Absolute Traffic Trend
Absolute traffic trend shows the monthly total traffic of 74,752 sites that joined Ahrefs Web Analytics by June 2025, tracking the same fixed cohort each month to show overall traffic changes over time.
Absolute Traffic by Channel
All Traffic Sources Comparison
Comprehensive comparison of all traffic sources showing traffic share and growth trends
Latest month's absolute traffic volumes and month-over-month percentage point changes for all tracked sources.
Traditional Search Engines
Google
Bing
DuckDuckGo
AI Assistants
ChatGPT
Perplexity
Gemini
Claude
Traffic Channels
Traffic Share by Category
Aggregated view of traffic sources grouped into major categories: Traditional Search, AI Search, and channel types
Traffic distribution across major categories over time.
Traffic Share by Source
All traffic sources displayed on the same percentage scale for direct comparison
Traffic share percentages on the same scale
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.
% change in visitors sent by each source: (This month − Last month) / Last month. Indicates how fast traffic is growing or declining.
Google
Bing
DuckDuckGo
ChatGPT
Claude
Perplexity
Gemini
Google
Bing
DuckDuckGo
ChatGPT
Claude
Perplexity
Gemini
Google
Bing
DuckDuckGo
ChatGPT
Claude
Perplexity
Gemini
Google
Bing
DuckDuckGo
ChatGPT
Claude
Perplexity
Gemini
Google
Bing
DuckDuckGo
ChatGPT
Claude
Perplexity
Gemini
| Period |
Google
Goo
|
ChatGPT
Cha
|
Bing
Bin
|
DuckDuckGo
Duc
|
Claude
Cla
|
Perplexity
Per
|
Gemini
Gem
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 2026 → Mar 2026 | 7.1% | 0.2% | 5.8% | 3.8% | 153.5% | 1.6% | 21.2% |
| Jan 2026 → Feb 2026 | 10.9% | 14.8% | 9.6% | 25.6% | 42.3% | 16.9% | 2.2% |
| Dec 2025 → Jan 2026 | 0.7% | 9.8% | 6.1% | 7.0% | 21.0% | 13.4% | 53.9% |
| Nov 2025 → Dec 2025 | 3.1% | 11.1% | 3.0% | 14.7% | 17.3% | 18.1% | 32.3% |
| Oct 2025 → Nov 2025 | 5.8% | 0.1% | 7.3% | 3.5% | 2.8% | 4.8% | 0.2% |
| Sep 2025 → Oct 2025 | 2.3% | 5.5% | 2.0% | 4.6% | 2.3% | 4.1% | 0.7% |
| Aug 2025 → Sep 2025 | 3.8% | 12.1% | 2.6% | 0.9% | 8.5% | 25.2% | 35.5% |
| Jul 2025 → Aug 2025 | 4.6% | 5.7% | 2.6% | 2.6% | 10.1% | 8.1% | 13.1% |
| Jun 2025 → Jul 2025 | 1.5% | 5.4% | 3.2% | 6.3% | 5.6% | 5.1% | 1.3% |
| May 2025 → Jun 2025 | 6.8% | 1.6% | 4.2% | 4.6% | 108.7% | 8.9% | 2.6% |
| Average | 2.2% | 1.4% | 0.7% | 0.1% | 30.7% | 2.9% | 12.8% |
Month-over-Month Regional Growth Trends
Displays month-over-month growth rates for each traffic source by geographic region
Key Insights from the Data
Important observations and trends extracted from the traffic data analysis
March rebounds with broad traffic recovery across all sources
March reverses February's seasonal dip with growth across the board: Google (7.1%), Bing (5.8%), and DuckDuckGo (3.8%) all recover. Claude surges 153.5% as Anthropic expands its web search capabilities.
Content-rich industries dominate referral traffic
News, Entertainment, and Finance sectors show the highest search referral volumes.
Traditional search engines bounce back in March
March shows Google up 7.1%, Bing 5.8%, and DuckDuckGo 3.8%. The broad recovery confirms February's dip was seasonal, with all traditional engines returning to normal volumes.
AI search holds 0.21% combined traffic share
ChatGPT leads AI-powered search with 0.21% share, followed by Perplexity at 0.00%. AI's combined share holds steady as March's volume recovery keeps pace with traditional search.
Google holds 30.5% traffic share
Google holds 30.5% share with 7.1% visitor growth in March. The long-term trend still shows gradual share erosion from 35.11% in June 2025, but the pace has slowed considerably.
Claude surges 153.5% while ChatGPT holds steady
Claude posts 153.5% growth in March, the standout performer among AI platforms. Gemini also gains 21.2%, while ChatGPT dips -0.2% and Perplexity sees -1.6% decline — both minor fluctuations within normal range.
Strategic Marketing Implications:
March 2026 confirms the market's resilience after February's seasonal dip. Key strategic priorities for marketers:
- • Claude Is the AI Platform to Watch: Claude's 153.5% growth signals Anthropic is gaining real search traction. Start optimizing content for Claude's citation patterns alongside ChatGPT
- • Google's Decline Is Gradual, Not Dramatic: At 30.5% share (down from 35.11% in Jun 2025), Google's erosion is steady but slow. Traditional SEO remains your highest-ROI channel
- • AI Search Is a Portfolio Play: With 0.21% combined AI share across 0 sites, no single AI platform dominates. Diversify across ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini
- • Seasonal Patterns Are Predictable: March's broad rebound (Google 7.1%, Bing 5.8%) confirms February dips are recurring — factor seasonality into your traffic forecasts
March 2026 shows the search landscape maturing into a predictable pattern: Google slowly cedes share while AI platforms collectively hold steady around 0.21%. The shift is real but gradual.