Archive · 27 Jul 2025
AI Referrals to News Websites Surges Since 2024
Imagine robots on the internet, called AI, helping people find information.
These robots are sending more people to news websites, a 770% increase since June 2024!
Mostly, the robot ChatGPT is sending people.
Although AI is sending people, Google Search still sends the most.
However, some studies show that Google's AI summaries might cause people to click on website links less.
So, AI is sending people to news sites, but it's complicated how much it helps.
AI referrals to news websites have increased by 770% since June 2024.
Over 1.13 billion referrals to the top 1,000 websites came from AI platforms in June 2025.
ChatGPT accounted for 80% of AI referrals to top websites.
Google Search remains the dominant source of referral traffic.
Some studies suggest AI features might decrease traffic to websites.
- Who
- AI platforms (e.g., ChatGPT, Gemini) and news websites.
- What
- Increase in AI referrals to news websites.
- When
- Since June 2024, with data from June 2025.
- Where
- Globally, to top 1,000 websites.
- Why
- Because AI platforms are increasingly used to look up information and are citing news sources.
Positive Impact of AI on Traffic
Negative Impact of AI Features
Impact on Website Traffic
Positive Impact of AI on Traffic
AI platforms are directing more traffic to news websites.
Negative Impact of AI Features
Google's AI features might be decreasing direct traffic.
- Increase in Referrals
- 770% since June 2024
- Total Referrals (June 2025)
- 1.13 billion
- ChatGPT's Share
- 80%
- Google Search Referrals (June 2025)
- 191 billion
- Highest volume of AI referrals to tech websites
- Google: 53.1 million