State of the Internet 2026

The internet changes faster every year. And 2025 said, “hold my beer.” How people find you, whether they trust you, and if they even visit your website - all of it changed. Again. And if you’re not paying attention, you could be losing customers without even knowing why. The internet in 2026 isn’t the internet we built websites for five, ten, or fifteen years ago. Traffic is down. Tracking is harder. And a huge chunk of your “visitors” aren’t even human. We wade through these mazes daily while building websites and like to share - first, because we enjoy geeking out, and second, so you don’t have to go in blind. The short version:  Bots are everywhere.AI ate a big chunk of your traffic.And your Google Business listing is probably more important than your social media now. Fun times. We also break down what’s happening with cookies, privacy laws, and why your PHP version matters way more than you think. Read the fully formatted blog post to accompany this episode at: mayecreate.com/blog/state-of-the-internet-2026/