Chatbot
Chatbots Having Minimal Impact on Search Engine Traffic
Despite the meteoric rise in popularity of AI chatbots, traditional search engines continue to dominate the web traffic landscape, according to a new study from SEO firm OneLittleWeb. Covering global traffic from April 2023 to March 2025, the study revealed that chatbot sites accounted for just 2.96% of the total visits search engines received, even as chatbot traffic surged nearly 81% year over year.
By comparison, traffic to search engines fell a marginal 0.51%, to 1.86 trillion visits during the same period. This minimal decline underscores the resilience of search platforms like Google and Bing, despite the attention AI-driven chat interfaces have garnered.
Chatbots Are Growing — But Not Replacing Search
Sujan Sarkar, founder of OneLittleWeb, emphasized that the scale still heavily favors search:
“Even with ChatGPT’s massive growth, it still sees approximately 26 times fewer daily visits than Google.”
This highlights that while chatbots are seeing explosive growth in user engagement, they are not yet fundamentally altering entrenched search behaviors. Traditional engines still serve as the dominant gateway to the web for most users.
Experts point to several reasons for this. According to Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group, the study’s multi-year scope may obscure the current momentum of AI tools:
“Much of that data reflects a pre-AI search world. The tools are only now becoming widely usable. That time lag biases results toward underestimating AI’s real impact.”
AI chatbots are becoming more popular, but they haven’t dethroned search engines as the primary tool for finding information online. According to a study by OneLittleWeb, search engines received over 26 times more daily visits than ChatGPT during the latest reporting year. Overall search traffic declined only slightly, while chatbot traffic skyrocketed.
Search engines are evolving, not eroding. Platforms like Google are integrating AI capabilities to stay relevant, with new features such as Search Generative Experience designed to offer more personalized results. Analysts note that the tools serve different user intents: search engines are for broad discovery, while chatbots are for direct tasks and conversations.
Some chatbots are also breaking into new territory, offering users companionship and therapeutic interactions. Still, for commerce, navigation, and research, search remains the default. With the lines between search and chat beginning to blur, the next digital chapter may not be a replacement — but a fusion.
