AI chatbots have barely made a dent in traffic to popular search engine sites over the past two years, according to a study by SEO and backlink services firm OneLittleWeb.

The study analyzed global web traffic from April 2023 to March 2025. In the most recent year, chatbot sites accounted for just 2.96% of the visits received by search engines. Between April 2024 and March 2025, search engine traffic declined only slightly — down 0.51% to 1.86 trillion visits — while chatbots saw an 80.92% year-over-year spike in traffic.

The modest drop in search traffic suggests that, despite explosive growth, AI chatbots are not yet displacing traditional search behavior in any meaningful way.

“Even with ChatGPT’s massive growth, it still sees approximately 26 times fewer daily visits than Google,” wrote the author of the study, Sujan Sarkar, founder of OneLittleWeb.

“While AI chatbots are growing fast, search engines continue to hold a dominant position in daily user engagement,” he added.

Sarkar also noted that search engines like Google and Microsoft Bing are leveraging AI features like AI Overviews and Search Generative Experience (SGE) to increase traffic in early 2025. “Despite a temporary dip, these integrations have helped revive interest and usage,” he wrote.

Why Search Still Outpaces AI Chatbots

The length of the study period could be distorting the current chatbot versus search engine picture, contended Rob Enderle, president and principal analyst of the Enderle Group, an advisory services firm in Bend, Ore.

“Using AI for search is relatively new, and people haven’t learned how to properly prompt yet, so a survey looking back over two years of data would reflect a world mostly pre-AI search and one where the tools were just starting to be used at the end of the survey period, biasing the results toward poor AI use,” he told TechNewsWorld.

“With emerging technologies, surveys need to be more real-time, as the old data won’t reflect current reality,” he said.

Search engines also have advantages for drumming up traffic. “Search engines benefit from decades of user trust and deeply ingrained habits,” explained Mark N. Vena, president and principal analyst at SmartTech Research in Las Vegas.

“They offer a fast, comprehensive way to find information, products, news, and more — across virtually every category,” he told TechNewsWorld. “Their massive web indexing and ad-supported business models fund constant innovation.”

He added, “Integration with browsers and mobile devices as the default search method reinforces daily usage.”

Evolution, Not Dissolution

The study also maintained that search engines are evolving rather than fading, integrating AI tools to offer a richer, more personalized user experience. At the same time, chatbots are carving out their niche in tasks requiring direct, customized responses.

“Search engines are not disappearing; they’re adapting by embedding AI to improve response quality and personalization,” Vena said. “Meanwhile, chatbots thrive in scenarios requiring synthesis, dialogue, or creative output.”

“The tools serve different intents,” he continued. “Search is broad and navigational. Chatbots are task-focused and conversational. Their coexistence reflects a diversification of how users seek and process information.”