Introduction

AI brings clicks, but not many. Still, it can build awareness and help people remember your brand better than it seems.

What's the problem it solves?

Many people believe AI will send a huge amount of web traffic, but that hasn’t happened yet. This article looks at what AI traffic really looks like, how it compares to other channels, and why clicks aren’t the only thing that matters.

Quick Summary

Ahrefs studied 35,000 websites and found that AI brings in just 0.1% of referral traffic. Google still drives way more visits-345 times more than AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini. Reddit even sends slightly more traffic than those three AIs combined. So while everyone is talking about AI traffic, it’s actually pretty small right now.

But traffic isn’t the whole story. AI tools are helping people learn about brands, even if they don’t click right away. Some companies are seeing sales that started with AI mentions. Smaller websites and those in business industries are more likely to get AI traffic. Also, content like product comparisons, guides, and “best of” lists tend to perform better in AI results.

Key Takeaways from the article

• AI currently brings in a tiny amount of traffic-less than email and far behind search engines.
• Reddit sends more traffic than ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity combined.
• Perplexity is growing fast and now passes Gemini as a traffic source.
• Sites in the US and the business sector see more traffic from AI than others.
• Smaller websites get a higher share of AI traffic than large ones.
• Pages with words like “best,” “vs,” “guide,” and “products” in the URL attract more clicks from AI tools.
• AI often creates brand awareness without sending people to your site.
• Many AI clicks don’t show up in analytics tools, making their value hard to track.
• Focus on brand mentions, not just clicks, when thinking about AI as a marketing channel.
• Use tools to track how often AI mentions your brand and which pages are getting visits.

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