AI Referrals to Websites on the Rise
Artificial intelligence (AI) referrals to websites are steadily increasing, although they still have a way to go to match the traffic volume generated by Google Search. Recent data from market intelligence provider Similarweb reveals that AI platforms generated over 1.13 billion referrals to the top 1,000 websites globally in June, marking a significant 357% increase since June 2024.
Despite this growth, Google Search remains the dominant source of traffic for these websites, accounting for a staggering 191 billion referrals in June 2025.
The Impact on News and Media
One sector experiencing notable changes is news and media. Online publishers are bracing themselves for a potential scenario dubbed “Google Zero,” where Google may reduce or cease sending traffic to websites. A recent report by The Wall Street Journal highlighted how AI summaries are affecting traffic to news sites. Additionally, a study by the Pew Research Center revealed that search users are less likely to click on links when presented with AI summaries in search results.
Similarweb’s data indicates a 770% increase in AI referrals to news and media websites since June 2024. Some websites, like The New York Times, have taken measures to limit access to AI platforms due to legal disputes, such as the lawsuit with OpenAI regarding the use of their articles for model training.
Key Players in the News Media Category
Leading the pack in AI referrals to news and media sites in June 2025 were Yahoo with 2.3 million referrals, followed by Yahoo Japan (1.9M), Reuters (1.8M), The Guardian (1.7M), India Times (1.2M), and Business Insider (1.0M).
Methodology and Platform Dominance
Similarweb defines AI referrals as web referrals from AI platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, Grok, Perplexity, Claude, and Liner. ChatGPT emerged as the dominant player, accounting for over 80% of AI referrals to the top 1,000 domains.
The analysis extended beyond news to encompass categories like e-commerce, science and education, tech/search/social media, arts and entertainment, business, and more.
Insights from Other Categories
In e-commerce, Amazon led with 4.5 million AI referrals in June, followed by Etsy (2.0M) and eBay (1.8M). Among top tech and social sites, Google topped the list with 53.1 million referrals, followed by Reddit, Facebook, Github, Microsoft, Canva, Instagram, LinkedIn, Bing, and Pinterest.
Notably, the analysis excluded the OpenAI website due to the high volume of referrals from ChatGPT, indicating a strong reliance on its services.
Across various domains, the top site by AI referrals in each category included YouTube, Research Gate, Zillow, Europa.eu, Wikipedia, NIH.gov, Investing.com, Home Depot, Kayak, and Zara.