75 Important AI SEO Statistics for 2026
This is a complete list of up-to-date AI SEO statistics.
On this page you’ll find hand-picked stats about:
Contents
01. AI SEO Market Size & Growth
The AI SEO market is experiencing explosive growth as businesses rapidly adopt artificial intelligence for search optimization. This section covers market valuations, projections, and key industry adoption metrics.
The global SEO services market reached $74.90 billion in 2025 and is projected to hit $127.30 billion by 2030 at a 12.3% CAGR (Mordor Intelligence)
The AI SEO software tool market was valued at $1.99 billion in 2024 and is estimated to reach $4.97 billion by 2033 (SEO.com)
The AI-powered SEO sector reached $67 billion in 2025, driven by a 22% compound annual growth rate since 2020 (Statista via SEOmator)
The AI content marketing industry grew from $2.4 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach $17.6 billion by 2033, representing a 25.68% CAGR (HubSpot via SEOmator)
The voice recognition market reached $10.7 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow to $27.1 billion by 2026, with a CAGR of 16.8% (Mordor Intelligence via SerpWatch)
86% of SEO professionals have integrated AI into their strategy as of 2025 (Search Engine Land via SEOmator)
On-Page SEO remains the largest service segment, contributing 42.3% of 2024 revenue, while Voice and Visual Search SEO is growing fastest at 20.8% CAGR (Mordor Intelligence)
What’s driving this growth? AI’s ability to automate keyword research, optimize content at scale, and adapt to rapidly changing search algorithms is transforming SEO from a manual practice into an intelligent, data-driven discipline. With search engines themselves becoming AI-powered through features like Google’s AI Overviews, businesses have no choice but to embrace AI SEO tools or risk becoming invisible.
02. Google AI Overviews Impact
Google’s AI Overviews represent the most significant shift in search since featured snippets. This section examines how these AI-generated summaries are reshaping traffic patterns and click-through rates.
Google AI Overviews now appear in 60.32% of U.S. queries as of November 2025, up from 31% in August 2024 (Advanced Web Ranking via Xponent21)
AI Overviews have 2 billion monthly users globally (TechCrunch)
AI Overviews appeared in 6.49% of queries in January 2025, jumped to 13.14% in March (72% growth), peaked at 24.61% in July, then stabilized at 15.69% by November (Semrush via Various)
Organic CTR for queries with AI Overviews dropped 61% year-over-year from 1.76% to 0.61% (June 2024 to September 2025) (Seer Interactive)
Paid CTR crashed 68% from 19.7% to 6.34% when AI Overviews are present (Seer Interactive)
However, brands cited in AI Overviews earn 35% higher organic CTR and 91% higher paid CTR compared to non-cited brands (Seer Interactive)
AI Overviews reduce click-through rates by 34.5% for top-ranking pages when present (Conductor via Position Digital)
99.9% of informational keywords trigger AI Overviews, with 46% being long-tail queries (7+ words) and 57.9% being question queries (Ahrefs)
93% of AI Mode searches end without a click, compared to 43% for AI Overviews (Semrush via Position Digital)
76.1% of URLs cited in AI Overviews also rank in the top 10 of Google search results (Ahrefs via Position Digital)
How to Optimize for AI Overviews
Getting cited in AI Overviews requires a different approach than traditional SEO. According to research from multiple sources:
Structure matters: 78% of AI Overview responses feature list-based formatting, with 61% using unordered lists
Source diversity: Most AI Overviews include between 6-14 sources, with 9 sources being most common
Intent focus: 88.1% of AI Overview triggers are for informational keywords (down from 91.3% peak in January 2025)
Industry variation: Science (43.6%), Health (43.0%), and Pets & Animals (36.8%) have the highest AI Overview rates, while Shopping (3.2%), Real Estate (5.8%), and Sports (14.8%) have the lowest
Source: SE Ranking,Ahrefs
03. ChatGPT & AI Search Adoption
ChatGPT has evolved from a novel chatbot into a legitimate search alternative. This section covers usage statistics, search behavior, and competitive positioning.
ChatGPT has 800 million weekly active users as of June 2025, doubling from 400 million in February 2025 (DemandSage)
ChatGPT processes over 2 billion queries daily (also reported as 1 billion+ in some sources), compared to Google’s 14 billion daily searches (Multiple sources)
ChatGPT receives 5.8 billion monthly visits as of September 2025, up 7.6% from 5.39 billion in August (DemandSage)
ChatGPT is the #6 most visited website globally, behind only Google, YouTube, Facebook, Wikipedia, and Amazon (Index.dev)
79.77% of ChatGPT traffic is direct, meaning users type the URL directly or have it bookmarked—showing it’s become a daily habit (Index.dev)
The average ChatGPT session lasts 14 minutes 36 seconds, longer than Amazon (8-10 min) and most social media platforms (Index.dev)
OpenAI reached $10 billion in annual recurring revenue as of June 2025, including consumer products, business products, and API services (DemandSage)
34% of US adults have used ChatGPT as of June 2025, up from 18% in July 2023 (Backlinko)
58% of adults ages 18-29 in the US have ever used ChatGPT, the highest of any age group (Backlinko)
30% of consumer ChatGPT usage is work-related, while 70% is non-work activities (OpenAI)
How to ChatGPT Search vs. Traditional Google
| Metric | ChatGPT | |
| Daily Searches | 2 billion | 14 billion |
| Zero-Click Rate | 93% (AI Mode) | 58.5% (U.S.) |
| Avg Session Time | 14min 36sec | ~7-8 minutes |
| Citations Overlap w/ Google Top 10 | 12% | N/A |
| Traffic Type | 79.77% Direct | ~70% Organic |
Sources: DemandSage,Position Digital,Break The Web
Why it matters: ChatGPT isn’t replacing Google—it’s creating a parallel search ecosystem. The 20% of Americans who are heavy AI users (10+ uses/month) still use traditional search 85%+ of the time as “heavy users,” but they’re increasingly starting their research journey with AI chatbots.
04. AI Content Generation Usage
AI content generation has gone mainstream among marketers and SEO professionals. This section reveals adoption rates, use cases, and effectiveness metrics.
55% of marketers cite content creation as the most popular use case of AI in content marketing in 2025, up 12% from 2024 (HubSpot)
46% of marketers use AI to help write copy, making it one of the most common AI applications (HubSpot)
91% of marketing leaders say employees/teams at their organization use AI to assist in their jobs (HubSpot Blog)
43% of marketers use generative AI for email copy creation (HubSpot via HubSpot Marketing Statistics)
48% of marketers use generative AI to conduct research, such as market research, finding datasets, and summarizing articles (HubSpot Blog)
41% of marketers use AI to create content outlines for written content and videos (HubSpot)
44% of marketers use AI tools to check the quality of written materials before publishing (HubSpot)
74% of all new web content includes AI-generated content as of 2025 (Ahrefs)
86.5% of content in the top 20 search results is at least partially AI-generated (Ahrefs)
However, purely AI content rarely reaches position #1 in organic Google results (Ahrefs)
91.4% of content cited in AI Overviews is at least partially AI-generated (Ahrefs)
Only 7% of marketers publish AI-generated content without editing; 56% significantly revise it, and 38% make minor tweaks (ColorWhistle)
05. SEO Professional AI Adoption
SEO professionals are rapidly integrating AI into their workflows. This section examines adoption rates, tool usage, and the impact on productivity.
86.07% of SEO professionals have integrated AI into their strategy as of 2025 (SEOmator)
75% of SEO experts utilize AI to reduce time spent on manual tasks including keyword research and meta-tag optimization (HubSpot via SeoProfy)
67% of SEO experts believe the key benefit of generative AI is automating repetitive tasks (SEOmator)
52% of marketers attest that using AI has helped them improve speed and efficiency (Statista via SeoProfy)
37% of marketers utilize AI to automate time-consuming SEO tasks, enhancing efficiency (SEOmator)
Companies that leveraged AI in their SEO strategies saw search engine rankings improve 30% within 6 months (SEOmator)
72% of companies with an SEO strategy now use AI-powered platforms for keyword research, content optimization, or backlink analysis (Market Reports World)
64.48% of SEO experts prioritize the accuracy of AI tools over other factors (SeoClarity via SeoProfy)
61% of marketers focus on improving SEO with the help of AI (LinkedIn via SeoProfy)
51% of SEO specialists believe AI won’t significantly impact their current strategies (Forbes Advisor via SeoProfy)
What SEOs Are Most Concerned About
The biggest challenge SEOs cite for 2024-2025:
Adapting to AI advancements was ranked as the top challenge by SEO professionals and digital marketers, showing that while AI adoption is high, uncertainty about its long-term impact on search remains.
Source: AIOSEO
06. Perplexity & Alternative AI Search
Perplexity AI has emerged as a serious competitor in the AI search space. This section covers its growth trajectory, user base, and competitive positioning.
Perplexity AI processes 780 million monthly queries as of May 2025, up from 230 million in August 2024 (239% increase) (Perplexity via SeoProfy)
Perplexity AI has 22 million active users as of 2025 (Perplexity via SeoProfy)
Perplexity AI receives 189 million global visitors per month on average (DemandSage)
Perplexity AI generated $148 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) in 2025 (DemandSage)
Perplexity AI is valued at approximately $28 billion (DemandSage)
82% of Perplexity AI traffic is direct traffic, showing extremely strong brand loyalty (GrabOn)
India leads Perplexity traffic at 22.75%, followed by the US at 17.63% (SeoProfy)
Perplexity’s market share reached 6.6% in October 2025 (SeoProfy)
The average Perplexity user spends 22 minutes per session (Zebracat via SeoProfy)
85% of Perplexity AI users return after using it once, showing high satisfaction (GrabOn)
Perplexity vs. ChatGPT vs. Google
| Platform | Monthly Users/Visits | Daily Queries | Market Share |
| Perplexity | 22M users, 189M visits | 26M (780M/month) | 6.6% |
| ChatGPT | 800M weekly | 2B | 60.5% |
| Google Search | N/A | 14B | 90% search |
Source: Multiple sources
What makes Perplexity different: Unlike ChatGPT, which often generates responses without clear sourcing, Perplexity emphasizes citations and structured answers, making it particularly popular among researchers and professionals who need verifiable information.
07. Google Gemini AI Statistics
Google Gemini represents Google’s answer to ChatGPT. This section examines its adoption, capabilities, and competitive positioning.
Google Gemini represents Google’s answer to ChatGPT. This section examines its adoption, capabilities, and competitive positioning.
- Google Gemini has 650 million monthly active users as of November 2025 (Google/Sundar Pichai via DemandSage)
- Gemini powers AI Overviews which reach 2 billion users monthly (Google via DemandSage)
- Google Gemini recorded 1.2 billion total visits in October 2025 (813.2M desktop, 368.8M mobile) (DoIT Software)
- Gemini attracted 206.4 million unique visitors in October 2025, showing 69% growth from August 2025 (DoIT Software)
- Gemini holds 13.5% of the AI chatbot market share as of 2025 (SecondTalent via ElectroIQ)
- 75.64% of Gemini traffic is direct, showing strong brand recall and habitual usage (Second Talent)
- The United States leads Gemini traffic at 12.99%, followed by India at 8.82% (DoIT Software)
- The age group 25-34 years constitutes the largest segment of users at 29.7% (DoIT Software)
- Gemini’s user base is 58% male and 42% female (DoIT Software)
- Over 13 million developers are using Gemini to build applications (Google via DemandSage)
Gemini Benchmark Performance
Gemini 2.5 Pro demonstrates competitive capabilities:
- 96% on AIME ’25 (mathematics), matching GPT-5.1 Codex
- 91% on GPQA Diamond (science), ranking first as of December 2025
- 90% on MMMU-Pro (vision + text tasks), tied with Claude Opus 4.5
- 207 tokens per second processing speed for Gemini 2.5 Flash, outperforming competitors
Source: DoIT Software
08. Voice Search & Conversational AI
Voice search continues to grow as smart speakers and voice assistants become ubiquitous. This section covers adoption rates, usage patterns, and optimization insights.
20.5% of the global population uses voice search as of 2025 (Yaguara via DemandSage)
There are 8.4 billion voice assistants in use globally, exceeding the world’s population of 8.2 billion (DemandSage)
Google Assistant is expected to reach 92 million users in the United States in 2025, leading Siri (86.5 million) and Alexa (77.2 million) (Keywords Everywhere)
27% of people use voice search on their mobile devices (DemandSage)
75% of US households are expected to own at least one smart speaker by 2025 (Statista via 99firms)
90% of people believe voice search is easier than searching online (DemandSage)
The average voice search result is 29 words in length (DemandSage)
Voice search results load 52% faster than average search results, with an average load time of 4.6 seconds (Backlinko via Search Endurance)
76% of voice searches are “near me” or local queries (DemandSage)
Google Assistant answers 92.9% of queries correctly, significantly outperforming Alexa and Siri in accuracy (DemandSage)
71% of consumers prefer to perform search queries by voice instead of typing (99firms)
Voice Assistant Market Share
According to multiple sources, the global voice assistant market breaks down as:
- Google Assistant: 36% market share
- Apple Siri: 36% market share
- Amazon Alexa: 25% market share
- Microsoft Cortana: 19% market share
Source: 99firms
Smart speaker dominance:
Other devices comprise 5.6%
Amazon Echo devices account for 70.6% of US smart speaker penetration
Google Home has 23.8% market share
09. AI Traffic & Conversion Impact
AI search platforms are beginning to drive measurable traffic and conversions. This section examines referral traffic patterns, conversion rates, and revenue impact.
AI traffic has grown 9.7% since 2024, with generative AI traffic growing 165x faster than organic search traffic (Ahrefs via Position Digital)
ChatGPT is the biggest AI referrer, now sending more referral traffic than Reddit and LinkedIn (Ahrefs via Position Digital)
AI-referred sessions saw a 527% year-over-year increase (Search Engine Land via Position Digital)
LLM visitors convert 4.4x better than organic search visitors (Semrush via Position Digital)
AI traffic drove 12.1% more signups for Ahrefs, despite making only 0.5% of all visitors (Ahrefs via Position Digital)
However, users from LLMs like ChatGPT and Perplexity browse fewer pages and spend less time on websites than traditional search visitors (Ahrefs via Position Digital)
28.3% of ChatGPT’s most cited pages have zero organic visibility on Google (Ahrefs via Position Digital)
Only 12% of URLs cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Copilot rank in Google’s top 10 search results (Ahrefs via Position Digital)
AI traffic currently represents only 0.1% of total web traffic but is the fastest-growing traffic source (Position Digital)
Despite strong early-2025 growth, AI referral traffic dropped 42.6% from July to later in the year, showing volatility (Position Digital)
AI Traffic Quality: The Conversion Paradox
The data reveals a fascinating paradox:
Higher conversion rates but lower engagement:
- AI visitors convert at 4.4x the rate of organic traffic
- But they browse fewer pages per session
- And spend less total time on site
Why this matters: AI search users are more qualified and further along in their decision journey. They’ve already done initial research through AI chatbots and arrive with specific intent. This makes them more likely to convert but less likely to browse extensively.
10. Technical SEO & AI Tool Usage
AI is transforming technical SEO and how professionals use optimization tools. This section covers tool adoption, features, and emerging capabilities.
Semrush analyzed over 10 million keywords throughout 2025 for its comprehensive AI Overviews study (Semrush)
72% of SEO agencies have adopted Semrush’s AI-powered content optimization suite released in 2024 (Market Reports World)
The share of websites using structured data markup rose to 58% among top-ranked sites by mid-2025 (Market Reports World)
Mobile traffic share crossed 60% globally by 2024, pushing more businesses toward mobile-first SEO strategies (Market Reports World)
Voice search optimization became mainstream, with 20-25% of mobile searches now voice-enabled (Market Reports World)
Impressions on all content have skyrocketed by over 49% since the launch of AI Overviews, while click-throughs have declined nearly 30% (BrightEdge)
AI Overviews now appear in over 11% of Google queries, a 22% increase since their debut in May 2024 (BrightEdge)
Longer, complex queries have grown 49% in AI Overviews since May 2024 (BrightEdge)
The industries with the strongest AI Overview presence are Healthcare, Education, B2B Tech, and Insurance (BrightEdge)
Travel and Entertainment are on the rise for AI Overviews, while Ecommerce has not seen rapid growth (BrightEdge)
The New SEO Tech Stack
Modern AI SEO requires new tools and capabilities:
Essential AI SEO tools include:
- AI Visibility tracking (monitoring citations in ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews)
- Content optimization with AI-powered recommendations
- Automated technical audits using machine learning
- Predictive analytics for ranking forecasts
- Natural language processing for content analysis
Most SEO platforms now offer:
- Integration with LLM monitoring services
- AI Overview tracking capabilities
- Structured data generators
- Voice search optimization tools
- Mobile-first indexing analysis
Conclusion
The AI SEO landscape in 2026 represents a fundamental transformation in how search works. Google AI Overviews now appear in 60% of searches, ChatGPT processes 2 billion daily queries, and 86% of SEO professionals have integrated AI into their workflow.
Three key trends define this new era:
AI search is complementary, not competitive. Despite explosive growth in ChatGPT (800M weekly users) and Perplexity (780M monthly queries), traditional search hasn’t disappeared—it’s evolved. Users employ AI for research and discovery, then validate findings through traditional search.
Visibility doesn’t guarantee clicks. The data is stark: organic CTR dropped 61% when AI Overviews appear. But brands cited in those overviews see 35% higher CTR than competitors. The game has shifted from ranking to being the authoritative source AI systems cite.
Quality at scale wins. With 74% of new content now AI-assisted and 86.5% of top-ranking content partially AI-generated, the winners aren’t those avoiding AI—they’re those using it to create higher quality content faster. However, purely AI content rarely reaches #1, proving that human oversight remains critical.
For SEO professionals and marketers, the message is clear: AI SEO isn’t optional. The $74.9 billion SEO market is being transformed by AI at every level—from keyword research to content creation to performance tracking. Businesses that embrace AI-powered optimization will thrive; those that resist will become invisible as search itself becomes AI-powered.
The future of SEO is here. These statistics prove it’s already reshaping how billions discover information online.