AI vs Search Traffic Analysis

Vibe-coded by Ahrefs team, based on data from free Web Analytics tool.

Sites Analyzed
Websites with complete traffic data for all months in the analysis period
44,421
Months Analyzed
Date range of complete months included in the analysis
Dec '24 - Jul '25

All Traffic Sources Comparison
Comprehensive comparison of all traffic sources showing traffic share and growth trends

July 2025

Latest month's traffic share percentages and month-over-month growth rates for all tracked sources.

Traditional Search Engines

Google Google
41.91% +1.4%
Bing Bing
1.62% +3.2%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo
0.26% +6.3%

AI Assistants

ChatGPT ChatGPT
0.19% +5.3%
Perplexity Perplexity
0.02% +5.1%
Copilot Copilot
0.01% +1.3%
Gemini Gemini
0.01% -1.3%

Month-over-Month Growth Comparison
Percentage change in traffic volume compared to the previous month for each source

Traffic growth rates compared to previous month

Month-over-Month Growth Details
Detailed breakdown of Month-over-Month growth rates across different time periods and traffic sources

May 2025 → Jun 2025
Google Google
+1.4%
Bing Bing
+3.2%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo
+6.3%
ChatGPT ChatGPT
+5.3%
Claude Claude
+5.6%
Perplexity Perplexity
+5.1%
Copilot Copilot
+1.3%
Gemini Gemini
-1.3%
Mistral Mistral
-34.6%
Apr 2025 → May 2025
Google Google
-6.8%
Bing Bing
-4.2%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo
-4.6%
ChatGPT ChatGPT
+1.6%
Claude Claude
+108.7%
Perplexity Perplexity
-8.9%
Copilot Copilot
-13.1%
Gemini Gemini
+2.6%
Mistral Mistral
-16.2%
Mar 2025 → Apr 2025
Google Google
-1.2%
Bing Bing
+3.5%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo
-12.8%
ChatGPT ChatGPT
+24.2%
Claude Claude
+136.5%
Perplexity Perplexity
+7.4%
Copilot Copilot
+9,039.1%
Gemini Gemini
+5.9%
Mistral Mistral
-14.1%
Feb 2025 → Mar 2025
Google Google
-3.3%
Bing Bing
-8.7%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo
-37.2%
ChatGPT ChatGPT
+25.0%
Claude Claude
+56.9%
Perplexity Perplexity
-10.5%
Copilot Copilot
+301.5%
Gemini Gemini
+0.4%
Mistral Mistral
-51.9%
Jan 2025 → Feb 2025
Google Google
+1.2%
Bing Bing
+11.4%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo
+9.5%
ChatGPT ChatGPT
+17.9%
Claude Claude
+235.6%
Perplexity Perplexity
+16.8%
Copilot Copilot
+190.0%
Gemini Gemini
+21.0%
Mistral Mistral
+41.0%

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

Traffic share percentages on the same scale

Traffic Share Comparison - Without Google
Google is hidden by default. When shown, chart switches to dual-axis with Google on the right scale.

Focus on emerging AI & alternative search sources (Click Google in legend to show with dual-axis)

Traffic share within different regions
Shows how web traffic is distributed across different continents and regions

July 2025

South America

Google Google 34.48%
Bing Bing 1.11%
ChatGPT ChatGPT 0.19%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo 0.04%
Perplexity Perplexity 0.01%
Copilot Copilot 0.01%
Gemini Gemini 0.01%
Claude Claude 0.00%
Mistral Mistral 0.00%
Others 64.15%

Africa

Google Google 51.42%
Bing Bing 1.23%
ChatGPT ChatGPT 0.24%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo 0.05%
Perplexity Perplexity 0.02%
Copilot Copilot 0.01%
Gemini Gemini 0.01%
Claude Claude 0.00%
Mistral Mistral 0.00%
Others 47.02%

Asia

Google Google 44.69%
Bing Bing 1.09%
ChatGPT ChatGPT 0.19%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo 0.09%
Perplexity Perplexity 0.03%
Copilot Copilot 0.01%
Gemini Gemini 0.01%
Claude Claude 0.00%
Mistral Mistral 0.00%
Others 53.89%

North America

Google Google 34.32%
Bing Bing 2.70%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo 0.59%
ChatGPT ChatGPT 0.18%
Perplexity Perplexity 0.02%
Copilot Copilot 0.01%
Gemini Gemini 0.01%
Claude Claude 0.00%
Mistral Mistral 0.00%
Others 62.17%

Europe

Google Google 45.28%
Bing Bing 1.49%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo 0.28%
ChatGPT ChatGPT 0.20%
Perplexity Perplexity 0.02%
Copilot Copilot 0.01%
Claude Claude 0.00%
Gemini Gemini 0.00%
Mistral Mistral 0.00%
Others 52.72%

Oceania

Google Google 44.17%
Bing Bing 2.18%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo 0.38%
ChatGPT ChatGPT 0.25%
Perplexity Perplexity 0.02%
Copilot Copilot 0.01%
Gemini Gemini 0.01%
Claude Claude 0.00%
Mistral Mistral 0.00%
Others 52.98%

Traffic Share by Region
Stacked bar chart showing the distribution of each traffic source across geographic regions

Month-over-Month Regional Growth Trends
Displays month-over-month growth rates for each traffic source by geographic region

Traffic Share Within Different Industry
Breakdown of traffic sources across different industry sectors and verticals

July 2025
Autos And Vehicles 67.1%
Google Google 63.6%
Bing Bing 2.9%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo 0.3%
ChatGPT ChatGPT 0.2%
Perplexity Perplexity 0.0%
Copilot Copilot 0.0%
Others 32.9%
Food And Drink 67.0%
Google Google 65.3%
Bing Bing 1.3%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo 0.3%
ChatGPT ChatGPT 0.1%
Perplexity Perplexity 0.0%
Others 33.0%
Health 63.1%
Google Google 60.4%
Bing Bing 2.1%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo 0.4%
ChatGPT ChatGPT 0.2%
Perplexity Perplexity 0.0%
Copilot Copilot 0.0%
Others 36.9%
Computers And Electronics 60.8%
Google Google 57.6%
Bing Bing 2.5%
ChatGPT ChatGPT 0.4%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo 0.2%
Perplexity Perplexity 0.0%
Copilot Copilot 0.0%
Gemini Gemini 0.0%
Others 39.2%
People And Society 60.7%
Google Google 59.8%
Bing Bing 0.7%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo 0.2%
ChatGPT ChatGPT 0.0%
Perplexity Perplexity 0.0%
Others 39.3%
Jobs And Education 59.4%
Google Google 56.6%
Bing Bing 2.3%
ChatGPT ChatGPT 0.4%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo 0.2%
Perplexity Perplexity 0.0%
Copilot Copilot 0.0%
Gemini Gemini 0.0%
Others 40.6%
Business And Industrial 55.2%
Google Google 49.7%
Bing Bing 4.0%
ChatGPT ChatGPT 1.0%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo 0.2%
Perplexity Perplexity 0.2%
Gemini Gemini 0.1%
Claude Claude 0.0%
Copilot Copilot 0.0%
Others 44.9%
Law And Government 54.7%
Google Google 48.7%
Bing Bing 5.0%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo 0.5%
ChatGPT ChatGPT 0.3%
Perplexity Perplexity 0.1%
Copilot Copilot 0.0%
Gemini Gemini 0.0%
Claude Claude 0.0%
Others 45.3%
Real Estate 52.7%
Google Google 49.5%
Bing Bing 2.8%
ChatGPT ChatGPT 0.2%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo 0.1%
Perplexity Perplexity 0.0%
Copilot Copilot 0.0%
Others 47.3%
Science 52.6%
Google Google 49.0%
Bing Bing 2.3%
ChatGPT ChatGPT 0.9%
Perplexity Perplexity 0.2%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo 0.2%
Gemini Gemini 0.0%
Claude Claude 0.0%
Copilot Copilot 0.0%
Others 47.4%
Arts And Entertainment 52.2%
Google Google 51.3%
Bing Bing 0.6%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo 0.2%
ChatGPT ChatGPT 0.0%
Perplexity Perplexity 0.0%
Others 47.8%
Adult 51.7%
Google Google 51.2%
Bing Bing 0.4%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo 0.2%
Others 48.3%
Reference 49.4%
Google Google 43.0%
Bing Bing 4.2%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo 1.1%
ChatGPT ChatGPT 0.8%
Perplexity Perplexity 0.1%
Copilot Copilot 0.1%
Gemini Gemini 0.1%
Claude Claude 0.0%
Others 50.6%
Sports 48.2%
Google Google 47.4%
Bing Bing 0.7%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo 0.1%
ChatGPT ChatGPT 0.0%
Others 51.8%
Online Communities 47.3%
Google Google 43.8%
Bing Bing 3.0%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo 0.4%
ChatGPT ChatGPT 0.1%
Perplexity Perplexity 0.0%
Others 52.7%
Pets And Animals 45.8%
Google Google 42.8%
Bing Bing 2.3%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo 0.5%
ChatGPT ChatGPT 0.2%
Perplexity Perplexity 0.0%
Others 54.2%
Books And Literature 45.1%
Google Google 44.5%
Bing Bing 0.3%
ChatGPT ChatGPT 0.2%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo 0.0%
Others 54.9%
Games 44.3%
Google Google 41.2%
Bing Bing 2.9%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo 0.3%
ChatGPT ChatGPT 0.0%
Others 55.7%
Travel And Transportation 44.3%
Google Google 42.7%
Bing Bing 1.3%
ChatGPT ChatGPT 0.2%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo 0.1%
Perplexity Perplexity 0.0%
Others 55.7%
Home And Garden 43.9%
Google Google 42.1%
Bing Bing 1.4%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo 0.3%
ChatGPT ChatGPT 0.1%
Perplexity Perplexity 0.0%
Others 56.2%
Hobbies And Leisure 41.0%
Google Google 37.3%
Bing Bing 3.0%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo 0.5%
ChatGPT ChatGPT 0.2%
Perplexity Perplexity 0.0%
Copilot Copilot 0.0%
Others 59.0%
News 40.8%
Google Google 39.8%
Bing Bing 0.8%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo 0.2%
ChatGPT ChatGPT 0.1%
Perplexity Perplexity 0.0%
Others 59.2%
Beauty And Fitness 40.1%
Google Google 39.3%
Bing Bing 0.5%
ChatGPT ChatGPT 0.1%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo 0.1%
Others 59.9%
Finance 38.1%
Google Google 35.7%
Bing Bing 2.2%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo 0.1%
ChatGPT ChatGPT 0.1%
Perplexity Perplexity 0.0%
Copilot Copilot 0.0%
Others 61.9%
Shopping 37.3%
Google Google 36.1%
Bing Bing 0.9%
ChatGPT ChatGPT 0.1%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo 0.1%
Perplexity Perplexity 0.0%
Others 62.7%
Internet And Telecom 36.3%
Google Google 33.3%
Bing Bing 2.2%
ChatGPT ChatGPT 0.6%
DuckDuckGo DuckDuckGo 0.2%
Perplexity Perplexity 0.0%
Copilot Copilot 0.0%
Gemini Gemini 0.0%
Others 63.7%

Key Insights from the Data
Important observations and trends extracted from the traffic data analysis

AI assistants maintain strong growth momentum

Claude (5.6%), ChatGPT (5.3%), and Perplexity (5.1%) continue growing faster than traditional search, indicating sustained user adoption of AI-powered alternatives.

Content-rich industries dominate referral traffic

Autos And Vehicles, Food And Drink, Health lead traffic generation, representing prime opportunities for content optimization and SEO investment.

DuckDuckGo leads traditional search growth

DuckDuckGo's 6.3% growth outpaces both Bing (3.2%) and Google (1.4%), reflecting increased demand for privacy-focused search alternatives.

AI search captures 0.19% combined traffic share

While still emerging, AI-powered search tools collectively show strong growth potential, with ChatGPT leading at 0.19% share and growing 5.3% month-over-month.

Google maintains strong global presence

Google dominates across all continents with 40-50% traffic share, while AI assistants show strongest adoption in Asia and North America, indicating regional differences in technology adoption patterns.

Search landscape diversifies beyond Google

With Google at 41.91% share, the search ecosystem is fragmenting across AI assistants, privacy-focused alternatives, and specialized platforms, requiring multi-channel optimization strategies.

Strategic Marketing Implications:

The search landscape is fragmenting rapidly. Traditional SEO alone is no longer sufficient. Winners will diversify their discovery strategy across multiple platforms:

  • AI Optimization: Create conversational, Q&A-style content that performs well in chat interfaces
  • Privacy-First SEO: Optimize for DuckDuckGo's growing 6.3% user base with privacy-conscious messaging
  • Regional Strategy: Prioritize Asia-Pacific content localization for 40% of global traffic
  • Industry Focus: News, Entertainment, and Finance sectors see highest ROI from search optimization

The 20x growth differential between AI and traditional search represents the biggest channel opportunity since social media emerged in 2006.

Last updated: Aug 21, 2025 8:38 AM
Update frequency: Monthly