SMB websites see rising traffic from ChatGPT and other AI engines

Generative AI's impact on website traffic: A closer look

The conversation surrounding generative AI's influence on website performance often focuses on its potential drawbacks. Concerns include AI overviews impacting organic search, the rise of zero-click searches, and the increasing reliance on tools like ChatGPT over traditional research. However, it's crucial to also analyze the traffic these AI engines are driving.

To gain a clearer understanding, we examined data from 391 small and medium-sized business (SMB) websites, categorized by industry and AI referral source. Our analysis aimed to determine the volume of AI-driven traffic and its significance for strategic adjustments.

Key Finding: Google Search dwarfs ChatGPT in search volume

AI Referral Traffic Trends

While overall AI traffic has shown recent growth, the consistency of this growth varies across platforms.

• ChatGPT has consistently increased referral traffic month-over-month for the past six months.
• Perplexity and Bing (edgeservices) exhibit significant month-to-month fluctuations.
• Gemini shows minimal monthly change, with occasional spikes.

Despite these fluctuations, ChatGPT consistently leads as the largest source of AI referral traffic, showing an average monthly increase of 21%.

Industry-Specific Variations

ChatGPT remains the dominant AI referral source across all industries. However, other platforms like Perplexity and Gemini are also making notable contributions as AI referral traffic expands.

Significant differences exist across sectors. Travel and finance websites show the highest proportion of ChatGPT referrals. Conversely, Perplexity accounts for nearly 20% of AI traffic to health and ecommerce sites, with Gemini also contributing substantially to ecommerce.

These patterns raise questions about user behavior and AI search engine citation practices:

• Do different user demographics favor specific AI search engines?
• How does conversational search behavior differ across industries?
• Why does Gemini refer less traffic to travel sites but significantly more to ecommerce? Could this reflect AI overview prioritization?

Future Outlook

The evolving landscape of AI and search will undoubtedly present new challenges and opportunities. The impact of AI search engines on website traffic will remain dynamic, demanding adaptability from businesses.

A key consideration is determining the threshold for investing in AI-specific optimization. While traditional SEO and AI citation strategies often overlap, they are distinct. SMBs, with limited resources, face a balancing act. Agencies play a critical role in navigating these changes.

Continuous monitoring and strategic adjustments will be vital for businesses to leverage AI-driven traffic and mitigate potential downsides.

Data Methodology

This analysis uses data from 391 SMB websites, categorized by industry and tracked via Google Analytics for AI referral traffic. The study covers the past six months, a period of significant referral traffic growth. Only industries with statistically significant data and prominent AI search engines are included. Other AI engines with insufficient data for reliable reporting include Jobright AI, Blackbox AI, Allfree AI, and Careerflow AI.

Further Research: AI search engines and citation practices

The opinions expressed in this analysis are those of the author.

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