Most outbound referrals are going to mass media, publishing, and online services, Semrush analysis finds.
ChatGPT has exploded in popularity since it was released, and it has changed the way that many people use the internet and search.
Semrush explored 17 months of clickstream data for a clearer picture of how ChatGPT usage is reshaping referral traffic growth, and where it is directed to.
Outbound referral traffic from ChatGPT to the rest of the web grew 206% in 2025, with 30% of all referral traffic from the chatbot going to just 10 domains – of which more than 20% was going to Google.
The search feature on ChatGPT is activated in just 34.5% of queries, which is down 46% from 2024. This suggests the chatbot is relying more consistently on training data instead of trawling the web.
Queries are more consistently triggered on shorter studies, with training data used more frequently for longer queries – although the gap is narrowing.
If this continues, it could have devastating effects on impressions and metrics for both advertisers and publishers. AI has already changed the landscape for SEO and click-through rates, with users increasingly moving towards a ‘zero-click’ journey.
For years, publishers and online organisations have relied on SEO strategies for Google traffic, and have used click-through rates to measure their effectiveness. But, in a world where ChatGPT and AI overviews are removing the need to actually visit a site to find out information or purchase a product, check in points for marketers have been removed, as have advertising opportunities.
That being said, Google’s share of total ChatGPT referral traffic is rising, climbing from around 14% in 2024 to over 21% in 2026. The next nine domains combined with Google make up 30% of all ChatGPT referrals, with YouTube, Gitbhub, Amazon, and Facebook following close behind.
