Chatbots Having Minimal Impact on Search Engine Traffic: Study By John P. Mello Jr. May 6, 2025 5:00 AM PT ADVERTISEMENT Secure Mobile Payments: Protect Wallets and SoftPOS From Growing Cyber Threats Learn how attackers exploit digital wallets and SoftPOS -- and how you can defend against them. Join our technical webinar on May 13. Reserve your spot today! AI chatbots have barely made a dent in traffic to popular search engine sites over the past two years, according to a study by SEO and backlink services firm OneLittleWeb. The study analyzed global web traffic from April 2023 to March 2025. In the most recent year, chatbot sites accounted for just 2.96% of the visits received by search engines. Between April 2024 and March 2025, search engine traffic declined only slightly — down 0.51% to 1.86 trillion visits — while chatbots saw an 80.92% year-over-year spike in traffic. The modest drop in search traffic suggests that, despite explosive growth, AI chatbots are not yet displacing traditional search behavior in any meaningful way. “Even with ChatGPT’s massive growth, it still sees approximately 26 times fewer daily visits than Google,” wrote the author of the study, Sujan Sarkar, founder of OneLittleWeb. “While AI chatbots are growing fast, search engines continue to hold a dominant position in daily user engagement,” he added. Sarkar also noted that search engines like Google and Microsoft Bing are leveraging AI features like AI Overviews and Search Generative Experience (SGE) to increase traffic in early 2025. “Despite a temporary dip, these integrations have helped revive interest and usage,” he wrote. Why Search Still Outpaces AI Chatbots The length of the study period could be distorting the current chatbot versus search engine picture, contended Rob Enderle, president and principal analyst of the Enderle Group, an advisory services firm in Bend, Ore. “Using AI for search is relatively new, and people haven’t learned how to properly prompt yet, so a survey looking back over two years of data would reflect a world mostly pre-AI search and one where the tools were just starting to be used at the end of the survey period, biasing the results toward poor AI use,” he told TechNewsWorld. “With emerging technologies, surveys need to be more real-time, as the old data won’t reflect current reality,” he said. Search engines also have advantages for drumming up traffic. “Search engines benefit from decades of user trust and deeply ingrained habits,” explained Mark N. Vena, president and principal analyst at SmartTech Research in Las Vegas. “They offer a fast, comprehensive way to find information, products, news, and more — across virtually every category,” he told TechNewsWorld. “Their massive web indexing and ad-supported business models fund constant innovation.” He added, “Integration with browsers and mobile devices as the default search method reinforces daily usage.” Evolution, Not Dissolution The study also maintained that search engines are evolving rather than fading, integrating AI tools to offer a richer, more personalized user experience. At the same time, chatbots are carving out their niche in tasks requiring direct, customized responses. “Search engines are not disappearing; they’re adapting by embedding AI to improve response quality and personalization,” Vena said. “Meanwhile, chatbots thrive in scenarios requiring synthesis, dialogue, or creative output.” “The tools serve different intents,” he continued. “Search is broad and navigational. Chatbots are task-focused and conversational. Their coexistence reflects a diversification of how users seek and process information.” Enderle, though, argued that AI providers are struggling to carve out their niche. “This will change over time, but I’d have thought it would happen sooner than it is happening. I blame the lack of promotion as the cause for the slow pickup,” he said. “There’s some convergence of AI and search happening, as Google integrates more AI and ChatGPT emphasizes and improves search,” added Greg Sterling, co-founder of Near Media, a market research firm in San Francisco. “Search engines aren’t dying, but the old user experience is, with implications for publishers and advertisers,” he told TechNewsWorld. Chatbots Expand Into Companionship, Therapy Alex Ambrose, a policy analyst with the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a research and public policy organization in Washington, D.C., agreed that chatbots are attracting users with personalized experiences. “Users are increasingly turning to chatbots not just for tasks like rebooking flights or automating workflows but for companionship and therapeutic applications,” she told TechNewsWorld. “These chatbots — or AI companions — are taking the technology a step further by providing users with extremely personal experiences in the shape of providing emotional support and digging into deeper personal questions,” she said. The study also ranked chatbots by visits. ChatGPT was at the top of the list, followed by DeepSeek, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Microsoft Copilot, Blackbox AI, Grok, Monica, and Meta AI. It noted the fastest-growing chatbots were DeepSeek and Grok. DeepSeek experienced a staggering surge in traffic, with total visits jumping from 1.5 million to 1.7 billion during the two-year study period, an increase of 113,007%. Grok’s growth was 353,787%, increasing from 61,200 visits to 216.5 million. “Grok and DeepSeek are growing fast due to strong backing and strategic positioning,” Vena said. “Grok leverages its integration into X — formerly Twitter — giving it immediate reach and visibility,” he explained. “DeepSeek appeals to users looking for more technical, research-oriented AI capabilities. Both benefit from user curiosity about alternatives to ChatGPT and differentiated conversational experiences.” Chatbots vs. Search: The Battle for User Intent Vena contended that the real contest isn’t just about traffic. “It’s about controlling the user’s starting point when they have a question or goal,” he said. “Chatbots may win in productivity or assistance, while search engines still dominate for broad exploration and commerce. Integration and default positioning will shape the future more than features alone. The next wave may involve blended experiences that merge the strengths of both.” Sterling agreed that the simple traffic analysis approach doesn’t tell the whole story about how usage is changing. “As people become more sophisticated about AI, they’re being more discriminating about how to use it versus search,” he noted. “The idea that people either use AI or search is false. Both are being used, but the ways that AI and search are used are evolving.” “More and more research will migrate to AI unless Google co-opts that,” he continued. “Google will probably hold on to most navigational, shopping, and commercial queries.” “Having said that,” Sterling added, “the market is now moving very fast and evolving quickly. Any prediction made today may turn out to be wrong tomorrow.” Enderle pointed out that the market is at the very beginning of this trend. “I expect by 2030 kids will look back at non-AI search engines like they now look back at dial phones, asking, how anyone lived in these dark times,” he predicted. John P. Mello Jr. has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2003. His areas of focus include cybersecurity, IT issues, privacy, e-commerce, social media, artificial intelligence, big data and consumer electronics. He has written and edited for numerous publications, including the Boston Business Journal, the Boston Phoenix, Megapixel.Net and Government Security News. Email John. Leave a Comment Click here to cancel reply. Please sign in to post or reply to a comment. New users create a free account. Related Stories More by John P. Mello Jr. view all More in Search Tech