Under 1 percent
of Google's traffic
comes from ChatGPT
Under 1 percent
of Google's traffic
comes from ChatGPT
- SEO
- ChatGPT sends under 1 percent of the traffic Google sends
Over the past year, many businesses have been told that Google is on its way out and that ChatGPT is the new search engine. A new analysis gives a more sober picture. AI search is growing in importance, but some of what is said about the traffic is overblown. For most businesses, Google is still what sends the customers.
What the analysis shows
SEO consultant Marie Haynes analysed 12 months of GA4 data from 100 websites, more than 145 million sessions in total.Search Engine Land covered the results in October 2026.
ChatGPT sent 0.62 percent as many visits as Google organic. With all AI services combined, the share rises to 0.73 percent. Referrals from ChatGPT stopped growing strongly in August 2025 and have flattened out since.
So for every 10,000 visits a website gets from Google organic, around 62 come from ChatGPT.
0.62% as many visits from ChatGPT as from Google organic
0.73% for all AI services combined
13.8% conversion rate from ChatGPT, versus 3.02% from Google
27 times as many conversions from Google organic
AI visits convert best, Google delivers the most sales
The most interesting finding concerns the quality of the traffic. Among the 55 websites that measured conversions, visits from ChatGPT converted at 13.8 percent, versus 3.02 percent for Google organic.
That sounds like an argument for shifting effort to AI search. Volume still decides: Google organic delivered 27 times as many conversions as all AI services combined.
The high conversion rate also has a natural explanation. People who click through from an AI answer have often had the simple questions answered and come to buy, book or get in touch.
Keep the caveats in mind
The analysis states neither the industry mix, exact periods nor how conversions are defined. Nor does it measure how traffic from Google itself has developed. Some AI traffic also ends up as direct traffic in GA4 because the referrer is lost, so the actual figures may be somewhat higher.
At the same time, AI Overviews in Google take clicks from the organic results.Ahrefs found in February 2026 that the click-through rate for position one is 58 percent lower when the search shows an AI Overview. In other words, AI affects your traffic most through Google.
What does this mean for you?
AI visibility matters, and the order you do things in decides how much you get back:
Foundation first.Technical SEO, good service pages and content that answers what customers search for still have the most impact. It is also the foundation AI services draw their answers from.
Write to be cited.Clear answers early on the page, concrete figures and your own data increase the chance of being used both in AI Overviews and in ChatGPT.
Measure what happens.Set up a dedicated channel group for AI referrals in GA4, and track click-through rate per page in Search Console. Then you see the changes before they become a problem.
Let the data steer the budget.Follow developments in AI search closely, and prioritise based on the figures from your own website.
Want to know how your website performs in Google and AI search? Read more aboutSEOandAI visibility, or book afree SEO health check.
Sources:Search Engine Land, October 2026andAhrefs, February 2026.
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