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I came across a claim that AI search (like ChatGPT or Google’s AI Overviews) drives just 0.4% of website traffic but accounts for 11% of conversions. Sounds wild - low traffic but high payoff? I dug into sources to see if it’s legit.
The Data
Ahrefs dropped a study on June 16, 2025, showing AI search brought 0.5% of their site’s traffic but led to 12.1% of signups. They say AI visitors convert 23x better than regular search users, likely because they’re pre-informed by AI summaries. Semrush backs this up, saying AI search visitors are 4.4x more likely to convert than traditional searchers, based on their June 9, 2025, study. Why? People using AI tools like ChatGPT often get detailed answers upfront, so they’re ready to act when they click through.
It depends
Acording to SALT agency, Across most industries, organic search traffic tends to outperform AI-driven (LLM) traffic in terms of Key Event Conversion Rate (KECVR), meaning users from traditional search are more likely to take valuable actions like buying or signing up. However, AI search shines in a few key sectors, with higher conversion rates than organic search:
Health: 13.24% for AI traffic vs. 12.88% for organic
Careers: 22.31% for AI traffic vs. 16.58% for organic
Catalog Websites: 2.34% for AI traffic vs. 2.13% for organic
What’s your take? Seen AI search boosting conversions on your site?Does AI search really bring ,more conversions?
Sources
ahrefs.com
www.semrush.com
salt.agency
The Data
Ahrefs dropped a study on June 16, 2025, showing AI search brought 0.5% of their site’s traffic but led to 12.1% of signups. They say AI visitors convert 23x better than regular search users, likely because they’re pre-informed by AI summaries. Semrush backs this up, saying AI search visitors are 4.4x more likely to convert than traditional searchers, based on their June 9, 2025, study. Why? People using AI tools like ChatGPT often get detailed answers upfront, so they’re ready to act when they click through.
It depends
Acording to SALT agency, Across most industries, organic search traffic tends to outperform AI-driven (LLM) traffic in terms of Key Event Conversion Rate (KECVR), meaning users from traditional search are more likely to take valuable actions like buying or signing up. However, AI search shines in a few key sectors, with higher conversion rates than organic search:
Health: 13.24% for AI traffic vs. 12.88% for organic
Careers: 22.31% for AI traffic vs. 16.58% for organic
Catalog Websites: 2.34% for AI traffic vs. 2.13% for organic
What’s your take? Seen AI search boosting conversions on your site?Does AI search really bring ,more conversions?
Sources
Does AI Search Traffic Convert Better Than Traditional Search? For Ahrefs, Yes: 0.5% of Visitors Drove 12.1% of Signups
Search engines keep telling us traffic from AI search is better quality, but is it? At least for Ahrefs, the answer is... yes.
ahrefs.com
We Studied the Impact of AI Search on SEO Traffic. Here’s What We Learned.
Our research shows AI search visitors could surpass traditional search visitors in 2028. Plus much more.
www.semrush.com
Do users really show higher intent when they click through from an LLM to a website? - SALT.agency®
Over the past couple of months, I’ve seen a number of sources claim that traffic from large language models (LLMs) and AI platforms shows a “higher” intent
salt.agency