AI vs Search Traffic Analysis

How much traffic ChatGPT and other AI platforms send to websites compared with Google and other search engines.

115,254 sites analyzed

Analyzed for Jun ’25 – Sep ’26

Based on data from our free Web Analytics

Updated: Oct 28, 2026

AI vs Search

Search Engines

Browsers

UGC Citations

AI Bot Activity

Absolute traffic trend

Total monthly traffic across the same 115,254 sites using Ahrefs Web Analytics. Tracking a fixed set of sites shows how overall traffic really changes over time.

Absolute traffic by channel

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All traffic sources comparison

Sep 2026

Latest month’s absolute traffic volumes and month-over-month percentage point (pp) changes for all tracked sources.

Traffic Channels

Direct

495.0M(39.29%)+1.41 pp

Search

337.7M(26.82%)−0.34 pp

Paid

195.1M(15.48%)−1.19 pp

Unknown

171.6M(13.62%)+0.52 pp

Social

93.4M(7.42%)−0.65 pp

Email

13.1M(1.04%)−0.02 pp

AI Assistants

5.3M(0.43%)+0.02 pp

Referral

3.5M(0.28%)

Traditional Search Engines

Google

301.8M(23.96%)−0.28 pp

Bing

14.2M(1.13%)+0.02 pp

Yahoo!

9.5M(0.76%)−0.01 pp

Yandex

4.9M(0.39%)−0.04 pp

DuckDuckGo

2.8M(0.23%)−0.01 pp

AI Assistants

ChatGPT

4.3M(0.34%)+0.02 pp

Meta AI

577.1K(0.05%)

Gemini

265.6K(0.02%)

Claude

79.4K(0.01%)

Perplexity

64.0K(0.01%)

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Traffic share by category

Traffic distribution across major categories over time.

Search

26.82%−0.34 pp

AI Search

0.43%+0.02 pp

Unknown

13.62%+0.52 pp

Paid

15.48%−1.19 pp

Direct

39.29%+1.41 pp

Social

7.42%−0.65 pp

Email

1.04%−0.02 pp

Referral

0.28%

These eight categories overlap and do not add up to 100%: Search and AI Search are based on the referring source, while Unknown, Paid, Direct, Social, Email and Referral are channel types. For Sep 2026 they total 104.4%. Search covers Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yahoo!, Yandex, Naver, Baidu, Brave, Ecosia, AOL, Cốc Cốc.

Traffic mix by site volume

Sep 2026

How the channel mix shifts as sites grow from a few hundred to millions of monthly visitors. Sites are bucketed by total monthly visitors; for each band we average the per-site channel mix (Organic / Direct / Paid / AI / Other) so each bar still sums to 100%.

Site count per band

Traffic share by source

All traffic sources displayed on the same percentage scale for direct comparison

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Month-over-month growth comparison

% change in visitors sent by each source: (This month − Last month) / Last month. Indicates how fast traffic is growing or declining.

Period	Google	ChatGPT	Bing	DuckDuckGo	Claude	Perplexity	Gemini	Yahoo!	Yandex	Naver	Baidu	Brave	Ecosia	AOL	Cốc Cốc	Meta AI
Aug 2026 → Sep 2026	↓ 2.7%	↑ 14.1%	↑ 2.1%	↓ 4.4%	↓ 17.2%	↑ 3.5%	↑ 40.4%	↓ 2.2%	↓ 3.0%	↑ 8.2%	↓ 5.3%	↑ 26.3%	↓ 1.5%	↑ 90.3%	↓ 13.8%	↓ 10.5%
Jul 2026 → Aug 2026	↓ 7.2%	↑ 33.2%	↑ 0.8%	↑ 1.7%	↓ 11.1%	↓ 23.3%	↑ 7.4%	↑ 5.9%	↑ 10.6%	↑ 103.2%	↑ 57.9%	↑ 5.1%	↓ 0.9%	↓ 86.4%	↓ 9.5%	↓ 23.9%
Jun 2026 → Jul 2026	↑ 1.1%	↓ 9.0%	↑ 1.0%	↑ 7.8%	↓ 25.0%	↓ 21.5%	↑ 14.5%	↓ 0.1%	↓ 0.5%	↓ 16.8%	↑ 12.4%	↑ 0.9%	↑ 1.4%	↓ 64.1%	↑ 7.8%	↑ 1.6%
May 2026 → Jun 2026	↓ 4.0%	↓ 12.7%	↓ 1.8%	↑ 2.1%	0.0%	↓ 31.4%	↓ 9.9%	↓ 5.9%	↓ 6.4%	↓ 4.4%	↓ 5.6%	↓ 0.1%	↑ 1.3%	↓ 32.9%	↑ 12.9%	↑ 32.7%
Apr 2026 → May 2026	↓ 5.7%	↑ 59.4%	↓ 5.0%	↑ 4.2%	↓ 0.9%	↓ 18.0%	↓ 20.7%	↑ 2.3%	↓ 7.4%	↓ 13.9%	↑ 6.1%	↑ 11.6%	↑ 2.2%	↓ 28.4%	↑ 1.2%	↓ 0.5%
Mar 2026 → Apr 2026	↓ 9.3%	↓ 12.0%	↓ 7.8%	↓ 8.4%	↓ 4.2%	↓ 11.0%	↑ 0.1%	↓ 8.9%	↓ 2.4%	↓ 7.6%	↓ 2.8%	↑ 3.6%	↓ 10.8%	↓ 22.8%	↓ 9.9%	↓ 28.5%
Feb 2026 → Mar 2026	↑ 7.7%	↑ 0.4%	↑ 6.4%	↑ 4.5%	↑ 154.8%	↓ 1.2%	↑ 21.9%	↑ 4.9%	↑ 7.4%	↑ 28.9%	↑ 17.7%	↑ 10.7%	↑ 5.7%	↑ 90.2%	↑ 31.6%	↓ 14.5%
Jan 2026 → Feb 2026	↓ 10.3%	↓ 14.3%	↓ 9.1%	↓ 25.1%	↑ 43.0%	↓ 16.4%	↓ 1.7%	↓ 11.6%	↓ 9.3%	↓ 12.6%	↓ 24.7%	↓ 13.0%	↓ 5.0%	↓ 14.4%	↓ 15.0%	↓ 27.4%
Dec 2025 → Jan 2026	↑ 0.8%	↑ 9.8%	↑ 6.1%	↑ 7.0%	↑ 21.0%	↓ 13.4%	↑ 53.9%	↑ 2.3%	↓ 2.1%	↑ 0.5%	↑ 7.7%	↑ 1.2%	↑ 13.3%	↓ 15.7%	↑ 4.8%	↑ 24.7%
Nov 2025 → Dec 2025	↑ 3.1%	↓ 11.1%	↓ 3.0%	↑ 14.7%	↓ 17.3%	↓ 18.1%	↑ 32.3%	↓ 1.9%	↓ 12.1%	↑ 11.3%	↑ 5.7%	↑ 1.1%	↓ 2.2%	↑ 33.5%	↑ 2.7%	↑ 0.3%
Oct 2025 → Nov 2025	↓ 5.8%	↑ 0.1%	↓ 7.3%	↓ 3.5%	↓ 2.8%	↓ 4.8%	↓ 0.2%	↓ 5.7%	↓ 15.2%	↑ 0.9%	↑ 3.8%	↓ 1.2%	↓ 2.4%	↓ 14.6%	↓ 8.9%	↓ 2.2%
Sep 2025 → Oct 2025	↓ 2.3%	↑ 5.5%	↑ 2.0%	↑ 4.6%	↓ 2.3%	↓ 4.1%	↓ 0.7%	↓ 0.2%	↑ 8.0%	↓ 4.0%	↓ 6.2%	↑ 8.7%	↑ 4.9%	↑ 35.1%	↑ 5.5%	↑ 11.8%
Aug 2025 → Sep 2025	↓ 3.8%	↑ 12.1%	↑ 2.6%	↑ 0.9%	↑ 8.5%	↑ 25.2%	↑ 35.5%	0.0%	↑ 2.4%	↓ 12.0%	↓ 3.9%	↑ 0.9%	↑ 2.8%	↓ 14.2%	↓ 14.9%	↑ 1.3%
Jul 2025 → Aug 2025	↓ 4.6%	↑ 5.7%	↓ 2.6%	↓ 2.6%	↓ 10.1%	↑ 8.1%	↓ 13.1%	↑ 1.1%	↑ 0.4%	↓ 3.2%	↓ 5.8%	↓ 2.4%	↑ 2.8%	↑ 16.0%	↓ 9.5%	↑ 14.9%
Jun 2025 → Jul 2025	↑ 1.5%	↑ 5.4%	↑ 3.2%	↑ 6.3%	↑ 5.6%	↑ 5.1%	↓ 1.3%	↑ 4.4%	↓ 2.3%	↑ 8.9%	↑ 3.4%	↑ 7.8%	↑ 4.3%	↑ 14.3%	↓ 15.6%	↑ 21.9%
May 2025 → Jun 2025	↓ 6.8%	↑ 1.6%	↓ 4.2%	↓ 4.6%	↑ 108.7%	↓ 8.9%	↑ 2.6%	↓ 5.3%	↓ 23.2%	↓ 8.1%	↓ 19.3%	↓ 8.8%	↓ 4.9%	↓ 4.8%	↓ 16.3%	↓ 21.8%
Average	↓ 3.0%	↑ 5.5%	↓ 1.0%	↑ 0.3%	↑ 15.7%	↓ 8.1%	↑ 10.1%	↓ 1.3%	↓ 3.4%	↑ 5.0%	↑ 2.6%	↑ 3.3%	↑ 0.7%	↓ 1.2%	↓ 2.9%	↓ 1.3%

Traffic share within different regions

Sep 2026

Shows how web traffic is distributed across different continents and regions.

Europe

Google

39.12%

Bing

1.49%

Yandex

1.21%

ChatGPT

0.48%

DuckDuckGo

0.24%

Yahoo!

0.19%

Ecosia

0.14%

Meta AI

0.07%

Brave

0.03%

Gemini

0.02%

Claude

0.01%

Perplexity

0.01%

Others56.99%

Oceania

Google

38.05%

Bing

2.11%

ChatGPT

0.54%

Yahoo!

0.32%

DuckDuckGo

0.29%

Meta AI

0.15%

Ecosia

0.07%

Yandex

0.03%

Naver

0.02%

Gemini

0.02%

Brave

0.01%

Claude

0.01%

Perplexity

0.01%

Others58.37%

Asia

Google

30.17%

Yahoo!

1.79%

Bing

1.09%

Naver

0.58%

Yandex

0.31%

ChatGPT

0.31%

Cốc Cốc

0.17%

DuckDuckGo

0.11%

Baidu

0.10%

Meta AI

0.06%

Gemini

0.03%

Brave

0.02%

Ecosia

0.01%

Claude

0.01%

Perplexity

0.01%

Others65.23%

North America

Google

26.17%

Bing

1.93%

Yahoo!

0.60%

DuckDuckGo

0.47%

ChatGPT

0.30%

Meta AI

0.13%

Yandex

0.04%

Ecosia

0.04%

Gemini

0.02%

Naver

0.01%

Brave

0.01%

Claude

0.01%

Others70.27%

Africa

Google

21.74%

Bing

0.97%

ChatGPT

0.49%

Yahoo!

0.06%

DuckDuckGo

0.05%

Meta AI

0.05%

Yandex

0.04%

Gemini

0.03%

Brave

0.01%

Ecosia

0.01%

Claude

0.01%

Perplexity

0.01%

Others76.53%

South America

Google

20.91%

Bing

0.61%

Meta AI

0.30%

ChatGPT

0.24%

Yahoo!

0.11%

DuckDuckGo

0.02%

Yandex

0.02%

Ecosia

0.01%

Claude

0.01%

Gemini

0.01%

Others77.76%

Traffic Share by Region

Month-over-month regional growth trends

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Traffic share across different industries

Sep 2026

Breakdown of traffic sources across different industry sectors and verticals.

News94.3%

Google31.6%

Naver1.4%

Bing0.6%

Yahoo!0.2%

DuckDuckGo0.1%

ChatGPT0.1%

Ecosia0.0%

Others5.7%

Beauty and Fitness74.9%

Google15.5%

ChatGPT1.0%

Meta AI0.5%

Bing0.4%

Yahoo!0.1%

DuckDuckGo0.1%

Ecosia0.0%

Yandex0.0%

Brave0.0%

Gemini0.0%

Others25.1%

Computers and Electronics68.5%

Google16.3%

Bing0.8%

Yahoo!0.2%

ChatGPT0.1%

DuckDuckGo0.1%

Yandex0.1%

Baidu0.0%

Ecosia0.0%

Naver0.0%

Brave0.0%

Gemini0.0%

Meta AI0.0%

Others31.5%

Finance66.8%

Google6.6%

Bing0.6%

Yahoo!0.6%

ChatGPT0.1%

DuckDuckGo0.0%

Naver0.0%

Others33.2%

Home and Garden66.6%

Google12.7%

Bing0.5%

ChatGPT0.2%

Yahoo!0.2%

DuckDuckGo0.1%

Yandex0.0%

Ecosia0.0%

Brave0.0%

Gemini0.0%

Others33.4%

People and Society63.6%

Google21.9%

Bing0.6%

Yahoo!0.4%

ChatGPT0.2%

DuckDuckGo0.2%

Ecosia0.0%

Brave0.0%

Gemini0.0%

Others36.4%

Law and Government57.7%

Google14.8%

Bing1.9%

Yahoo!1.1%

DuckDuckGo0.1%

ChatGPT0.1%

Ecosia0.1%

Gemini0.0%

Yandex0.0%

Brave0.0%

Perplexity0.0%

Others42.3%

Travel and Transportation54.7%

Google9.5%

Meta AI0.4%

Bing0.3%

ChatGPT0.3%

Yahoo!0.1%

DuckDuckGo0.1%

Ecosia0.1%

Yandex0.0%

Baidu0.0%

Brave0.0%

Cốc Cốc0.0%

Gemini0.0%

Others45.3%

Food and Drink52.8%

Google35.1%

Bing0.4%

Yahoo!0.2%

DuckDuckGo0.1%

ChatGPT0.1%

Ecosia0.0%

Yandex0.0%

Brave0.0%

Others47.3%

Jobs and Education43.5%

Google12.3%

Bing0.9%

ChatGPT0.4%

Yahoo!0.2%

Yandex0.2%

DuckDuckGo0.1%

Ecosia0.1%

Meta AI0.1%

Naver0.0%

Baidu0.0%

Gemini0.0%

Brave0.0%

Perplexity0.0%

Others56.5%

Autos and Vehicles42.8%

Google10.1%

Bing0.2%

ChatGPT0.1%

Yahoo!0.1%

DuckDuckGo0.0%

Yandex0.0%

Others57.2%

Sports41.4%

Google11.2%

Cốc Cốc0.4%

Bing0.3%

Yahoo!0.1%

DuckDuckGo0.1%

ChatGPT0.0%

Yandex0.0%

Ecosia0.0%

Others58.6%

Real Estate40.4%

Google9.1%

Yahoo!0.7%

Bing0.6%

ChatGPT0.4%

DuckDuckGo0.1%

Brave0.0%

Ecosia0.0%

Gemini0.0%

Others59.6%

Pets and Animals37.5%

Google9.8%

Bing0.4%

Yahoo!0.1%

ChatGPT0.1%

DuckDuckGo0.1%

Ecosia0.0%

Others62.5%

Arts and Entertainment35.5%

Google14.7%

Bing0.3%

Yahoo!0.2%

DuckDuckGo0.1%

ChatGPT0.0%

Ecosia0.0%

Yandex0.0%

Brave0.0%

Meta AI0.0%

Others64.5%

Internet and Telecom34.1%

Google7.1%

Yandex1.1%

Bing0.8%

ChatGPT0.2%

Yahoo!0.1%

DuckDuckGo0.1%

Brave0.0%

Claude0.0%

Ecosia0.0%

Cốc Cốc0.0%

Gemini0.0%

Others65.9%

Shopping31.8%

Google5.3%

Yahoo!0.2%

Bing0.1%

ChatGPT0.1%

DuckDuckGo0.0%

Yandex0.0%

Ecosia0.0%

Others68.2%

Business and Industrial31.6%

Google7.1%

Bing0.7%

Yahoo!0.3%

ChatGPT0.2%

DuckDuckGo0.0%

Gemini0.0%

Yandex0.0%

Ecosia0.0%

Baidu0.0%

Cốc Cốc0.0%

Perplexity0.0%

Others68.5%

Health28.7%

Google8.8%

Yahoo!0.8%

Bing0.4%

DuckDuckGo0.1%

ChatGPT0.1%

Ecosia0.0%

Gemini0.0%

Others71.3%

Hobbies and Leisure20.8%

Google5.8%

Bing0.6%

Yahoo!0.1%

DuckDuckGo0.1%

ChatGPT0.1%

Ecosia0.1%

Brave0.0%

Others79.2%

Adult19.7%

Google15.3%

Bing0.1%

Yahoo!0.1%

DuckDuckGo0.0%

Yandex0.0%

Brave0.0%

Ecosia0.0%

Cốc Cốc0.0%

Others80.3%

Online Communities18.5%

Google7.9%

Bing0.1%

DuckDuckGo0.0%

ChatGPT0.0%

Yahoo!0.0%

Brave0.0%

Ecosia0.0%

Others81.5%

Science17.8%

Google4.9%

Yahoo!2.0%

Bing0.2%

ChatGPT0.0%

DuckDuckGo0.0%

Ecosia0.0%

Gemini0.0%

Others82.2%

Games17.7%

Google3.9%

Bing0.2%

Yahoo!0.0%

DuckDuckGo0.0%

Yandex0.0%

Baidu0.0%

Ecosia0.0%

ChatGPT0.0%

Others82.3%

Reference8.2%

Google0.0%

Others91.8%

Books and Literature5.3%

Google3.3%

Yandex0.1%

Bing0.0%

ChatGPT0.0%

Others94.7%

Key insights from the data

•

Bing grew visitors fastest among the larger sources (+2.1%)

Sep 2026: visitors from Bing grew 2.1%, the fastest among sources with at least 0.5% share. Its share rose from 1.11% to 1.13%. It stands out against a broadly softer market. 9 of 16 tracked sources declined.

•

Google visitors fell in September

Visitors from Google fell 2.7% in Sep 2026; Bing +2.1%, DuckDuckGo −4.4%.

•

Search engines hold 26.82% of tracked traffic, AI assistants 0.43%

Sep 2026: the search engines’ share went from 27.16% to 26.82% (−0.34 pp). The AI assistants’ share went from 0.41% to 0.43% (+0.02 pp).

•

Google holds 23.96% traffic share

Google’s share went from 24.24% to 23.96% (−0.28 pp).

•

ChatGPT has the largest share among AI assistants (0.34%)

Visitors from Gemini grew 40.4%, the fastest among AI assistants. Visitors from Claude fell 17.2%, the steepest drop.

Strategic Marketing Implications:

Key priorities for marketers in Sep 2026:

•

Optimize for ChatGPT Visitors from ChatGPT grew 14.1% this month. Keep content structured, citable, and accessible to its crawler.

•

Watch Google’s trajectory Keep investing in SEO, but expand beyond Google for resilience.

•

AI traffic is uneven AI assistants moved in different directions this month. Prioritize the ones that send you traffic.

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