ChatGPT Draws Search Volume, Reduces Website Traffic

ChatGPT processed about 2.5 billion prompts per day as of July 2025, roughly 18% of Google’s 13.7 billion daily searches. The author classifies 65% of ChatGPT prompts as traditional search, but finds ChatGPT sends 190× less referral traffic to websites and shows an estimated 96% lower click-through rate versus Google. These differences signal diverging business models between conversational AI and web search.