Previsible, the AI discovery agency for GEO and modern search, released the third edition of its AI Traffic Study, the industry’s earliest and longest-running look at GEO trends, run and refreshed from November 2024 to May 2026. The latest edition analyzes 6.77 million AI-driven sessions across 166 websites spanning SaaS, e-commerce, finance, legal, health, insurance, education, and publishing industries.

“Start by becoming a source Google’s AI results want to cite by building the site architecture and content signals AI systems rely on to cite you, then win ChatGPT as the leading standalone surface.” – David Bell, CPO, Previsible

The study highlights where brands should focus for the second half of 2026 and found that AI discovery happening inside Google, through its AI Overviews and AI Mode, represents more AI-influenced traffic than every LLM assistant combined, and it should remain the priority surface marketers work to win.

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Among the destinations where people query AI LLMs directly, Previsible’s study found ChatGPT leads by a wide margin, carrying 92.4% of trackable standalone referral traffic and still climbing. Several challengers are gaining ground, and industry variances have emerged that marketers should use to target content for specific LLM citation visibility. Gemini grew 3.2x with steady consistency and now stands as the second most visible model behind ChatGPT. Claude grew 64x over the tracked period and moved past Perplexity in March 2026, with particular strength among developers, technical buyers, and professional services. Across models, e-commerce content saw AI referral traffic rise 37x as shoppers increasingly arrive on product pages with intent already formed.

“The foundation brands built in search matters more than ever,” said David Bell, Chief Product Officer and report author at Previsible. “Start by becoming a source Google’s AI results want to cite by building the site architecture, and content signals AI systems rely on to cite you, then win ChatGPT as the leading standalone surface. The teams that lean in now will be the ones AI chooses to surface.” Bell and the Previsible team recommend five core efforts to win in AI search: create citation-worthy evidence, build authority across trusted third-party sources, make websites accessible to AI systems to read and extract, optimize for answer journeys, and measure business impact rather than site-wide visibility alone.

“David’s research brings focus to one of the most important, and often overlooked, parts of AI search: the value of engaged users who visit and interact with brand websites,” said Previsible CEO Jordan Koene, recently named to BrightonSEO’s Top 100 Most Influential SEOs. “As more brands evaluate the impact of AI-driven discovery, this perspective can help transform how teams measure success, build optimization strategies, and improve the web experiences and messaging they deliver to customers.”