The latest Nielson Online ratings for the list of the top 30 newspaper websites in March is now out, and the results are quite interesting. Formerly a member of the top 30 club was Seattlepi.com, the online home of the now-defunct Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which has now dropped to No. 32.

One of the first major daily newspapers in the U.S. to shut down print operations in favor of an online-only publication, Seattlepi.com posted a 23% drop in traffic from March 08 to March 08 with just 1.4 million unique visitors monthly. This trend will most certainly worry others in the industry who may also be considering downsizing to an online-only publication in an effort to salvage at least part of their failing papers.

In February, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer was ahead of its competitor, The Seattle Times, in terms of online website traffic. Seattlepi.com had 1.8 million uniques, compared to just 1.5 million at the Seattle Times. The Seattle P-I published its final edition on March 17, and that month the Times was able to surpass them while their traffic nosedived. The Seattle Times grew 70% over the course of the year, picking up 2.2 million uniques in March 09.

Just how much more Seattlepi.com's traffic will continue to drop off remains to be seen, but will surely be closely watched in the coming months. One can't help but wonder if without a print publication to keep their name (and website) in the minds of Seattleites on a daily basis, how long it will be until the online operation fails as well.