# ChatGPT recommendations drive more brand website visits: Study

> Source: <https://searchengineland.com/chatgpt-recommendations-brand-website-visits-study-480989>
> Published: 2026-06-24 15:29:06+00:00

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# ChatGPT recommendations drive more brand website visits: Study

## AI-influenced visitors viewed 12 pages and spent 11.8 minutes on site, compared with 6.5 pages and 5.6 minutes for others, SimilarWeb found.

Users who saw a brand recommended by ChatGPT were much more likely to visit that brand’s website within a week, according to Similarweb.

**What happened. **Users were 2.5 times more likely, on average, to visit an AI-recommended brand than a direct competitor, based on Similarweb’s study of U.S. desktop behavior across finance, travel, and beauty.

- Similarweb tracked users who asked ChatGPT industry-relevant questions, received a specific brand recommendation, and then visited either that brand’s website or a competitor’s site within seven days.
- The study excluded users who had visited the brand’s site in the prior four weeks or named the brand in their prompt.

**Recommendations shifted traffic**. The pattern appeared across all three industries:

**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.**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.**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**. Most AI-influenced visits didn’t appear as AI referral traffic. ChatGPT may influence brand choice, but the later visit often appears in analytics as search traffic.

- 55.9% of AI-influenced visits came through search, compared with 40.4% of non-AI-influenced visits, Similarweb found.
- Direct traffic accounted for 19.9% of AI-influenced visits, compared with 38.8% of standard visits.

**Recommended users stayed longer**. AI-influenced visitors also engaged more deeply once they reached a brand’s site. They 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. Those users likely arrived after narrowing their options during the AI conversation, Similarweb said.

**Why we care**. AI visibility can drive visits even when referral reports miss the source of influence. You need to know whether ChatGPT is creating demand for your brand or sending it 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](https://www.similarweb.com/corp/reports/the-downstream-impact-of-ai-visibilty/) (registration required)

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