Are AI Visitors Really Undermining Your Traffic Quality?
Google has stated that clicks on AI search results lead to better website traffic. However, a new study by Ahrefs suggests a different outcome for other major AI platforms. These include ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Copilot.
The big picture. AI visitors engage in a whole different ballgame compared to search visitors. Let’s be honest—this doesn’t necessarily scream better quality. Check out these eye-opening revelations from Ahrefs regarding the stark contrasts between visits from AI and search platforms:
- Higher bounce rate: AI users were 4.1% more to bounce than search visitors, and 5.4% more than average users.
- Fewer pages per visit: AI users browse fewer pages – 4 on average, compared to 5.2 from search and 5.5 for overall visitors.
- Shorter sessions: AI visitors view fewer pages per minute, suggesting they’re less inclined to explore a site.
- Slightly more time on site): AI users spent 86 seconds on average, 8 seconds more than search or average traffic.
Why we care. Google insists that citations in AI search will help brands and publishers. They believe we will get higher-quality clicks. This will be in exchange for all the traditional organic search traffic we’re losing. But it’s been hard to prove or disprove this. Many brands and publishers feel like it’s nearly impossible to trust Google at their word these days.
What about conversions? Ahrefs mentioned seeing higher conversion rates (~12%) from AI vs. traditional search.
Explore further. LLM Traffic vs Organic: A Study on Click Quality
Bottom line. AI traffic isn’t clearly better; it’s different. It may bring more decisive users, but they engage less, bounce more, and visit fewer pages.
About the study. Ahrefs analyzed traffic to 81,947 websites between May and June. They compared behavior metrics by channel. These metrics included pages per visit, session duration, and bounce rate.
The study. AI Visitors Visit Fewer Pages and Bounce More Often Than Traditional Search Visitors
