The Open Index · AI traffic
How much traffic do AI assistants really send?
Small on average, bigger in technology, growing fast from a low base, and almost all of it from one engine. The numbers, the caveats, and how to measure your own.
2.80%
of Information Technology traffic comes from AI, against 1.08% overall
Conductor, 2025
Written byKris GjorgjioskiKeyword research and industry benchmarks, Webtec Research
Checked byHristijan NajcheskiHead of SEO and AEO (technical and AI SEO), data verification
Updated October 15, 2026 · Edition 1Refreshed quarterly · next January 2027
Built from research on
Google
OpenAI
Perplexity
Gemini
Anthropic
Cloudflare
Semrush
BY INDUSTRY
Share of website visits from AI, by industry.
Conductor, May to September 2025. All industries combined: 1.08%.
AI referral share of traffic
Technology leads. Communication Services and Utilities are lowest.
- Information Technology2.8%
- Consumer Staples1.91%
- Utilities0.35%
- Communication Services0.25%
- Health CareNot stated in the source
- FinancialsNot stated in the source
- Real EstateNot stated in the source
- IndustrialsNot stated in the source
SourceConductor · 2025
Inside Information Technology
Semiconductors and software get the most AI visits; hardware far fewer.
- Semiconductors4.09%
- Software and services3.37%
- Technology hardware0.99%
Within IT, ChatGPT sends 88.5% of AI traffic and Perplexity nearly 5%.[2]
2.80%
of IT website visits come from AI
1.08%
across all industries
SourceConductor · 2025
BY ENGINE
One engine sends almost all of it.
Who sends the visits, and why it tracks who uses the tools.
Share of AI referral traffic by engine
ChatGPT dominates. In some industries another engine stands out.
- ChatGPT, all industries87.4%
- ChatGPT, IT88.5%
- Perplexity, IT5%
- Gemini, Utilities21%
- Copilot, Financials5%
Who has used ChatGPT
Share of US adults who have ever used it, spring 2025. Use is concentrated among younger, more educated adults.
- Under 3058%
- 30 to 4941%
- 50 to 6425%
- 65 and older10%
- All US adults34%
THE GROWTH
Fast growth from a small base, by sector.
Adobe Analytics, based on more than 1 trillion visits to US retail sites and a 5,000-respondent survey.
Growth in AI referral traffic, by sector
Percent growth, over the periods shown. Growth from a small base looks dramatic, so read it next to the 1.08% share.
- Travel, leisure and hospitality (Feb 2025 vs Jul 2024)+1,700%
- US retail (Nov to Dec 2024 vs a year earlier)+1,300%
- US retail (Feb 2025 vs Jul 2024)+1,200%
- Banking (Feb 2025 vs Jul 2024)+1,200%
SourceAdobe · 2025
HOW AI-REFERRED VISITS BEHAVE
More engaged, slightly less likely to buy.
In Adobe’s US retail data, AI-referred visits had 8% higher engagement, 12% more pages per visit and a 23% lower bounce rate than other traffic, but were 9% less likely to convert, down from a 43% gap in July 2024.[3]
Desktop made up 86% of AI traffic against 34% of all e-commerce visits in the period, so AI assistants are, so far, a desktop research habit.
MEASURE YOUR OWN
Find your AI traffic in analytics, in four steps.
- 1
Open your traffic sources
In Google Analytics, open the report of sessions by source or referrer.
- 2
Filter for AI sources
Look for referrers from the main assistants, such as chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, gemini.google.com, copilot.microsoft.com and claude.ai.
- 3
Save it as a segment
Group them as one “AI” segment so you can track the total and each engine.
- 4
Track conversions
Compare enquiries and bookings from the segment with other sources, monthly.
Two caveats. Google AI Mode traffic is grouped with Google traffic in Analytics; Google says traffic from its AI features appears in Search Console’s Performance report under the Web search type.[6] And many AI crawlers do not run JavaScript, so key content should be in the HTML the server sends.[7] The crawlers take far more than they send back: see crawlers and files.[5]
OUR INTERPRETATION
What we make of the numbers.
The figures above are the studies’. This part is our reading of them, kept separate so you can disagree.
Webtec Research
Our interpretation
- Kris GjorgjioskiKeyword research and benchmarks
- Hristijan NajcheskiTechnical SEO, data checks
- Figures: the cited studies
- Reading: ours
The figures on this page come from the cited studies. This reading of them is ours, and you may weigh it differently.
The honest summary is that AI referral traffic is still small, concentrated in a few industries, and growing quickly. At an average of 1.08% of visits it does not yet change most traffic reports, but in technology it already reaches 2.80%.
The conversion question is mixed. Adobe measured AI-referred retail visitors as less likely to convert than other visitors, though the gap narrowed from 43% to 9% over about six months, while AI-referred banking and travel visitors stayed longer and bounced less. We read that as AI traffic arriving earlier in the buying journey, so judge it on assisted conversions and returning visitors, not last-click orders.
Treat these numbers as a floor. Referrer data misses what assistants influence without a click.
- Create an AI referrals segment in your analytics this month
- Judge it on assisted conversions, not last-click orders
- Do not expect parity with search yet, track the trend
Cite this page.
Charts have CSV downloads. Please link back and credit Webtec Research.
CITE THIS PAGE
Webtec Research. (2026, October 15). AI referral traffic benchmarks by industry and engine. The Open Index by Webtec. https://www.trywebtec.com/resources/index/ai-referral-traffic/
Questions about AI traffic.
01How much traffic do AI assistants send?
Little, on average. Conductor’s data (May to September 2025, 1,215 domains, 3.3B sessions) found 1.08% of website traffic came from AI chatbots and answer engines. It varies from 0.25% in Communication Services to 2.80% in Information Technology.
02Which AI engine sends the most?
ChatGPT. In the same data it accounted for 87.4% of AI referral traffic, and 88.5% in IT. Other engines matter in some industries: Gemini drove 21% of AI traffic to Utilities and Copilot drove 5% of Financials AI traffic.
03Is it growing?
Fast, from a small base. Adobe measured AI referrals to US retail sites up 1,300% year on year over November and December 2024, and up 1,700% to travel, leisure and hospitality and 1,200% to banking between July 2024 and February 2025. Growth rates from a small base look dramatic, so pair them with the 1.08% share.
04Does AI traffic convert better?
The evidence is mixed. In Adobe’s retail data, AI-referred visits showed 8% higher engagement and 23% lower bounce rates, but were 9% less likely to convert than other traffic, an improvement from a 43% gap in July 2024. Adobe notes the highest AI conversion rates in electronics and jewelry, and the lowest in apparel, home goods and grocery.
05Why can’t I see Google AI Mode traffic?
Google Analytics groups AI Mode, AI Overviews and organic Google traffic together, so engine breakdowns like Conductor’s exclude it. Google says traffic from its AI features is reported inside Search Console’s Performance report under the Web search type.
06Which industry gets the largest share of traffic from AI?
In Conductor’s data, Information Technology, at 2.80% of website traffic, more than twice the 1.08% average across industries. Consumer Staples came second at 1.91%.
07Is ChatGPT the main source of AI referrals?
In the industries measured, yes by a wide margin. In Information Technology, ChatGPT accounted for 88.5% of AI referrals and Perplexity nearly 5%. Other industries show more Gemini or Copilot, such as Gemini at 21% in Utilities and Copilot at 5% in Financials.
08Is AI traffic mostly desktop or mobile?
Adobe found desktop made up 86% of AI traffic, against 34% of US e-commerce visits overall. That fits research and work-related use, and it means AI visitors may behave differently from your average visitor.
09Why is AI traffic small if everyone is talking about it?
It is a small share of total visits but it is growing from a low base, and much of the influence of AI happens before any visit, when an assistant shapes who a buyer considers. Referral data only captures the clicks.
10How do I track AI referrals on my site?
In your analytics, group sessions by referrer domain for chatgpt.com, perplexity.ai, gemini.google.com, copilot.microsoft.com and similar. Some assistants strip the referrer, so the real figure is likely higher than the number you can see.
SOURCES
Sources and notes
7 sources on this page: 4 independent or official (grade A) and 3 vendor or agency studies with a disclosed method (grade B). Numbers in brackets in the text match the numbers below. We read every figure on the source’s own page. How we grade sources.
- What we use:
- AI Overview prevalence and AI referral share by industry; ChatGPT’s share of AI referrals; most-cited domains by industry.
- Period:
- May to Sept 2025 (AI Overviews: Sept 15 to Oct 12, 2025)
- Sample:
- 13,770 enterprise domains in 10 industries; 17M AI responses and 100M+ citations; AI referral data from 1,215 domains (3.3B sessions, 35.7M AI sessions); 21.9M US Google searches for AI Overviews.
- Read with care:
- US data. AI Mode traffic is excluded because Google Analytics groups it with organic Google traffic. Some figures appear twice with different rounding; we use the more precise one.
- Vendor studyGrade BPublished 2025-11-13Read the source
- What we use:
- Sub-industry AI referral share and AI Overview prevalence for technology.
- Period:
- May to Sept 2025
- Sample:
- The IT industry and three sub-industries, from the same dataset as the main report.
- Platform dataGrade BPublished 2025-03-17Read the source
- What we use:
- Growth of AI referral traffic by sector, and how AI-referred visits behave.
- Period:
- Nov 2024 to Feb 2025
- Sample:
- More than 1 trillion visits to US retail sites; a survey of 5,000+ US respondents.
- Read with care:
- Measures clicks on AI links only. Engagement and bounce are not defined on the page.
- Independent researchGrade APublished 2025-06-25Read the source
- What we use:
- How many people use ChatGPT, by age and education.
- Period:
- Feb 24 to March 2, 2025
- Sample:
- 5,123 US adults, American Trends Panel, weighted to the adult population.
- Platform dataGrade APublished 2025-08-29Read the source
- What we use:
- Crawl-to-referral ratios by platform and the purpose of AI crawling.
- Period:
- January to July 2025 (purposes: past 12 months)
- Sample:
- Cloudflare Radar crawl and referral data; referral data comes from news-related customers.
- Read with care:
- Purpose classification relies on operator disclosures; referral data may not represent the wider web.
- What we use:
- What Google says is and is not required to appear in AI features.
- Period:
- Documentation, last updated Dec 10, 2025
- Sample:
- Google’s own guidance for AI Overviews and AI Mode.
- What we use:
- None of the major AI crawlers it studied render JavaScript.
- Period:
- 2024
- Sample:
- Crawler request logs across Vercel’s network.
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A LIVING REFERENCE
Refreshed every quarter.
We re-check every source in January, April, July and October, add new studies and retire old ones. This is Edition 1 (October 15, 2026); the next is due January 2027. Changes are logged on the methodology page.
