Everyone's Talking About AI Search. Hardly anyone's getting traffic from it..... Yet
Ahrefs has just published fresh benchmark data covering 115,254 websites from June 2025 to September 2026. I've spent the morning digging into it, and it tells a far more interesting story than the headlines.
In September, AI assistants drove 0.43% of tracked website traffic. Google alone drove 23.96%. That's roughly 57 times more. So is AI search overhyped? No. But if you're a hospitality supplier, I think you're looking at it the wrong way.
The numbers
Here's where website traffic actually came from in September.
AI is the smallest channel on the board. But look at what's happening inside it.
ChatGPT accounts for around 80% of all AI referrals. And it's growing, up 14.1% in a single month and 5.5% a month on average since June 2025. Google is moving the other way. Visits fell 2.7% in September, and have dropped 3% a month on average across the same period.
The mistake I see tech suppliers making
The common reaction to AI search is panic. New tactics, new acronyms, new tools to "optimise for AI". Here's the thing. AI assistants don't invent their recommendations out of thin air. They pull from what's already been published about you: your case studies, your reviews, the trade press, what clients and partners say about you in public.
In other words, the same things that earn trust with a human buyer are what get you recommended by a machine.
And there's one more number worth a look. Direct traffic grew to 39.27% of all visits in September. That's people who already know your name and come straight to you.
I'd bet a fair chunk of AI's influence is hiding in there. Someone asks ChatGPT for a recommendation, sees your name, then types your URL in later. It never shows up as "AI traffic". It shows up as brand. AI can generate almost anything. But it can't manufacture genuine proof.
What I'd do about it
🎯 Don't take your eye off Google if you know you have a product or service that an operator searches for. It still drives around a quarter of all traffic, and plenty of operators still start their research there.
🎯 Publish real proof. Case studies with named operators, real numbers (labour hours saved, revenue per site) and real quotes.
🎯 Get talked about elsewhere. Trade press, partner posts, events, reviews. AI reads what other people say about you, not just what you say about yourself.
🎯 Answer the questions your buyers actually ask, in plain English. Integrations, pricing, rollout time, support.
🎯 Watch direct and branded search, not just AI referrals. That's where a lot of the AI effect will show up.
AI search is tiny today. Trust isn't. Build the trust, and the AI traffic will follow...
👉 See the full Ahrefs data here: https://ahrefs.com/benchmarks/ai-vs-search