Three new studies say AI search sends almost no traffic (yet)
Published
If you're paying every month to see how your business shows up in ChatGPT, you've probably wondered if it's worth it. Three studies came out this past week that give a pretty honest answer: right now, not much traffic is coming from there.
What the studies found
Marie Haynes looked at 12 months of Google Analytics data from 100 websites, more than 145 million sessions in total. ChatGPT sent just 0.62% as many sessions as Google organic search. Adding every other AI assistant only raised that to 0.73%.
Here's the interesting part. ChatGPT visitors converted much better: 13.8% versus 3.02% for Google organic, on the 55 sites that tracked conversions. But there were so few of them that Google still drove 96.5% of all conversions across the channels she looked at, and 27 times more conversions than all the AI tools combined. She also saw ChatGPT referrals stop growing fast in August 2025 and dip after that.
SEO Works found organic search delivered 39 times more traffic than AI assistants. For every 100 conversions from organic, AI referrals brought in 3.2.
Kevin Indig checked whether AI visibility shows up another way, as people searching your brand name or typing your site in directly. Across 12 sites, he couldn't find a reliable link yet.
Be careful with these numbers
These are small samples. 100 sites, 55 with conversion tracking, 12 sites. Haynes didn't share the industry mix or exact dates, and none of this is about local businesses specifically. A plumber in a small town might see something very different from a software company.
So read it as "not yet," not "never." AI search is changing fast, and how people find a business is changing with it. But today, for most sites, Google is still where the customers come from.
What this means for your tool budget
AI visibility trackers aren't free. Otterly.ai starts at $29 a month, and the others climb fast from there. Peec AI doesn't show its plan prices clearly, and Profound is built for big brands with custom pricing. The Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit is an add-on, on top of a Semrush plan that starts at $139 a month.
A few plain suggestions:
- Pay for Google first. If your map rankings and Google Business Profile aren't where you want them, that's where the money still is. A tool like Local Falcon (from $24.99 a month) shows you exactly where you stand on the map.
- Check your own numbers. Open Google Analytics and look at referrals from chatgpt.com and other AI tools. If they're a tiny slice, your budget should be a tiny slice too.
- If you track AI, start small. One entry-level plan, a short list of prompts that matter, and a check-in every month. You don't need an enterprise tool to learn what's happening.
- Agencies, be honest with clients. Sell AI tracking as an early look at what's coming, not as a traffic source. That protects their trust, and yours.
If you do want to keep an eye on AI search, we compared the options side by side in the best AI visibility tools for agencies, with prices checked on each tool's own page.