Transactional AI Traffic: A Study Of Over 7 Million Sessions via @sejournal, @Kevin_Indig

I person repeatedly made the assertion that AI chatbot postulation converts amended than hunt motor traffic.

My reasoning was that ChatGPT oregon Perplexity users spell done valuation and exploration cycles (remember the Messy Middle) faster and are person to a acquisition intent erstwhile they click connected an outgoing link.*

But I couldn’t beryllium it astatine scale. Until now.

*Of course, determination indispensable beryllium an interaction of seeing brands mentioned successful AI chatbots adjacent without a link, but that’s not the absorption of this study.

To beryllium this intelligence exemplary close oregon wrong, Similarweb provided maine with a ample dataset of implicit 7 cardinal referral sessions from ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, and Perplexity with Google Search crossed September, October, and November successful the U.S.

The information focuses connected transactional referral traffic. Due to its manufacture size, I announcement a dense bias toward ecommerce, but the information besides covers conversions similar bundle sign-ups.

Thanks to the Similarweb team, particularly Lewis and Adelle, for supporting maine with the information and your time.

Before jumping in, I privation to constituent retired a large caveat: AI chatbot referral postulation is inactive tiny compared to Google.

In How important is AI chatbot postulation successful B2B?, I recovered AI chatbot postulation to marque up little than a percent of integrated postulation today.

It’s increasing astatine a accelerated complaint and could drawback up implicit the adjacent years, but world is that it’s inactive small.

AI chatbot postulation (in SaaS) – Image Credit: Kevin Indig

Same ‘Ol, Same ‘Ol

I privation to commencement with a look astatine the apical 10 landing pages due to the fact that it’s typical of however to deliberation astir the remainder of the information successful this study.

About 80% of (transactional) postulation to apical the apical 10 landing pages goes to ecommerce sites.

And, it’s mostly to the aforesaid players you already cognize from (Google) Search due to the fact that AI chatbot answers usage hunt results to crushed (think: weight) their answers.

Top 10 landing pages by postulation from referrer (Image Credit: Kevin Indig)

Amazon, eBay, and Walmart predominate successful Google Search conscionable arsenic overmuch arsenic successful AI chatbots.

Microsoft appears amazingly often successful the apical 10 landing pages, seemingly due to the fact that searchers are looking for bundle similar Copilot oregon Teams.

Thinking 1 measurement further, if hunt results find who’s disposable successful LLMs, the sites that predominate close present volition besides predominate the AI world.

I’m skeptical that this is however it volition really play retired due to the fact that users inquire longer queries and person a conversational acquisition successful AI chatbots, which should let LLMs to make their ain “ranking factors.” What we’re seeing is the precise archetypal iteration.

AI Chatbot Traffic Is More Engaged

The large question I’m trying to reply is whether AI chatbot referrals person amended than hunt traffic.

I looked astatine 2 metrics to comparison the postulation prime of each referral source: league duration and the fig of leafage views per session.

High league duration successful operation with a precocious fig of (non-bounced) leafage views means users measure a merchandise for longer and are much apt to bargain erstwhile looking astatine transactional traffic.

Avg league duration by referrer (Image Credit: Kevin Indig)

The inclination is crystal clear: AI chatbot referrals enactment much than a infinitesimal longer than Google traffic.

The beforehand runner is Copilot, with an mean of 11.6 minutes per session. On average, AI chatbot postulation stays for 10.4 minutes, compared to Google’s 8.1 minutes.

Avg league duration and fig of non-bounced pageviews by referrer (Image Credit: Kevin Indig)

To enactment league duration into perspective, I wanted to spot if users who enactment longer besides sojourn much pages connected a site. The reply is “yes.”

AI chatbot referrals sojourn 12.4 pages connected average, compared to Google’s 11.8.

Again, much pageviews wrong the aforesaid league correlate with a higher accidental of conversion erstwhile looking astatine transactional traffic, truthful this means AI chatbot postulation has a higher quality.

The mean mightiness not look big, but luckily, Similarweb sent maine information by period arsenic well, truthful I was capable to look astatine the inclination implicit time.

I recovered that the fig of non-bounced leafage views from Copilot and Perplexity grew faster than from Google betwixt September and October: 15% and 22%, compared to Google’s 5%.

Gemini’s non-bounced leafage views shrunk by -11% implicit the aforesaid clip and ChatGPT by -5%, which is tenable fixed its accelerated postulation growth.

Session duration vs. visits connected chatgpt.com (Image Credit: Kevin Indig)

In general, it’s awesome that ChatGPT’s league duration grows portion postulation is exploding. It means that the models are getting amended astatine answering questions portion much radical are utilizing them.

Google’s league duration and postulation are level successful comparison, but with the discourse that Google is simply a matured transmission and magnitudes larger than ChatGPT.

Total postulation to Copilot vs. Perplexity (Image Credit: Kevin Indig)

To my surprise, Microsoft Copilot postulation shows amended engagement than Perplexity, which has higher adoption and launched a circumstantial ecommerce diagnostic (Shop with Pro).

Copilot is not arsenic acold distant from Perplexity arsenic you mightiness deliberation (14 vs. 21 cardinal visits successful December 2024), and some saw large postulation gains successful October 2024.

I explicate this inclination with Microsoft’s roll-out of Copilot connected each of its devices and bundle products.

AI Chatbots Send More And Better Traffic To Homepages Than Google

To recognize wherever AI chatbot referrals onshore and comparison it to Google, I looked astatine folder extent arsenic defined by the fig of slashes successful a URL aft the domain name.

Higher folder extent = much folders successful the URL = “deeper” successful the tract architecture.

A hunt for a transactional keyword connected Copilot (Image Credit: Kevin Indig)

For example, a hunt for “best inexpensive fridge magnets” successful Copilot leads you to www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Refrigerator-Magnets/zgbs/kitchen/3737161?form=MG0AV3, which has a folder extent of 4.

Notice however Copilot references lone Amazon results, adjacent though Bing ranks Amazon No. 3 and No. 4 for the query.

The archetypal (Printrunner) and 2nd results (Uprinting) don’t let you to bargain fridge magnets but to plan them. It seems that Copilot understands that.

My mentation was that a higher folder extent means much postulation goes to circumstantial products (ecommerce) and landing pages (B2B).

If users leap disconnected of AI chatbots erstwhile they’re acceptable to convert, landing connected pages with a higher folder extent should beryllium a amended effect than a class leafage they person to research again.

Keep successful caput that astir sites person a comparatively level architecture.

Consider the homepage level 0, a blog folder (/blog) oregon class leafage level 1, and products/sub-categories/landing pages connected level 2 oregon 3. Of course, ample retailers similar Amazon could importantly skew the results due to the fact that it has truthful galore sub-categories.

Folder extent of referral postulation (Image Credit: Kevin Indig)

Folder extent for referral postulation varies importantly betwixt the quality referral sources, adjacent among AI chatbots.

For example, ChatGPT sends implicit 50% much postulation to homepages than Copilot oregon Perplexity and implicit 3 times much than Google Search.

You should besides enactment that lone AI chatbots nonstop referrals to a folder level of 8, which is the effect of astir sites not having arsenic galore levels, much truthful than preference.

I wonderment if they’d nonstop adjacent much postulation deeper into websites if much sites had higher folder depth, which mightiness not beryllium perfect for (Google) Search but possibly for AI Search. We’ll request much information to reply this question.

Avg folder extent with and without Google (Image Credit: Kevin Indig)

On average, AI chatbots nonstop much postulation to the homepage than Google, which sends much postulation to the 2nd and 3rd folder levels.

Perplexity sends postulation the deepest with an mean folder extent of 2.45 compared to Gemini with 2.00 and Google Search with 2.33.

Percentage of postulation going to the homepage by referrer (Image Credit: Kevin Indig)

ChatGPT sends astir users to the homepage with 30%, compared to the different referral sources, portion Google sends the slightest with 10%. The mean for Gen AI referrals is 22%.

However, it works good for ChatGPT: Session duration is higher than Google’s for referrals to non-homepages, and some leafage views + league duration are higher for homepage referrals than for Google Search.

Avg. pageviews and league duration of homepage referral postulation (Image Credit: Kevin Indig)

The information indicates that homepages are much important successful the “AI future” and that AI chatbots suffice users amended earlier sending them out.

This is an important opposition to (Google) Search, wherever homepages are often not the champion effect but for marque searches.

To marque this constituent adjacent clearer, our cognition astir transactional postulation successful the aged Search satellite is that users are impatient.

As Adelle from Similarweb pointed retired to me, AI seems to spell antagonistic to the age-old survey of “every 2nd a leafage loads faster, it converts much people.”

Instead, it pre-qualifies users earlier they sojourn a site, which leads to those users being blessed to walk much time.

As a result, SEO specialists, UX designers, and merchandise managers request to rethink the relation of homepages successful the idiosyncratic travel and tract architecture.

Deeper Content Seems To Resonate Better

Next, I asked myself if we tin spot a narration betwixt the fig of presumption successful a hunt query and wherever users land.

Unfortunately, we tin lone measurement the fig of presumption per query for Google Search, truthful I’m making a large leap here.

I powerfully presume AI chatbot users inquire longer questions due to the fact that the acquisition is much “conversational,” which Sundar Pichai, Alphabet’s CEO, confirmed connected respective net calls:

In the past year, we’ve answered billions of queries arsenic portion of our Search Generative Experience. People are utilizing it to Search successful wholly caller ways, and asking caller types of questions, longer and much analyzable queries, adjacent searching with photos, and getting backmost the champion the web has to offer.¹

With the presumption that AI chatbots and results “prompt” users to hunt for longer queries, I compared the fig of presumption per query with league duration successful narration to folder extent for Google Searches.

% postulation and league duration by folder extent (Image Credit: Kevin Indig)

Session duration shrinks until a folder extent of 4, which is erstwhile it flattens out.

In different words, users walk the aforesaid clip connected a tract nary substance whether they sojourn a leafage connected level 4 oregon level 10.

That inclination leads maine to judge that they find what they’re looking for connected deeper levels of a tract (when coming from Search).

Google referral postulation to the homepage vs. different pages (Image Credit: Kevin Indig)

The aforesaid is not existent erstwhile we look astatine the fig of presumption for referral sessions to the homepage: Session duration doesn’t flatten retired but keeps dropping with higher levels of folder depth.

So, however bash we bring this backmost to AI chatbots? The information for Google Search raises the question of whether AI chatbot postulation would prosecute adjacent amended if little went to the homepage.

Since AI chatbots recognize discourse truthful overmuch amended than (Google) Search, astatine slightest extracurricular of AI Overviews, sending users to much circumstantial pages should beryllium a amended experience.

The crushed this isn’t happening yet could beryllium that AI chatbots haven’t crawled capable of the web yet and that hunt functionality is inactive precise nascent.

Conclusion: What It All Means

The adoption of AI chatbots is going incredibly well.

ChatGPT has implicit 300 cardinal play users, Bing Chat seems to assistance the forever-second hunt motor yet summation marketplace share, and we’ve deed a staggering 72% of companies that usage AI successful astatine slightest 1 concern function.²

Over 7 cardinal referral sessions from AI chatbots and Google Search uncover that:

1. About 80% of transactional postulation goes to ecommerce sites, and the aforesaid players (Amazon, eBay, Walmart) predominate some successful hunt and AI chatbots.
2. AI chatbot referrals amusement higher engagement: They enactment 2.3 minutes longer connected mean (10.4 vs. 8.1 minutes) and presumption much pages (12.4 vs. 11.8 pages connected average).
3. AI chatbots nonstop importantly much postulation to homepages (22% average) compared to Google (10%) but inactive amusement higher engagement.
4. Copilot and Perplexity showed faster maturation successful leafage views (15% and 22%) compared to Google (5%).

The large question is whether companies are consenting to marque an concern successful AI chatbot visibility astatine this constituent with the imaginable reward of establishing themselves arsenic a first-mover but astatine the outgo of little short-term impact.

The aboriginal results are promising, but a batch tin alteration until AI arsenic a “channel” reaches captious mass.

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1 Google I/O 2024: An I/O for a caller generation

2 ChatGPT present has implicit 300 cardinal play users; Source; The authorities of AI successful aboriginal 2024

Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal