AI Referral Traffic Hits 1.08% of Web Visits but Understates Broader Influence

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A Conductor report analyzing 13,770 domains across 10 industries found that AI-driven referral traffic accounted for 1.08% of total website visits between May and September 2025. The channel grew at roughly 1% month over month during the study period, signaling steady but modest expansion. ChatGPT dominated AI referrals, generating approximately 87.4% of that traffic, making overall figures heavily dependent on a single platform. Experts caution that referral data alone understates AI's true impact, as users may encounter brands in AI-generated answers without ever clicking through to a website. Industry context also matters significantly, with IT sectors seeing AI referral shares as high as 2.8%, well above the cross-industry average.

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