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Saved February 14, 2026
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A leaked document reveals that ChatGPT generates very little traffic for publishers, with a click-through rate (CTR) averaging just 0.69%. Despite high impressions, the most visible placements yield few clicks, suggesting that AI-driven traffic won't replace traditional organic search traffic.
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Recent data reveals that ChatGPT is not driving significant traffic to publishers. A leaked OpenAI file shows that while ChatGPT displays links, the click-through rates (CTR) are alarmingly low. For example, a top-performing page recorded over 610,000 impressions but only 4,238 clicks, resulting in a CTR of just 0.69%. Some links performed slightly better, with the best individual page achieving a 1.68% CTR, but many others fell as low as 0.01%.
The analysis breaks down user interactions based on where the links appear. The main response area generates large impressions but yields minimal clicks. In contrast, links in the sidebar and citations get fewer impressions yet see higher CTRs between 6% and 10%. Search results, on the other hand, show almost no impressions and zero clicks. This disparity highlights a troubling trend: visibility doesn't translate to engagement.
For publishers hoping that AI-generated visibility could compensate for lost Google organic search traffic, this data suggests otherwise. While traffic from AI tools is on the rise, it represents only a small fraction of overall web traffic and behaves differently than traditional search traffic.
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