Average monthly ChatGPT traffic growth across industries
tldv's monthly growth (April to May 2025)
Missive's search traffic increase attributed to AI
Canva's monthly AI traffic growth (300% annual equivalent)
The question every brand is asking: "How much ChatGPT traffic should we realistically expect?" The answer isn't straightforward, but recent data from major brands provides valuable benchmarks for planning your AI search strategy.
The Baseline: ChatGPT's Growing User Base
Before diving into brand-specific data, it's important to understand the foundation: ChatGPT's user growth continues to accelerate. Recent data shows monthly visits growing from 3.90 billion in February 2025 to 5.14 billion in April 2025.
ChatGPT Estimated Monthly Visits and Growth
This consistent 14-15% monthly growth creates expanding opportunities for brand visibility.
This consistent growth pattern suggests that AI-powered search is becoming mainstream behavior. For brands, this expanding user base translates directly into traffic opportunity - but success depends on optimization strategy.
Brand Performance Comparison
Now let's see how leading brands are performing compared to ChatGPT's baseline growth. Here's what the data reveals:
ChatGPT Traffic Growth: Brand Performance Podium
🏆 Winner Insight: tldv's 30% monthly growth proves B2B SaaS can significantly outperform the ChatGPT baseline (+14-15%)
Breaking Down the Winners
tldv: Leading Monthly Performance
tldv, a meeting recording and transcription tool, achieved an impressive 30% growth in just one month (April to May 2025). This makes them the top performer, significantly outpacing both ChatGPT's baseline growth and other brand examples.
Missive: The Power of Search Behavior Shifts
Missive, an inbox collaboration app, provides compelling real-world data through Eva Tang's transparent monthly reporting on LinkedIn. We calculated their average monthly AI search growth by taking the average of their two most recent data points:
Missive's Monthly AI Search Growth Pattern
"AI search is growing faster—April was +39% mo/mo... The growth trend of 'AI' has slowed, but search has picked up tremendously (21%+). Our search impressions have been increasing, while clicks are flat. This is a clear signal of 'zero click marketing' - clicks as a measurement of engagement is going away fast."
This observation highlights a crucial trend: brands aren't just getting more ChatGPT traffic, they're also seeing changes in how users interact with traditional search. The implication is that AI tools are becoming primary research channels, not just supplementary ones.
Canva: Strategic Success at Scale
Canva provides perhaps the most impressive data point. Sasha Gusain, Head of SEO at Canva, shared detailed insights about their AI search performance:
"We've been monitoring sessions from AI tools powered by LLMs - like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and others- quite closely at Canva and the pattern is now pretty clear. Across the last year, sessions from these tools have grown over 300% and what's quite interesting is the pace: it's not a slow, linear rise. The sharpest acceleration happens between Jan and April 2025... it's not just a visibility bump."
Converting Canva's Annual Growth to Monthly
Note: Sasha mentioned the "sharpest acceleration happens between Jan and April 2025," suggesting our 12% monthly average may actually underestimate their recent performance. However, since Sasha noted "it's not just a visibility bump," averaging across the full year provides a realistic benchmark for sustained growth.
What makes Canva's case particularly interesting is their strategic approach:
- Multiple entry points: AI Image Generator, brand context pages, and deep content experience pages
- Interactive surfaces: Not just static landing pages, but functional tools
- Context-aware content: Every page designed as a potential answer to specific user intent
The key insight from Canva is that brands with well-structured, interactive content ecosystems are seeing exponential rather than linear growth.
Sasha's broader insight about AI search behavior is particularly valuable:
"What's happening through LLMs is simply mirroring what we've seen in traditional search, just with more variance in entry points, and a new layer of context-aware discovery."
When asked about the key factors driving their success, Sasha emphasized what works:
Canva's Success Formula
"Third-party credibility + structured architecture"
— Sasha Gusain's comment on what drives AI search success
What Our Clients Are Seeing
Across our client base of ecommerce companies, hardware manufacturers, B2B SaaS platforms, and developer tools, we're observing a consistent pattern that many brands can relate to:
Common Client Pattern
Most of our clients in these industries experienced an initial surge in AI traffic about a year ago when ChatGPT introduced new search tools. However, many are now seeing relatively flat growth rates month-over-month.
If your brand is experiencing this plateau - don't panic. This is completely normal and solvable. The flat growth typically indicates that your content needs optimization for AI search behavior, not that the opportunity has disappeared.
Industries commonly seeing this pattern: B2B SaaS, Hardware/Manufacturing, Developer Tools, Ecommerce
Travel Industry: A Dedicated Opportunity
Travel Industry Focus
We're developing comprehensive benchmarks and strategies specifically for the travel industry. Early indicators suggest significant untapped potential for travel brands in AI search optimization.
Early Insights:
- • High intent queries: Users frequently ask AI for travel recommendations
- • Local expertise value: AI tools favor detailed, local knowledge
- • Comparison-friendly format: Travel decisions benefit from AI's comparative analysis
- • Seasonal opportunities: Peak seasons show 2-3x higher AI search volume
Expected comprehensive analysis: Q2 2025
Setting Realistic Expectations
Year 1: Foundation Building
- Months 1-3: Expect 2-5% of total organic traffic from AI sources
- Months 4-6: Growth to 5-12% with basic optimization
- Months 7-12: Potential for 10-25% with strategic focus
Year 2+: Optimization Payoff
- Well-optimized brands: 20-40% of organic traffic from AI sources
- Industry leaders: 30%+ (like tldv at 30% monthly)
- Sustained growth: 10-20% monthly increases during optimization periods
The Bottom Line
ChatGPT traffic expectations should be grounded in your industry context, current optimization level, and strategic commitment. Here's what brands should realistically plan for:
Traffic Expectation Framework
What's Next?
The data is clear: AI-powered search traffic is not just growing, it's accelerating. Brands that start optimizing now will be better positioned to capture this traffic as it continues to mature.
Our Recommendation: Focus on Growth Rate, Not Total Numbers
Important: Focus on Monthly Growth Rate
We strongly advise focusing on monthly growth rate instead of total amount of traffic or proportion of total traffic. Here's why:
- 1Channel Mix Depends on Your Priorities: If other channels (Google Ads, email, social) are working exceptionally well for you, AI traffic might naturally represent a smaller percentage - and that's perfectly fine.
- 2Attribution Challenges: Traffic attribution from ChatGPT has some significant limitations. Many users search on ChatGPT first, learn about your brand, then go to Google to find your website. This makes it difficult to track the true impact.
- 3Survey Your Users: Before worrying about total numbers, we recommend asking a sample of new users where they first heard about you. You might be surprised how many mention "saw it mentioned by ChatGPT" or similar AI interactions.
Safe Approach: Focus on achieving consistent month-over-month growth in AI traffic (aim for 5-15% monthly growth) rather than targeting specific percentages of total traffic. This approach accounts for your unique channel mix and attribution challenges.
Want to benchmark your brand's AI search performance against these industry standards?Get started with Aiso today.
🚀Capitalize on AI Traffic Growth
Don't miss out on this emerging traffic source. Start optimizing your content for AI platforms and join the brands already seeing significant growth.