When I look at Similarweb’s findings, the message is clear: users who saw a brand recommended by ChatGPT were much more likely to visit that brand’s website within a week.
What happened. I found the biggest takeaway in the behavior shift. On average, users were 2.5 times more likely to visit an AI-recommended brand than a direct competitor, based on Similarweb’s study of U.S. desktop activity across finance, travel, and beauty.
Similarweb tracked users who asked ChatGPT industry-relevant questions, received a specific brand recommendation, and then visited either that recommended brand’s website or a competitor’s site within seven days.
To keep the data focused, the study excluded users who had visited the brand’s site in the prior four weeks or had named the brand directly in their prompt.
Recommendations shifted traffic. I saw the same pattern appear across all three industries Similarweb analyzed, which makes this more than a one-category trend.
In finance, after an American Express recommendation, 7.2% of users visited American Express, compared with 3.1% who visited Capital One. After a Capital One recommendation, 14.2% visited Capital One, compared with 3.8% who visited American Express.
In travel, after a Skyscanner recommendation, 9.5% visited Skyscanner, compared with 7.6% who visited Kayak. After a Kayak recommendation, 12% visited Kayak, compared with 3.4% who visited Skyscanner.
In beauty, after a Sephora recommendation, 7.9% visited Sephora, compared with 3.3% who visited Ulta. After an Ulta recommendation, 7.6% visited Ulta, compared with 4.6% who visited Sephora.
AI demand showed up in search. What stands out to me is that most AI-influenced visits did not appear as AI referral traffic. ChatGPT may shape the user’s brand choice, but the later website visit often shows up in analytics as search traffic instead.
Similarweb found that 55.9% of AI-influenced visits came through search, compared with 40.4% of non-AI-influenced visits.
Direct traffic told a different story. It accounted for 19.9% of AI-influenced visits, compared with 38.8% of standard visits.
Recommended users stayed longer. I also think the engagement data matters. AI-influenced visitors viewed 12 pages and spent 11.8 minutes on site, on average, compared with 6.5 pages and 5.6 minutes for non-AI-influenced visitors.
That deeper engagement suggests these users may have already narrowed their options during the AI conversation before they ever reached the brand’s website, Similarweb said.
Why I care. AI visibility can drive meaningful visits even when referral reports miss the original source of influence. I need to understand whether ChatGPT is creating demand for my brand or sending that demand to a competitor.
About the data. Similarweb used its opted-in U.S. desktop web panel to track user journeys from July through December 2025. The report focused on finance, travel, and beauty brand pairs with competitive overlap.
The report: The Downstream Impact of AI Visibility (registration required).
Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.
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