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ChatGPT Referral Traffic To Publishers Remains Minimal

Feb 21, 2025 - searchenginejournal.com
ChatGPT referrals to publishers have significantly increased following the introduction of web search, growing from 435,000 monthly visits in August to 3.5 million in January. Despite this growth, these referrals still account for less than 0.1% of the total traffic to 14 leading news publishers. The New York Post, The Guardian, and Forbes are the top beneficiaries, with the New York Post receiving 760,000 visits from ChatGPT in January, representing 0.5% of its total monthly visits. Forbes led in the combined six-month tally with 1.7 million referrals.

Traditional search engines continue to drive the majority of traffic to publishers, while AI-powered services like ChatGPT and Perplexity are still a minor share. Perplexity has delivered between 450,000 and 850,000 visits per month but lacks consistent growth. As the user bases for ChatGPT and Perplexity expand, publishers are monitoring whether AI will divert traffic from websites or increase clicks through more citations. Despite the rise in AI search traffic, its overall impact remains limited, with publishers still heavily reliant on traditional search engines.

Key takeaways:

  • ChatGPT referrals to publishers increased eightfold from August to January but remain under 0.1% of total traffic.
  • The New York Post, The Guardian, and Forbes saw the most significant ChatGPT-driven visits.
  • Traditional search engines continue to drive the majority of publisher traffic.
  • ChatGPT's referral rise coincides with OpenAI's introduction of web search, but its overall impact is still limited.
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