The search landscape is shifting faster than ever. By mid-2025, ChatGPT reached a staggering milestone: processing roughly 2.5 billion prompts every day. To put that in perspective, that is about 12% of the search volume Google handles for traditional queries. In a remarkably short time, OpenAI’s chatbot has managed to surpass long-standing rivals like Bing, becoming a primary destination for people seeking information.
However, there’s still a massive gap between asking a question and actually visiting a website. While ChatGPT is catching up in “queries,” it is still miles behind in “clicks.”
ChatGPT vs. Google: The staggering 190x web traffic gap
Ahrefs’ recent analysis shows a shocking difference. Google sends 190 people to a website for every person that ChatGPT sends there. Google gets almost 40% of all web traffic around the world, but ChatGPT only gets 0.21% of it.
This shows that we use these platforms in very different ways. When you search on Google, you usually want to find a place to go—like a store—an article, or a source. But when you ask ChatGPT a question, you’re looking for a direct reply. This “zero-click” reality means that ChatGPT’s Click-Through Rate (CTR) is about 96% lower than Google’s. The AI summarizes the world for you, but it rarely invites you to leave the chat.
A growing hurdle for publishers
This shift toward AI-generated answers is creating a storm in the media industry. While ChatGPT is being criticized for keeping users within its own interface, Google isn’t exactly the hero of the story either.
Many publishers have recently reported traffic drops of up to 40% due to Google’s own AI Overviews. Google is basically using the “ChatGPT model” by putting AI summaries at the top of search results. This way, the user doesn’t have to click on the original source to get the answer. As a result, there have even been antitrust complaints in the EU. Media companies allege that Big Tech is “cannibalizing” the content that these AI models need to work.
What lies ahead?
The dilemma for 2026 is clear: if AI models (both from OpenAI and Google) continue to provide answers without sending traffic, the websites that create the original information may struggle to survive.
ChatGPT has proven it can handle the volume and curiosity of a global audience. However, it hasn’t yet proven it can be a partner to the open web. For now, Google takes the crown of king of traffic. But as both platforms read harder into AI summaries, the bridge between creators and readers is becoming increasingly fragile. The question is no longer just “Who has the best AI?” but rather, “Will there be any websites left to summarize?”
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