AI statistics
AI Search Statistics 2026
This page collects current figures on AI search: how many people see Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, how ChatGPT and other assistants are used, what happens to clicks when an AI answer appears, and how much traffic AI tools send to websites. Every figure links to the company, survey or study that published it. Most data cover 2025 and 2026.
By the Mojolin research desk · Updated November 2, 2026 · Next review by December 17, 2026
53 of 53 source quotes re-checked against the original pages on November 3, 2026
- Figures
- 53
- Primary sources
- 20
- Official or research
- 28%
- Charts
- 5
Key takeaways
- 2.5 billionGoogle AI Overviews had more than 2.5 billion monthly active users as of May 2026.Google
- 1 billionGoogle AI Mode passed 1 billion monthly active users roughly a year after launch.Google
- 8%Google users who saw an AI summary clicked a traditional search result in 8% of visits, against 15% for users who did not see one.Pew Research Center
- 58%An AI Overview correlated with a 58% lower click-through rate for the top-ranking page in December 2025, up from 34.5% in Ahrefs’ earlier study.Ahrefs
- 700 millionChatGPT had more than 700 million weekly active users by the end of July 2025, nearly 10% of the world’s adults.OpenAI
- 1.13 billionAI platforms generated over 1.13 billion referral visits in June 2025, compared with 191 billion referrals from Google search.Similarweb
Research overview
What the numbers say
AI search is already a mass-market product, mostly because Google built it into the results page. AI Overviews had more than 2.5 billion monthly users by May 2026 and AI Mode passed 1 billion. Alphabet reported 12% growth in Search and other revenue in the third quarter of 2026, with query growth at a five-year high, so Google is not losing search volume to its own AI answers. Outside Google, ChatGPT reached more than 700 million weekly users and 18 billion messages a week by July 2025.
For publishers, the clearest finding is the drop in clicks. Pew found that people clicked a regular result in 8% of visits when an AI summary appeared, against 15% when it did not, and clicked a link inside the summary only 1% of the time. Ahrefs measured a 58% lower click-through rate for the top-ranking page when an AI Overview was present, and Seer Interactive saw organic CTR on AI Overview queries fall 61% between mid-2024 and late 2025. The studies use different data, but they all point the same way.
AI tools do not yet make up for those lost clicks. Similarweb counted 1.13 billion AI referral visits in June 2025 against 191 billion from Google search, and both Ahrefs and BrightEdge put AI at roughly 1% or less of referral traffic. The growth rates are large, with AI referrals up 357% in a year and Adobe recording a 693% rise in AI traffic to retailers over the 2025 holidays, and the visitors convert well. Semrush values an AI search visitor at 4.4 times an organic one.
Visibility inside AI answers follows different rules on each platform. Ahrefs found 76% of AI Overview citations come from pages already in Google’s top 10, while Semrush found ChatGPT search mostly cites pages ranking 21st or lower. Use of AI assistants is also spreading beyond ChatGPT: about half of US adults now use a chatbot, Gemini is the second most used, and ChatGPT’s share of AI assistant web traffic fell from about 76% to 53% in a year. Searching for information is the top reason Americans use chatbots, but news remains a weak spot, with 75% never getting news from them.
01
Google AI Overviews and AI Mode reach
- 12.5 billion2.5 billion
Google AI Overviews had more than 2.5 billion monthly active users as of May 2026.
IndustryGoogleGoogle I/O 2026: Sundar Pichai's opening keynoteMay 2026
- 21 billion1 billion
Google AI Mode passed 1 billion monthly active users roughly a year after launch.
IndustryGoogleGoogle I/O 2026: Sundar Pichai's opening keynoteMay 2026
- 3Three timesThree times
Queries typed into Google AI Mode are on average three times longer than traditional searches.
IndustryGoogleQ3 2026 earnings call: Remarks from our CEOOct 2026
- 4BillionsBillions
Google says it sends billions of clicks to websites every week through the AI features in Search.
IndustryGoogleQ2 2026 earnings call: Remarks from our CEOJul 2026
- 5One billionOne billion
The Gemini app reached one billion users in the third quarter of 2026, which Google calls the fastest-growing product in its history.
IndustryGoogleQ3 2026 earnings call: Remarks from our CEOOct 2026
- 612%12%
Google Search and other revenue grew 12% year over year in the third quarter of 2026, with query growth at a five-year high.
OfficialAlphabet Inc.Alphabet Announces Third Quarter 2026 Results (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1)Oct 2026
- 7$63,350 million$63,350 million
Google Search and other revenue reached $63.35 billion in the third quarter of 2026, up from $56.57 billion a year earlier.
OfficialAlphabet Inc.Alphabet Announces Third Quarter 2026 Results (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1)Oct 2026
What these figures suggest
Google has put AI answers in front of more people than any other company, simply by adding them to the search page people already use. AI Overviews reached more than 2.5 billion monthly users and AI Mode passed 1 billion within about a year. Google says these features add to search usage rather than replace it, and its search revenue is still growing at double-digit rates.
02
How often AI Overviews appear
Chart
Share of keywords triggering a Google AI Overview, 2025
Semrush keyword dataset, US Google results, 2025.
Source Semrush, Semrush AI Overviews Study
View data table
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| January | 6.49% |
| July | 24.6% |
| November | 15.7% |
- 815.69%15.69%
AI Overviews appeared for 15.69% of keywords in Semrush data in November 2025, up from 6.49% in January.
IndustrySemrushSemrush AI Overviews StudyDec 2025
- 957.1%57.1%
The informational share of queries that trigger an AI Overview fell from 91.3% in January 2025 to 57.1% in October.
IndustrySemrushSemrush AI Overviews StudyDec 2025
- 1010.33%10.33%
Navigational searches that trigger an AI Overview rose from 0.74% in January 2025 to 10.33% in October.
IndustrySemrushSemrush AI Overviews StudyDec 2025
- 1125%25%
Google Ads appeared at the bottom of 25% of result pages with an AI Overview in late 2025, compared with under 1% in March.
IndustrySemrushSemrush AI Overviews StudyDec 2025
- 1218%18%
In Pew’s browsing panel, 18% of all Google searches in March 2025 produced an AI summary.
ResearchPew Research CenterGoogle users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the resultsJul 2025
- 1360%60%
60% of Google queries that began with question words such as who, what, when or why returned an AI summary.
ResearchPew Research CenterGoogle users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the resultsJul 2025
- 1458%58%
58% of US adults in Pew’s panel ran at least one Google search in March 2025 that produced an AI summary.
ResearchPew Research CenterGoogle users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the resultsJul 2025
- 1543%43%
Similarweb puts the US AI Overview appearance rate above 43% of searches in 2026.
IndustrySimilarwebAI Search Stats 2026: Market Share, Referral, and Citation DataJul 2026
What these figures suggest
Estimates of how often AI Overviews show up range from about 16% to over 40% of searches, because each study uses a different keyword set and country. The trend is clearer than the level: AI Overviews have spread from simple informational questions into commercial, transactional and even navigational searches. Ads now appear on a quarter of the result pages that carry an AI Overview, up from almost none in early 2025.
03
Click-through rates and zero-click searches
Chart
Organic click-through rate by AI Overview status, Q3 2025
Seer Interactive client query data, monthly averages for the third quarter of 2025. Pages without an AI Overview had an organic CTR of 1.45%.
Source Seer Interactive, AIO Impact on Google CTR: September 2025 Update
View data table
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| AI Overview, brand not cited | 0.52% |
| AI Overview, brand cited | 0.7% |
| No AI Overview | 1.45% |
- 168%8%
Google users who saw an AI summary clicked a traditional search result in 8% of visits, against 15% for users who did not see one.
ResearchPew Research CenterGoogle users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the resultsJul 2025
- 171%1%
Users clicked a link inside the AI summary itself in just 1% of visits to pages that showed one.
ResearchPew Research CenterGoogle users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the resultsJul 2025
- 1826%26%
Users ended their browsing session on 26% of Google result pages with an AI summary, compared with 16% of pages without one.
ResearchPew Research CenterGoogle users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the resultsJul 2025
- 1958%58%
An AI Overview correlated with a 58% lower click-through rate for the top-ranking page in December 2025, up from 34.5% in Ahrefs’ earlier study.
IndustryAhrefsUpdate: AI Overviews Reduce Clicks by 58%Feb 2026
- 2061%61%
Organic CTR on queries with AI Overviews fell 61%, from 1.76% in June 2024 to 0.61% in September 2025.
IndustrySeer InteractiveAIO Impact on Google CTR: September 2025 UpdateNov 2025
- 2135%35%
Brands cited in an AI Overview earned 35% more organic clicks and 91% more paid clicks than brands that were not cited.
IndustrySeer InteractiveAIO Impact on Google CTR: September 2025 UpdateNov 2025
- 2258.5%58.5%
58.5% of US Google searches in 2024 ended without a click, along with 59.7% in the European Union.
IndustrySparkToro2024 Zero-Click Search StudyJul 2024
- 23360360
For every 1,000 US Google searches in 2024, only 360 clicks reached the open web outside Google-owned and ad-paying sites.
IndustrySparkToro2024 Zero-Click Search StudyJul 2024
What these figures suggest
Every independent study finds fewer clicks when an AI answer sits at the top of the page. Ahrefs measured a 58% lower click-through rate for the top result, Seer saw organic CTR on AI Overview queries fall 61%, and Pew found people clicked a result in 8% of visits with an AI summary versus 15% without. Being cited inside the summary softens the loss but does not remove it.
04
Which sources AI answers cite
- 2476.10%76.10%
76.10% of pages cited in Google AI Overviews also rank in the top 10 organic results for the query.
IndustryAhrefs76% of AI Overview Citations Pull From the Top 10Jul 2025
- 2514.40%14.40%
14.40% of pages cited in AI Overviews do not rank in Google’s top 100 results at all.
IndustryAhrefs76% of AI Overview Citations Pull From the Top 10Jul 2025
- 2688%88%
88% of Google AI summaries cited three or more sources, and only 1% cited a single source.
ResearchPew Research CenterGoogle users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the resultsJul 2025
- 2715%15%
Wikipedia, YouTube and Reddit together made up 15% of the sources linked in Google AI summaries.
ResearchPew Research CenterGoogle users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the resultsJul 2025
- 2890%90%
Pages cited by ChatGPT search rank in organic positions 21 or lower for related queries almost 90% of the time.
IndustrySemrushWe Studied the Impact of AI Search on SEO Traffic. Here's What We Learned.Jul 2025
- 2950%50%
Half of the links in ChatGPT 4o responses point to business or service websites.
IndustrySemrushWe Studied the Impact of AI Search on SEO Traffic. Here's What We Learned.Jul 2025
- 3034%34%
34% of AI citations come from sources brands can influence through PR, and nearly 10% come from social platforms.
IndustryBrightEdgeBrightEdge Data Finds AI Accounts for Less Than 1% Search, Organic Traffic Continues to DominateSep 2025
- 316.8%6.8%
Citations appeared in about 6.8% of US ChatGPT prompts by May 2026, up from 1.6% in June 2025.
IndustrySimilarwebAI Search Stats 2026: Market Share, Referral, and Citation DataJul 2026
What these figures suggest
Google’s AI Overviews mostly cite pages that already rank well, so classic SEO still drives visibility there. ChatGPT behaves differently and often cites pages well outside the top 20 results. Citations in ChatGPT answers are still rare but quadrupled in a year, and a large share point to sources such as press coverage and social platforms that brands can influence.
05
ChatGPT and AI assistant usage
Chart
Share of ChatGPT usage by conversation topic, July 2025
Share of consumer ChatGPT messages in a representative sample, classified by OpenAI researchers.
Source OpenAI, How People Use ChatGPT (Chatterji, Cunningham, Deming et al.)
View data table
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| Practical Guidance | 29% |
| Writing | 24% |
| Seeking Information | 24% |
| Technical Help | 5% |
- 32700 million700 million
ChatGPT had more than 700 million weekly active users by the end of July 2025, nearly 10% of the world’s adults.
IndustryOpenAIHow People Use ChatGPT (Chatterji, Cunningham, Deming et al.)Sep 2025
- 3318 billion18 billion
Users were sending 18 billion messages a week to ChatGPT by July 2025.
IndustryOpenAIHow People Use ChatGPT (Chatterji, Cunningham, Deming et al.)Sep 2025
- 3424%24%
Seeking Information grew from 14% to 24% of all ChatGPT usage between July 2024 and July 2025.
IndustryOpenAIHow People Use ChatGPT (Chatterji, Cunningham, Deming et al.)Sep 2025
- 3549%49%
49% of ChatGPT messages are Asking, meaning the user wants information or advice, while 40% are Doing and 11% are Expressing.
IndustryOpenAIHow People Use ChatGPT (Chatterji, Cunningham, Deming et al.)Sep 2025
- 3670%70%
Non-work messages grew from 53% to more than 70% of all ChatGPT usage.
IndustryOpenAIHow People Use ChatGPT (Chatterji, Cunningham, Deming et al.)Sep 2025
- 3753%53%
ChatGPT’s share of worldwide generative AI web traffic fell from roughly 76% to around 53% between mid-2025 and May 2026.
IndustrySimilarwebAI Search Stats 2026: Market Share, Referral, and Citation DataJul 2026
- 389.5 billion9.5 billion
Generative AI platforms averaged 9.5 billion web visits a month worldwide between June 2025 and May 2026, up 70% year over year.
IndustrySimilarwebAI Search Stats 2026: Market Share, Referral, and Citation DataJul 2026
What these figures suggest
ChatGPT reached roughly 10% of the world’s adults within three years, and information seeking is its fastest-growing use. Seeking Information grew from 14% to 24% of messages in a year, which OpenAI’s own researchers describe as a close substitute for web search. Competition is rising, though: Similarweb data show ChatGPT’s share of AI assistant web traffic falling from about 76% to 53% as Gemini and Claude grew.
06
How Americans use AI chatbots for search and news
Chart
Share of US adults who say they use each AI chatbot, 2026
Pew Research Center survey of US adults conducted February 17 to 23, 2026.
Source Pew Research Center, Americans and AI 2026: Chatbots, Smart Devices and Views on Impact
View data table
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| ChatGPT | 44% |
| Gemini | 24% |
| Copilot | 17% |
| Meta AI | 14% |
| Grok | 8% |
| Claude | 6% |
- 3949%49%
49% of US adults said they use AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, Gemini or Copilot in February 2026, up from 33% in 2024.
ResearchPew Research CenterAmericans and AI 2026: Chatbots, Smart Devices and Views on ImpactJun 2026
- 4044%44%
44% of US adults said they use ChatGPT in 2026, up from 34% a year earlier.
ResearchPew Research CenterAmericans and AI 2026: Chatbots, Smart Devices and Views on ImpactJun 2026
- 4142%42%
42% of US adults use AI chatbots to search for information, the most common use Pew measured.
ResearchPew Research CenterAmericans and AI 2026: Chatbots, Smart Devices and Views on ImpactJun 2026
- 4224%24%
24% of US adults said they use Google Gemini and 17% said they use Microsoft Copilot in 2026.
ResearchPew Research CenterAmericans and AI 2026: Chatbots, Smart Devices and Views on ImpactJun 2026
- 4375%75%
75% of US adults say they never get news from AI chatbots, and fewer than 1% prefer chatbots to other news sources.
ResearchPew Research CenterRelatively few Americans are getting news from AI chatbots like ChatGPTOct 2025
What these figures suggest
About half of US adults now use an AI chatbot, and searching for information is the most common reason. ChatGPT is far ahead of Gemini, Copilot and Meta AI in reported use. News is the exception: three in four Americans never get news from chatbots, and fewer than 1% prefer them to other news sources.
07
Referral traffic from AI tools
Chart
Growth in generative AI traffic to US websites by industry, 2025 holiday season
Adobe Analytics, year-over-year change in visits from generative AI sources during the 2025 holiday season.
Source Adobe, AI-driven traffic surges across industries, retail sees biggest gains
View data table
| Category | Value |
|---|---|
| Retail | 693% |
| Travel | 539% |
| Financial services | 266% |
| Tech and software | 120% |
| Media and entertainment | 92% |
- 441.13 billion1.13 billion
AI platforms generated over 1.13 billion referral visits in June 2025, compared with 191 billion referrals from Google search.
IndustrySimilarwebAI Referral Traffic Winners By IndustryJul 2025
- 45357%357%
AI referrals to the top 1,000 websites rose 357% between June 2024 and June 2025.
IndustrySimilarwebAI Referral Traffic Winners By IndustryJul 2025
- 4680%80%
ChatGPT accounted for more than 80% of AI referrals to the top 1,000 websites in June 2025.
IndustrySimilarwebAI Referral Traffic Winners By IndustryJul 2025
- 470.1%0.1%
AI tools sent just 0.1% of total referral traffic across about 35,000 websites studied by Ahrefs.
IndustryAhrefsAI Makes Up 0.1% of Traffic, but Clicks Aren't EverythingMar 2025
- 48345x345x
Google sends 345 times more traffic to websites than ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini combined.
IndustryAhrefsAI Makes Up 0.1% of Traffic, but Clicks Aren't EverythingMar 2025
- 491%1%
AI search accounted for less than 1% of referral traffic in BrightEdge data, with organic search still the main driver.
IndustryBrightEdgeBrightEdge Data Finds AI Accounts for Less Than 1% Search, Organic Traffic Continues to DominateSep 2025
- 50693.4%693.4%
Traffic from generative AI tools to US retail sites rose 693.4% during the 2025 holiday season compared with 2024.
IndustryAdobeAI-driven traffic surges across industries, retail sees biggest gainsJan 2026
- 5131%31%
AI referrals to US retail sites converted 31% better than other traffic sources during the 2025 holiday season.
IndustryAdobeAI-driven traffic surges across industries, retail sees biggest gainsJan 2026
- 5238%38%
38% of US consumers surveyed by Adobe have used generative AI for online shopping, and 52% planned to this year.
IndustryAdobeGenerative AI-powered shopping rises with traffic to U.S. retail sitesAug 2025
- 534.4x4.4x
The average visitor from AI search is worth 4.4 times the average traditional organic search visitor, based on conversion rates.
IndustrySemrushWe Studied the Impact of AI Search on SEO Traffic. Here's What We Learned.Jul 2025
What these figures suggest
AI assistants send fast-growing but still small amounts of traffic. Similarweb counted 1.13 billion AI referral visits in June 2025 against 191 billion from Google search, and Ahrefs and BrightEdge both put AI at around 1% or less of referral traffic. The case for paying attention is quality: Adobe found AI referrals converting 31% better than other traffic during the 2025 holidays.
About these figures
Figures come from Google and Alphabet filings and executive remarks, OpenAI research, Pew Research Center surveys and browsing panels, and original studies by Ahrefs, Semrush, Seer Interactive, SparkToro, Similarweb, BrightEdge and Adobe. Every quote was checked against the publisher’s page. Company user counts are self-reported, and SEO tool studies rely on their own keyword sets, client data or clickstream panels, so the share of searches with AI Overviews and the size of click losses vary between studies. Compare direction and rough scale rather than exact levels.
Every figure was taken from the publisher's own page, together with the sentence it appears in, and that sentence is re-checked against the source before each update. Where a survey covers a specific group, the figure says so. Read the methodology. Spotted a problem? Email editorial@mojolin.com.
Frequently asked questions
+How many people use Google AI Overviews?
Google said in May 2026 that AI Overviews had more than 2.5 billion monthly active users and that AI Mode had passed 1 billion monthly active users about a year after launch.
+Do AI Overviews reduce clicks to websites?
Yes, according to every major study. Pew found users clicked a traditional result in 8% of visits with an AI summary versus 15% without, and Ahrefs measured a 58% lower click-through rate for the top-ranking page when an AI Overview appeared.
+How many people use ChatGPT?
OpenAI researchers reported more than 700 million weekly active users and 18 billion weekly messages by July 2025. In a February 2026 Pew survey, 44% of US adults said they use ChatGPT.
+How much traffic do AI tools send to websites?
Still very little compared with Google. Similarweb counted 1.13 billion AI referral visits in June 2025 versus 191 billion from Google search, and Ahrefs found AI made up about 0.1% of referral traffic across 35,000 sites.
+How often do AI Overviews appear in Google results?
It depends on the study. Pew found AI summaries on 18% of searches in March 2025, Semrush measured 15.69% of keywords in November 2025, and Similarweb puts the US appearance rate above 43% in 2026.
+Does being cited in an AI Overview help?
Seer Interactive found that brands cited in an AI Overview earned 35% more organic clicks and 91% more paid clicks than brands that were not cited, although click-through rates fell in both cases.
Sources
20 primary sources, by publisher
- 01Industry Adobe. AI-driven traffic surges across industries, retail sees biggest gains (Jan 2026)
- 02Industry Adobe. Generative AI-powered shopping rises with traffic to U.S. retail sites (Aug 2025)
- 03Industry Ahrefs. 76% of AI Overview Citations Pull From the Top 10 (Jul 2025)
- 04Industry Ahrefs. AI Makes Up 0.1% of Traffic, but Clicks Aren't Everything (Mar 2025)
- 05Industry Ahrefs. Update: AI Overviews Reduce Clicks by 58% (Feb 2026)
- 06Official Alphabet Inc.. Alphabet Announces Third Quarter 2026 Results (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1) (Oct 2026)
- 07Industry BrightEdge. BrightEdge Data Finds AI Accounts for Less Than 1% Search, Organic Traffic Continues to Dominate (Sep 2025)
- 08Industry Google. Google I/O 2026: Sundar Pichai's opening keynote (May 2026)
- 09Industry Google. Q2 2026 earnings call: Remarks from our CEO (Jul 2026)
- 10Industry Google. Q3 2026 earnings call: Remarks from our CEO (Oct 2026)
- 11Industry OpenAI. How People Use ChatGPT (Chatterji, Cunningham, Deming et al.) (Sep 2025)
- 12Research Pew Research Center. Americans and AI 2026: Chatbots, Smart Devices and Views on Impact (Jun 2026)
- 13Research Pew Research Center. Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results (Jul 2025)
- 14Research Pew Research Center. Relatively few Americans are getting news from AI chatbots like ChatGPT (Oct 2025)
- 15Industry Seer Interactive. AIO Impact on Google CTR: September 2025 Update (Nov 2025)
- 16Industry Semrush. Semrush AI Overviews Study (Dec 2025)
- 17Industry Semrush. We Studied the Impact of AI Search on SEO Traffic. Here's What We Learned. (Jul 2025)
- 18Industry Similarweb. AI Referral Traffic Winners By Industry (Jul 2025)
- 19Industry Similarweb. AI Search Stats 2026: Market Share, Referral, and Citation Data (Jul 2026)
- 20Industry SparkToro. 2024 Zero-Click Search Study (Jul 2024)