A new study by Previsible reveals significant changes in search behavior, with AI language models (LLMs) gaining traction as referral traffic sources.
The analysis of over 30 websites shows Perplexity and ChatGPT emerging as alternatives to traditional search engines.
David Bell, co-founder of Previsible, believes this indicates Google’s growth is at a standstill:
“Google is basically plateaued and has begun to have its search dominance degraded. The reason being is that people are starting to use ChatGPT, Claude, Co-pilot, Bing, all these different experiences to better solve their search intent.”
Here are some key points from the study. While it doesn’t provide a complete picture, it offers the best information available right now.
Key Findings
Referral Traffic
The study found that Perplexity and ChatGPT command approximately 37% of LLM referral traffic, while CoPilot and Gemini follow with 12-14% each.
Notably, the finance sector dominates LLM-driven traffic, accounting for 84% of all referrals analyzed.
In a video walkthrough of the study, Bell explains:
“Finance, in particular, has an outsized increase in traffic from language models. This could be due to Perplexity and other language models having integrations or relationships with different platforms that allow more direct access to users.”
Content Distribution
The study reveals that blog posts receive 77.35% of LLM referral traffic, followed by:
Homepage visits (9.04%)
News content (8.23%)
Guides (2.35%)
“Informational content still matters in the age of AI search,” Bell noted. However, he advises focusing on conversion rate optimization (CRO) and user journey, as product pages do not surface prominently in language models.
According to the study, product pages receive less than 0.5% of LLM referral traffic, suggesting challenges for ecommerce strategies.
Looking Ahead
LLM referral traffic currently represents 0.25% of total traffic for the most impacted sectors, though the study notes significant growth rates.
In the last 90 days of the study, Previsible found: