Introduction

AI traffic to websites is small but growing fast. ChatGPT is now sending more visitors than Reddit or LinkedIn.

What's the problem it solves?

Traditional search clicks are dropping because AI is answering more questions directly. Website owners need to know if AI can still bring people to their sites and how much of a difference it really makes.

Quick Summary

A year ago, AI barely sent any traffic to websites. Now, it’s slowly becoming a real source. The team at Ahrefs studied nearly 82,000 websites to see how much traffic came from AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini. They found that while overall traffic from search is falling, AI traffic has grown almost 10 times in the past year.

Right now, AI makes up only about 0.25% of total traffic, which isn’t much. But ChatGPT is leading the way, sending more traffic than Reddit and LinkedIn. Google still sends the most visitors by far, but the gap is shrinking. The biggest growth came from ChatGPT, which now drives over 80% of all AI traffic. Even though AI isn’t yet replacing search, it is helping with brand awareness and bringing in users who are better informed.

Key Takeaways from the article

• AI traffic has grown nearly 10x in one year but still makes up a small part of total visits.
• Most of the new AI traffic comes from ChatGPT, which now sends more visitors than Reddit.
• Google remains the biggest traffic source, but its share is slowly shrinking.
• AI traffic converts better than other channels, with a 10%+ conversion rate for Ahrefs.
• Website tools still can't fully tell AI traffic apart from regular search traffic.
• AI won't replace search but can still help with visibility and better leads.
• If you want to focus on AI traffic, ChatGPT is the best place to start.
• AI traffic may grow, but it won’t be a big source for most websites anytime soon.
• It’s important to keep working on Google search while exploring AI opportunities.

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