RationalWiki and Google referral traffic

RationalWiki.org is a politically left leaning, wiki website that skews towards atheism/agnosticism in terms of its worldview. See also: RationalWiki and web traffic

## Contents

* 1 RationalWiki and loss of Google referral web traffic since 2013
* 1.1 SEMRush.com data on RationalWiki and Google referral traffic
* 1.2 Ahrefs.com data on RationalWiki and Google referral traffic
* 2 RationalWiki gets far less Google referral traffic than in the past
* 3 Worldwide Google searches for the search term "RationalWiki"
* 3.1 Google searches for the term "RationalWiki" from 2007 to February 6, 2022 in the United States
* 4 RationalWiki.org: Referring domains and other websites delinking to RationalWiki
* 4.1 1,300+ websites delinked from RationalWiki.org from May of 2021 to July 15, 2021
* 4.2 In December of 2021, RationalWiki was experiencing a high negative link velocity
* 5 Websites that compete with RationalWiki for Google referral traffic according to the web marketing website Ahrefs.com
* 5.1 Kiwifarms.net which is the second biggest organic traffic competitor of RationalWiki is being partly hosted in Ukraine subsequent to activists and tech firms trying to ban it
* 6 See also
* 7 References

## RationalWiki and loss of Google referral web traffic since 2013[edit]

See also: Internet atheism and RationalWiki.org: May 2020 to May 2022 loss of Google traffic and the loss of the strength of backlink strength relative to other websites from 2-15-2022 to 5-15-2022

### SEMRush.com data on RationalWiki and Google referral traffic[edit]

According to the leading web marketing company SEMRush, RationalWiki has experienced a huge drop in Google referral traffic in the latter part of 2019 and as of January 12, 2023 it receives 137,800 monthly visits via Google referral traffic.

Google uses over 200 factors to evaluate the quality and the relevance of a website to various topics.

According to the leading web marketing website SEMRush.com, the website RationalWiki lost a large amount of Google referral traffic from November 2020 to October 21, 2022.

In November 2020, RationalWiki.org was receiving 413,529 web visits a month according to SEMRush.com. On October 21, 2022, RationalWiki.org received 152,236 web visits in the last 30 days according to SEMRush.com. Google referral traffic is commonly referred to as organic traffic by web marketing professionals.

Google uses over 200 factors to evaluate the quality and the relevance of a website to various topics.

### Ahrefs.com data on RationalWiki and Google referral traffic[edit]

See also: Internet atheism and the coronavirus pandemic

According to the leading web marketing website Ahrefs.com, the website RationalWiki has lost a huge amount of Google referral traffic since the latter part of 2019. As of December 22, 2022, Ahefs.com reported that RationalWiki.org was merely receiving 111,000 Google visits per month.

Google uses over 200 factors to evaluate the quality and the relevance of a website to various topics.

According to the leading web marketing website Ahrefs.com, the website RationalWiki lost a large amount of Google referral traffic from August 10, 2022 to October 3, 2022. Google referral traffic is commonly referred to as organic traffic by web marketing professionals.

Specifically, according to Ahrefs.com, on August 10, 2022, the website RationalWiki was receiving 240,713 monthly referral web visits by Google. By October 3, 2022, RationalWiki.org was merely receiving 131,083 monthly referral web visits by Google.

Google uses over 200 factors to evaluate the quality and the relevance of a website to various topics.

## RationalWiki gets far less Google referral traffic than in the past[edit]

See also: Internet atheism

The Google search engine has a number of quality indicators in terms of how it ranks websites for various words/phrases.

As you can see in the above graph, Google has downgraded its estimation of RationalWiki in terms of the quality of its website and RationalWiki is getting less Google traffic (Please click the graphic above to enlarge it).

Accordimg to SEMRush.com, RationalWiki received about 185,000 monthly referral visits from Google desktop computer users in December as of December 27, 2021 and the monthly web visitors saw about a 5.8% loss.

Key point: If you click on the graphic below, you will see that RationalWiki was receiving 300,000+ monthly referral visits from Google desktop computer users in April 2021. So RationalWiki lost a large amount of its Google referral traffic in 2021. Specifically, RationalWiki lost 115,000 Google monthly referral visits from Google desktop computer users from April 2021 to December 2021.

RationalWiki lost a massive amount of Google referral traffic in 2019/2020 (Please click graphic above to enlarge it).

## Worldwide Google searches for the search term "RationalWiki"[edit]

See also: RationalWiki and its branding problems and Google trends - Atheism and agnosticism terms

Google Trends worldwide data for the keyword "RationalWiki".

### Google searches for the term "RationalWiki" from 2007 to February 6, 2022 in the United States[edit]

Google Trends reports the number of Google searches per month for a given search term. The above graph shows the Google search for the term RationalWiki from 2004 to February 6, 2022 in the United States.

As you can see in the above graph, as far as the United States, the number of searches for the term RationWiki at Google is much lower than its peak in May of 2015.

## RationalWiki.org: Referring domains and other websites delinking to RationalWiki[edit]

While the quality and quantity of a website play a part in a website's Google rankings for its various keywords, so do the quality and quantity of its backlinks.

According to the leading web marketing website Ahrefs.com, from May 23, 2022 to November 7, 2022 there were 805 website owners that removed their links to the RationalWiki website.

On May 23, 2022 there were 22,132 websites linking to RationalWiki according to Ahref.com. But by November 7, 2022, there were 21,327 websites linking to RationalWiki.org.

According to the leading backlink analysis tool Ahrefs, RationalWiki.org experienced a loss of the strength of backlink relative to other websites from 2-15-2022 to 5-15-2022.

As of January 9, 2022, Link Research Tools shows RationalWiki has a high negative link velocity of -30% which is a very steep loss of domains linking to the website.

A website that has the interest and trust of the public has a steady inbound link growth from other websites.

According to LinkResearchTool.com: "Link Velocity describes the speed of link growth to a page or domain. Link Velocity can be measured in new links per month or new linking root domains per month."[1]

In addition, according to Link Research Tools: "A very negative link velocity trend (LVT) means that the web has lost interest in the page or domain."[2]

On July 17, 2021, according to Link Research Tools, RationalWiki.org had a -35% negative link velocity trend which is a very steep loss of domains linking to the website.

Link Research Tools is the Cadilac of link research tools in terms of showing websites: number of backlinks, number of referring backlink domains, quality of links linking to a website, competitor link data, link building opportunities, toxic backlinks, etc. It is also one of the most expensive backlink tools to use. It is more expensive than some of its competitors such as Ahrefs.com and SEMRush.com.

### 1,300+ websites delinked from RationalWiki.org from May of 2021 to July 15, 2021[edit]

Semrush offers solutions for SEO, PPC, content, social media and competitive research. Semrush is trusted by over 7,000,000 marketers worldwide.

In May of 2021, there were 22,394 domains linking to RationalWiki.org according to Semrush.

On July 15, 2021, there were 21,090 domains linking to RationalWiki.org according to Semrush.

From May of 2021 to July 15, 2021, RationalWiki lost 1,304 domains linking to it.

That's about a loss of 1,300+ websites linking to RationalWiki.org in a few months.

Two of the leading website marketing analytics websites indicate that the link velocity rate of RationalWiki is negative, not positive (SEMRush and Link Research Tools).

According to Link Research Tools: "A very negative link velocity trend (LVT) means that the web has lost interest in the page or domain."[3]

SimilarWeb.com indicates RationalWiki lost traffic in 2021 and that it is currently losing web traffic.[4]

Semrush offers solutions for SEO, PPC, content, social media and competitive research. Semrush is trusted by over 7,000,000 marketers worldwide.

In May of 2021, there were 22,394 domains linking to RationalWiki.org according to Semrush.

On July 15, 2021, there were 21,090 domains linking to RationalWiki.org according to Semrush.

From May of 2021 to June 15, 2021, RationalWiki lost 1,304 domains linking to it.

RationalWiki.org has a negative link velocity. When a website loses interest with the online public, it often has a negative link velocity. A negative link velocity means that the number

A website that has the interest and trust of the public has a steady inbound link growth from other websites.

According to LinkResearchTool.com: "Link Velocity describes the speed of link growth to a page or domain. Link Velocity can be measured in new links per month or new linking root domains per month."[5]

In addition, according to Link Research Tools: "A very negative link velocity trend (LVT) means that the web has lost interest in the page or domain."[6]

On July 17, 2021, according to Link Research Tools, RationalWiki.org had a -35% negative link velocity trend which is a very steep loss of domains linking to the website.

### In December of 2021, RationalWiki was experiencing a high negative link velocity[edit]

On December 25, 2021, according to Link Research Tools, RationalWiki.org had a -31% negative link velocity trend which is a very steep loss of domains linking to the website.

## Websites that compete with RationalWiki for Google referral traffic according to the web marketing website Ahrefs.com[edit]

According to the web marketing website Ahrefs.com, in terms of competitors for Google keyword rankings, Kiwi Farms is RationalWiki second biggest competitor.

### Kiwifarms.net which is the second biggest organic traffic competitor of RationalWiki is being partly hosted in Ukraine subsequent to activists and tech firms trying to ban it[edit]

On September 19, 2022, The Guardian published the article It’s not that hard’: Does kicking Kiwi Farms off the internet prove tech firms can act against hate speech? which stated:

“  |  As the internet continues to evolve from its earlier days as an unregulated wild west, the big debates about what people should be allowed to see and do online has shifted away from major platforms like Facebook, Google and Twitter to focus on the actions of a small group of tech companies.

These service providers operate under the radar to keep the engine of the internet running without the fanfare of their more recognisable counterparts. But for activists interested in eradicating toxic hate speech and harassment online, they have become the latest targets in an ongoing campaign.

Last week, the roving spotlight landed on a new player called Diamwall. Open to the public for only a month, the Portugal-based content delivery network (CDN) provider, which filters website traffic and blocks malicious requests, had been engaged by the notorious trolling and doxing website Kiwi Farms after it was dropped by its previous provider, Cloudflare.

It wasn’t long before Diamwall’s CEO, Hugo Carvalho, was explaining his decision to do the same in a blog post on the company website:

"The owner of Kiwi Farms came in need of DDoS Protection and because their website was offline due to DDoS, we didn’t really know about their website’s content. They had a PROBLEM and we had the SOLUTION.

Soon enough the reports started to arrive and we started digging more and more about this website, soon enough we found that Kiwi Farms hosts a lot of revolting content.

We do not think that is fair to terminate any service because of public pressure but in this case, we think there is some foundation behind all those requests and we really do not want to have anything to do with it.

An internet forum known for its active targeting and harassment of trans people, Kiwi Farms has also been blamed for suicides after people were hounded offline – and sometimes out of their homes – by a firehose of vitriol coordinated and directed from the site."

In August, users of the site targeted Canadian Twitch streamer and trans activist Clara Sorrenti, who fled Canada after Kiwi Farms users called in a fake bomb threat at her home and police turned up to her house. The Kiwi Farms trolls subsequently tracked her around the globe to continue their harassment.

The big tech platforms by now have stringent content moderation practices to prevent the proliferation of this kind of online behaviour, but as a standalone website Kiwi Farms is beyond their reach.

Instead of pleading her case to a regulatory body that doesn’t really exist, Sorrenti used her large online following to turn the tables, starting a “Drop Kiwi Farms” movement to get the site kicked off the internet by targeting the companies that kept them operational.[7]

|  ”

|
|

As can be seen below, the KiwiFarms website is being hosted by four companies - one of which is based in Ukraine.

Kiwifarms.net is a website which is known for its cyberbullying of transgender and neurodivergent individuals. RationalWiki is very much in favor of transgender/homosexual/neurodivergent people's rights. Atheists have higher mutational loads and a higher percentage of people with autism and Asperger's syndrome (see: Atheists and genetic mutations and Atheism and autism).

Kiwifarms.net which is the second biggest organic traffic competitor of RationalWiki is being partly hosted in Ukraine. Specifically, Kiwifarms.net is hosted by the Ukrainian company FOP Smirnov V'yacheslav Valentunovuch. RationalWiki is very pro-Ukraine when it comes to the war in Ukraine.

According to Wikipedia, a website founded by an atheist and agnostic: "Same-sex sexual activity between consenting adults is legal in Ukraine, but prevailing social attitudes are often intolerant of LGBT people, and households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for any of the same legal protections and recognition available to opposite-sex couples...Most Ukrainians affiliate with the Eastern Orthodox Church, which has a significant influence on the perception by society of members of the LGBT community. The Orthodox Church has opposed LGBT events and groups, often in the name of "combatting immorality", and has even encouraged violent attacks. As such, many LGBT people in Ukraine report feeling the need to lie about their true sexual orientation or gender identity in order to avoid being a target of discrimination or violent harassment."[8]

## See also[edit]

* Internet atheism
* Internet evangelism: Christians vs. atheists
* Internet evangelism
* Decline of the atheist movement
* Decline of the secular left
* SJW atheists

## References[edit]

1. ↑ Link Velocity Trends (LVT)
2. ↑ What are typical uses of Link Velocity Trends?, Link Research Tools website
3. ↑ What are typical uses of Link Velocity Trends?, Link Research Tools website
4. ↑ SimilarWeb.com - RationalWiki
5. ↑ Link Velocity Trends (LVT)
6. ↑ What are typical uses of Link Velocity Trends?, Link Research Tools website
7. ↑ It’s not that hard’: Does kicking Kiwi Farms off the internet prove tech firms can act against hate speech?
8. ↑ LGBT rights in Ukraine - Wikipedia