AI referral site visitors accounts for simply over 1% of all web site visits throughout 10 main industries, in response to a brand new Conductor AI search benchmark report.

AI referral site visitors. 1.08% of all internet site visitors got here from AI referrals. Digging deeper:

  • ChatGPT drove 87.4% of all AI referrals throughout the dataset.
  • IT (2.8%) and Client Staples (1.9%) led all industries.
  • Communication Providers (0.25%) and Utilities (0.35%) noticed the bottom shares.
  • AI referrals elevated by ~1% month over month throughout all industries.

AI reply engine market share. ChatGPT overwhelmingly dominated, adopted by Perplexity.

  • There have been some attention-grabbing variations by business (e.g., Gemini drove 21% of AI site visitors in Utilities, whereas Copilot drove 5% in Financials).

AI vs. conventional site visitors. Natural search continued to dominate web site visits throughout all industries. Well being Care (42.4%), Communication Providers (39.6%), and Industrials (33.8%) had the very best natural share.

Why we care. Sure, natural search nonetheless drives probably the most site visitors. However AI is changing into a efficiency channel. AI solutions are shaping which manufacturers folks see and belief. Should you’re invisible in AI solutions, you’re invisible to your audience/client. GEO/AEO/AI SEO may have a lot of overlap with SEO (for now), however ranking in Google doesn’t guarantee visibility in AI platforms like ChatGPT.

The manufacturers AI cites most. Throughout 17 million AI solutions and 100 million citations, AI highlighted completely different manufacturers and domains than Google:

  • Client industries: Retail giants dominated for product and purchasing queries (Amazon, Walmart, Goal, Finest Purchase, Chewy).
  • YMYL classes (Well being, Finance): AI cited authoritative sources (Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, NerdWallet, Bankrate, Vanguard).
  • Tech & B2B: Business giants gained on knowledgeable {and professional} queries (Google, Microsoft, Adobe, Deloitte, McKinsey, SAP).
  • Actual Property & Utilities: AI cited main authorities (Hines, Public Storage, CBRE, New Fortress Vitality, GE Vernova).

AI Overviews benchmarks. Conductor additionally analyzed 21.9 million Google searches, and located:

  • 25.11% triggered an AI Overview (5.5 million queries).
  • Well being Care (48.7%), Financials (25.7%), and Utilities (25.4%) had probably the most AI Overviews.
  • Actual Property (4.4%) and Client Staples (6.8%) had the fewest AI Overviews.
  • The 5 web page sorts most frequently cited by AI Overviews had been blogs, movies, articles, information, and product pages.

Concerning the information. Conductor analyzed 13,770 domains throughout 10 GICS-aligned industries, greater than 3.3 billion classes, 3.5 million AI prompts, 17 million AI responses and 100 million citations between Might and September 2025 within the U.S. It additionally studied 21.9 million Google searches over 4 weeks (Sept. 15–Oct. 12, 2025) to measure how usually AI Overviews seem and which web page sorts get cited.

The report. The 2026 AEO / GEO Benchmarks Report

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Danny GoodwinDanny Goodwin

Danny Goodwin is Editorial Director of Search Engine Land & Search Marketing Expo – SMX. He joined Search Engine Land in 2022 as Senior Editor. Along with reporting on the newest search advertising information, he manages Search Engine Land’s SME (Topic Matter Knowledgeable) program. He additionally helps program U.S. SMX occasions.

Goodwin has been enhancing and writing in regards to the newest developments and tendencies in search and digital advertising since 2007. He beforehand was Government Editor of Search Engine Journal (from 2017 to 2022), managing editor of Momentology (from 2014-2016) and editor of Search Engine Watch (from 2007 to 2014). He has spoken at many main search conferences and digital occasions, and has been sourced for his experience by a variety of publications and podcasts.


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