&page=China&language=en>
*45M* *9* Countries
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultipleyears.php?tag=Countries&language=en&allyears=allyears>
India <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India> 8.8M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2014&page=India&language=en>
12M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2013&page=India&language=en>
12M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2012&page=India&language=en>
11M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2011&page=India&language=en>
14M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2010&page=India&language=en>
8.8M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2009&page=India&language=en>
7.6M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2008&page=India&language=en>
*73M* *14.5* Countries
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultipleyears.php?tag=Countries&language=en&allyears=allyears>
United
States <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States> 13M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2014&page=United%20States&language=en>
15M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2013&page=United%20States&language=en>
18M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2012&page=United%20States&language=en>
18M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2011&page=United%20States&language=en>
34M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2010&page=United%20States&language=en>
16M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2009&page=United%20States&language=en>
15M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2008&page=United%20States&language=en>
*129M* *25.7* Countries
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultipleyears.php?tag=Countries&language=en&allyears=allyears>
Indonesia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesia> 5.3M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2014&page=Indonesia&language=en>
5.2M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2013&page=Indonesia&language=en>
3.7M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2012&page=Indonesia&language=en>
3.6M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2011&page=Indonesia&language=en>
4.2M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2010&page=Indonesia&language=en>
3.1M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2009&page=Indonesia&language=en>
2.5M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2008&page=Indonesia&language=en>
*28M* *5.5* Countries
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultipleyears.php?tag=Countries&language=en&allyears=allyears>
Brazil <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil> 4.8M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2014&page=Brazil&language=en>
4.9M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2013&page=Brazil&language=en>
5.3M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2012&page=Brazil&language=en>
5.5M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2011&page=Brazil&language=en>
7.5M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2010&page=Brazil&language=en>
4.9M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2009&page=Brazil&language=en>
4.3M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2008&page=Brazil&language=en>
*37M* *7.4* Countries
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultipleyears.php?tag=Countries&language=en&allyears=allyears>
Pakistan <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan> 2.9M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2014&page=Pakistan&language=en>
4.5M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2013&page=Pakistan&language=en>
4.4M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2012&page=Pakistan&language=en>
4.3M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2011&page=Pakistan&language=en>
5.2M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2010&page=Pakistan&language=en>
4M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2009&page=Pakistan&language=en>
3.2M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2008&page=Pakistan&language=en>
*28M* *5.7* Countries
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultipleyears.php?tag=Countries&language=en&allyears=allyears>
Bangladesh <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh> 2.2M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2014&page=Bangladesh&language=en>
2.9M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2013&page=Bangladesh&language=en>
3M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2012&page=Bangladesh&language=en>
2.8M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2011&page=Bangladesh&language=en>
2.9M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2010&page=Bangladesh&language=en>
2.2M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2009&page=Bangladesh&language=en>
1.7M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2008&page=Bangladesh&language=en>
*18M* *3.5* Countries
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultipleyears.php?tag=Countries&language=en&allyears=allyears>
Russia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia> 5.6M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2014&page=Russia&language=en>
5.6M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2013&page=Russia&language=en>
6.5M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2012&page=Russia&language=en>
6.8M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2011&page=Russia&language=en>
8.6M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2010&page=Russia&language=en>
5.4M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2009&page=Russia&language=en>
5.8M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2008&page=Russia&language=en>
*44M* *8.8* Countries
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultipleyears.php?tag=Countries&language=en&allyears=allyears>
Nigeria <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigeria> 2.6M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2014&page=Nigeria&language=en>
2.6M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2013&page=Nigeria&language=en>
2.9M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2012&page=Nigeria&language=en>
3M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2011&page=Nigeria&language=en>
3.5M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2010&page=Nigeria&language=en>
2.6M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2009&page=Nigeria&language=en>
2M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2008&page=Nigeria&language=en>
*19M* *3.8* Countries
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultipleyears.php?tag=Countries&language=en&allyears=allyears>
Japan <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan> 4.8M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2014&page=Japan&language=en>
6.4M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2013&page=Japan&language=en>
6.5M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2012&page=Japan&language=en>
8.3M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2011&page=Japan&language=en>
10M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2010&page=Japan&language=en>
7.3M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2009&page=Japan&language=en>
6.6M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2008&page=Japan&language=en>
*50M* *10* Countries
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultipleyears.php?tag=Countries&language=en&allyears=allyears>
Mexico <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico> 3.1M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2014&page=Mexico&language=en>
3.9M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2013&page=Mexico&language=en>
4.3M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2012&page=Mexico&language=en>
4.3M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2011&page=Mexico&language=en>
5.9M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2010&page=Mexico&language=en>
4.7M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2009&page=Mexico&language=en>
4.5M
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultiplemonths.php?year=2008&page=Mexico&language=en>
*31M* *6.1* Countries
<http://wikipediaviews.org/displayviewsformultipleyears.php?tag=Countries&language=en&allyears=allyears>
*Total* *59M* *69M* *74M* *74M* *103M* *65M* *59M* *502M* *100* –
*Percentage* *11.7* *13.8* *14.7* *14.7* *20.4* *12.9* *11.8* *100* – –
I'm also pasting my hypothesis list from near the end of the post below:
1. *Google’s Knowledge Graph
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_Graph>*: This is the hypothesis
raised in Wikipediocracy
<http://wikipediocracy.com/2014/01/06/googles-knowledge-graph-killing-wikipedia/>,
the Daily Dot
<http://www.dailydot.com/news/wikipedia-falling-traffic-meaning/>, and
the Register
<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/01/13/google_stabs_wikipedia_in_the_front/>.
The Knowledge Graph was introduced in 2012. Through 2013, Google rolled out
snippets based on the Knowledge Graph in its search results. So if, for
instance, you only wanted the birth date and nationality of a musician,
Googling would show you that information right in the search results and
you wouldn’t need to click through to the Wikipedia page.
2. *Other means of accessing Wikipedia’s knowledge that don’t involve
viewing it directly*: For instance, Apple’s Siri tool uses data from
Wikipedia, and people making queries to this tool may get information from
Wikipedia without hitting the encyclopedia.
3. *Changes to pageview-counting methods or to the number of false
pageviews generated by bots and crawlers*: While this probably isn’t
sufficient to explain the entire decline, it could well be the case that
some of the decline arises from bots and crawlers becoming more efficient
in terms of the frequency with which they crawl Wikipedia and generate
false pageviews. The official estimate
<https://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/TablesPageViewsMonthlyCombined.htm> is
that about 15% of pageviews are bot-generated,
4. *Substitution away from Wikipedia to other pages that are becoming
more search-optimized and growing in number*: For many topics, Wikipedia
may have been clearly the best information source a few years back (as
judged by Google), but the growth of niche information sources, as well as
better search methods, have displaced it from its undisputed leadership
position.
5. *Substitution away from coarser, broader pages to finer, narrower
pages within Wikipedia*: While this cannot directly explain an
*overall *decline
in pageviews, it can explain a decline in pageviews for particular kinds of
pages. Indeed, I suspect that this is partly what’s going on with the early
decline of pageviews.
Thanks,
Vipul