Google has told us (e.g., here, here, and here) that clicks on AI search results drive better traffic to websites. But a new Ahrefs study suggests that isn’t always exactly the case – at least for other large AI platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Copilot.
The big picture. AI visitors behave differently from search visitors, and not always in ways that suggest higher quality. Here are some of the findings from Ahrefs comparing visits from AI and search platforms:
Why we care. Google insists that citations in AI search will help brands and publishers because we will get higher-quality clicks in exchange for all the traditional organic search traffic we’re losing. But it’s been hard to prove or disprove this. Many brands and publishers feel like it’s nearly impossible to trust Google at their word these days.
What about conversions? Ahrefs mentioned seeing higher conversion rates (~12%) from AI vs. traditional search.
Dig deeper. LLM traffic not as engaged as organic traffic: Study
Bottom line. AI traffic isn’t clearly better; it’s different. It may bring more decisive users, but they engage less, bounce more, and visit fewer pages.
About the study. Ahrefs analyzed traffic to 81,947 websites between May and June, comparing behavior metrics like pages per visit, session duration, and bounce rate by channel.
The study. AI Visitors Visit Fewer Pages and Bounce More Often Than Traditional Search Visitors
Google has told us (e.g., here, here, and here) that clicks on AI search results drive better traffic to websites. But a new Ahrefs study suggests that isn’t always exactly the case – at least for other large AI platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Copilot.
The big picture. AI visitors behave differently from search visitors, and not always in ways that suggest higher quality. Here are some of the findings from Ahrefs comparing visits from AI and search platforms:
Why we care. Google insists that citations in AI search will help brands and publishers because we will get higher-quality clicks in exchange for all the traditional organic search traffic we’re losing. But it’s been hard to prove or disprove this. Many brands and publishers feel like it’s nearly impossible to trust Google at their word these days.
What about conversions? Ahrefs mentioned seeing higher conversion rates (~12%) from AI vs. traditional search.
Dig deeper. LLM traffic not as engaged as organic traffic: Study
Bottom line. AI traffic isn’t clearly better; it’s different. It may bring more decisive users, but they engage less, bounce more, and visit fewer pages.
About the study. Ahrefs analyzed traffic to 81,947 websites between May and June, comparing behavior metrics like pages per visit, session duration, and bounce rate by channel.
The study. AI Visitors Visit Fewer Pages and Bounce More Often Than Traditional Search Visitors
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It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy.
The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making
The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy.
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution
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