{
    "question": "How much traffic does AI send to websites?",
    "answer": "Traffic from generative AI tools to US retail sites rose 693.4% in the 2025 holiday season (1 November to 31 December) compared with 2024, according to Adobe Analytics data covering over 1 trillion visits. Growth is slowing from a small base: AI traffic was up 393% year over year in January to March 2026.",
    "period": "Nov-Dec 2025",
    "key_numbers": [
        {
            "value": "+693.4%",
            "label": "Visits to US retail sites from generative AI tools, 2025 holiday season vs 2024",
            "note": "Adobe Analytics, 1 Nov-31 Dec 2025 (vendor)",
            "stat": "ai-search/ai-traffic-to-us-retail-holiday-2025"
        },
        {
            "value": "+393%",
            "label": "AI traffic to US retail sites, Jan-Mar 2026 vs a year earlier",
            "note": "Adobe, Apr 2026 (vendor)"
        },
        {
            "value": "+539%",
            "label": "AI traffic to travel sites, 2025 holiday season",
            "note": "Adobe, Jan 2026 (vendor)"
        },
        {
            "value": "31%",
            "label": "Higher conversion for AI visits than other traffic, 2025 holiday season",
            "note": "Adobe, Jan 2026 (vendor)"
        },
        {
            "value": "Billions",
            "label": "Clicks a week Google says its AI features in Search send to websites",
            "note": "Alphabet Q2 2026 earnings remarks (no exact figure)"
        }
    ],
    "tables": [
        {
            "id": "by-industry",
            "title": "Rise in AI-driven traffic by industry, 2025 holiday season vs 2024",
            "columns": [
                "Industry",
                "Rise in AI traffic"
            ],
            "rows": [
                [
                    "Retail",
                    "693%"
                ],
                [
                    "Travel",
                    "539%"
                ],
                [
                    "Financial services",
                    "266%"
                ],
                [
                    "Tech and software",
                    "120%"
                ],
                [
                    "Media and entertainment",
                    "92%"
                ]
            ],
            "row_ids": [
                "ind-retail",
                "ind-travel",
                "ind-finance",
                "ind-tech",
                "ind-media"
            ],
            "note": "Adobe Digital Insights, 2025 holiday season (Nov-Dec), US sites, year over year. Retail's exact figure is 693.4%. Rates of growth from a small base, not shares of total traffic.",
            "source": "adobe"
        },
        {
            "id": "conversion",
            "title": "How AI visits to US retail sites convert, compared with other traffic",
            "columns": [
                "Period",
                "AI visits compared with other traffic"
            ],
            "rows": [
                [
                    "March 2025",
                    "Converted 38% worse"
                ],
                [
                    "2025 holiday season (Nov-Dec)",
                    "Converted 31% more"
                ],
                [
                    "Thanksgiving 2025",
                    "Conversions 54% higher"
                ],
                [
                    "Black Friday 2025",
                    "Conversions 38% higher"
                ],
                [
                    "March 2026",
                    "Converted 42% better"
                ]
            ],
            "row_ids": [
                "conv-2025-03",
                "conv-2025-holiday",
                "conv-2025-thanksgiving",
                "conv-2025-black-friday",
                "conv-2026-03"
            ],
            "note": "Adobe Analytics, US retail sites. Conversion means a visit that ends in a purchase. Vendor data.",
            "source": "adobe"
        },
        {
            "id": "holiday-detail",
            "title": "AI traffic to US retail sites during the 2025 holiday season",
            "columns": [
                "Period",
                "Rise vs a year earlier"
            ],
            "rows": [
                [
                    "November 2025",
                    "769%"
                ],
                [
                    "December 2025",
                    "673%"
                ],
                [
                    "Cyber Monday 2025",
                    "670%"
                ],
                [
                    "Whole season (1 Nov-31 Dec)",
                    "693.4%"
                ]
            ],
            "row_ids": [
                "hol-nov",
                "hol-dec",
                "hol-cyber-monday",
                "hol-season"
            ],
            "note": "Adobe Analytics, over 1 trillion visits to US retail sites. Adobe says the base of users remains modest.",
            "source": "adobe"
        },
        {
            "id": "history",
            "title": "Growth in AI traffic to US retail sites, as reported by Adobe",
            "columns": [
                "Period",
                "Rise in AI traffic",
                "Compared with"
            ],
            "rows": [
                [
                    "Nov-Dec 2024",
                    "1,300%",
                    "Same period a year earlier"
                ],
                [
                    "January 2025",
                    "1,100%",
                    "July 2024"
                ],
                [
                    "February 2025",
                    "1,200%",
                    "July 2024"
                ],
                [
                    "April 2025",
                    "3,100%",
                    "July 2024"
                ],
                [
                    "May 2025",
                    "3,500%",
                    "July 2024"
                ],
                [
                    "July 2025",
                    "4,700%",
                    "July 2024"
                ],
                [
                    "Nov-Dec 2025",
                    "693.4%",
                    "Same period a year earlier"
                ],
                [
                    "Jan-Mar 2026",
                    "393%",
                    "Same period a year earlier"
                ],
                [
                    "March 2026",
                    "269%",
                    "March 2025"
                ]
            ],
            "row_ids": [
                "ret-2024-holiday",
                "ret-2025-01",
                "ret-2025-02",
                "ret-2025-04",
                "ret-2025-05",
                "ret-2025-07",
                "ret-2025-holiday",
                "ret-2026-q1",
                "ret-2026-03"
            ],
            "note": "Adobe compared early-2025 months with July 2024 because AI traffic was too small to use as a baseline before then, so those rows are not year-over-year rates. Percentages are growth rates, not levels: the falling rates since 2025 reflect a larger base, not less AI traffic. Adobe forecasts a 130% rise for the 2026 holiday season.",
            "source": "adobe"
        }
    ],
    "sources": [
        {
            "name": "Adobe Digital Insights / Adobe Analytics press releases",
            "publisher": "Adobe",
            "type": "vendor",
            "url": "https://news.adobe.com/"
        },
        {
            "name": "Google and Alphabet official announcements (I/O keynote, earnings call remarks)",
            "publisher": "Google / Alphabet",
            "type": "vendor",
            "url": "https://blog.google/"
        },
        {
            "name": "Pew Research Center",
            "publisher": "Pew Research Center",
            "type": "survey",
            "url": "https://www.pewresearch.org/"
        },
        {
            "name": "Similarweb AI search statistics (2026 Generative AI Landscape)",
            "publisher": "Similarweb",
            "type": "vendor",
            "url": "https://www.similarweb.com/"
        }
    ],
    "content_changed_on": "2026-10-31",
    "page_url": "https://digitaltreed.com/statistics/ai-search/ai-referral-traffic",
    "csv_url": "https://digitaltreed.com/statistics/ai-search/ai-referral-traffic.csv"
}