ChatGPT’s traffic surge is good news for brands. For publishers, it’s complicated
OpenAI made a change to how ChatGPT links to websites in the spring, and barely anybody noticed. Starting on May 7, ChatGPT began sending considerably more traffic to websites. Referrals jumped 157% overnight and have stayed there, according to new data . On the same day, OpenAI also began rolling out advertising in AI answers , a move that had been in the works for several months. The two are…
OpenAI recently made adjustments to ChatGPT's referral system, leading to a significant increase in web traffic. On May 7, the traffic from ChatGPT to websites surged by 157% and has remained high. OpenAI also began implementing ads in AI responses around the same time. The change in referral links from footnotes to homepage links increases the chances of readers clicking on them.
This shift raises questions about the future of the web in an AI-driven economy. The dominant narrative has been that AI chatbots will lead people to stay within AI platforms, but data shows ChatGPT now accounts for 63% of AI-driven referral traffic. More importantly, in-line links to brands get more clicks than footnotes. OpenAI may be tracking in-line link clicks to build an ad-ranking model, thus prioritizing brand visibility.
Publishers retain the role of credibility, with AI engines favoring journalistic content. Publishers should focus on providing credible, service-oriented content to leverage this new paradigm. Branded content, while commercially driven, can still benefit from the credibility of a publisher. The web's future is evolving to rely on the credibility brought by journalism.
Written by urgent.news from Fast Company's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
