In Graphic Detail: The state of AI referral traffic in 2025

One thing became clear this year: AI platforms are changing where, how and how much referral traffic gets sent to publishers’ sites. 

It’s a topic we covered often this year. ChatGPT referral traffic nearly doubled, but is still a very small percentage of publishers’ overall traffic. Google’s AI Overviews, its AI-generated summaries on the search page, reduced click-through rates across more search queries. And as the year comes to a close, publishers are figuring out how to maintain brand visibility in AI search.

The five graphs below illustrate where AI referrals stand today — which platforms are gaining share, sending traffic and driving conversions. Together, they reveal a new audience pipeline forming outside of traditional search and social platforms, giving a preview of next year’s competitive landscape for publishers.

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