Does traffic from AI platforms convert "better" than Google search traffic?

What's so magical about ChatGPT traffic? Are website visits from Al search platforms actually more qualified than Google traffic, or is there more nuance to the story?

Everyone is pushing a different narrative. And there’s a “study” to support every storyline.

Example 1: Amsive research says ChatGPT converts the same as Google.

Example 2: Search Engine Land says that ChatGPT converts worse than Google.

Example 3: Ahrefs says ChatGPT converts better than Google.

So who is right? Well, no one. It’s all segment specific.

Tim Soulo from Ahrefs called me out 😂

I had a friendly exchange with Tim Soulo from Ahrefs. He challenged Kevin Indig’s data on LLM traffic flatlining because it was a sample size of 8 client websites from B2B SaaS.

Whereas Ahrefs published new data showing that LLM traffic is actually increasing every month, but their sample size is 60K websites across many diverse categories.

My challenge: Ahrefs data includes super high traffic websites with massive search volumes, skewing the data in favor of websites where ChatGPT sends more traffic.

Tim’s challenge: Kevin and I cherry picked niche B2B SaaS websites with low search volumes, where by default, ChatGPT traffic growth is limited.

The takeaway: No matter which narrative you’re promoting—counter or consensus—there will always be a “study” that slices the data in a way that supports your storyline.

There’s many studies out there supporting higher website conversion rates for ChatGPT

SEER Interactive shared conversion data from one client project corroborating the ChatGPT conversion narrative.

Kevin Indig also found corroborative data from SimilarWeb.

Then you have anecdotal stories about how LLMs are sending low value, unqualified leads

So what’s going on here? 🤔

1. No one has the answers.

2. This is a segment specific game.

3. People still need to validate what an LLM is telling them.

4. It’s just another channel. It’s additive, not ChatGPT vs. Google.

Real-world client example (B2B SaaS) where AI search converts 50% better than Google & Bing

While AI chats represent WAY LESS TRAFFIC than Google and Bing, they convert about 50% “better” but the question is why?

And does this actually drive better customer acquisition down the funnel?

AI leads have “better” website conversion rates but are driving much lower B2B deal values compared to Google 💰

In the trailing 12 month period, my client (mid-market B2B SaaS) saw a huge difference in peak month ARR performance:

• (Best Month) Organic Search = $344,911 ARR

• (Best Month) AI Search = $33,000 ARR

The difference in total revenue (ARR) by source was staggering:

• Organic Search = $1.2M ARR

• AI Search = $85K ARR

For this B2B client, organic search (Google & Bing) delivered significantly higher deal values, ranging from $100K to $300K compared to AI leads at ~$5.4K.

This 37x difference in average deal size demonstrates that organic search is attributable to more qualified, enterprise-level buyers ready for substantial investments, while AI leads typically yield smaller, exploratory purchases.

Why does AI search drive higher website conversion rates?

Here are some takeaways to consider:

• ChatGPT is built for fulfilling very specific intent: Website visitors coming from AI search platforms are generally better informed due to the hyper-personalized and conversational nature of the search journey.

• ChatGPT can drive you to the conversion you want faster: Why? Because if a buyer is in a solution seeking / narrowing mode, ChatGPT will align the search intent with commercial pages and recommendations.

• ChatGPT barely sends any traffic for informational intent: Therefore by default, if most of the outgoing AI traffic is commercial intent, there are going to be more conversions, despite less volume.

Why does Google search drive higher B2B deal sizes, despite lower conversion rates?

I’ve been pounding my fists on the table for a long time about this:

• Google search sends hordes of useless TOFU traffic. Most B2B SEO strategies were built on driving tons of informational clicks to pump up the organic traffic numbers. I wrote about this recently on Search Engine Land.

• Top of funnel SEO strategies lead to worse overall conversion rates: If so many SEO teams are prioritizing informational content strategies, then it attracts low buying intent traffic.

• By default, ChatGPT wins against informational intent: We know that ChatGPT is primarily sending BOFU and branded traffic. It already has the answer to informational questions in its training data. The goal of ChatGPT is to give you answers, not drive traffic.

Specific buyer profiles interact differently with AI tools compared to Google search

For example, IT teams will likely have different search habits, depending on what platform they are using:

• Google Search = [Snowflake Integrations]

• AI Search = [How does Snowflake integrate with ETL tools]

Shoutout to Taran Soodan for this one AKA the SEO secret weapon.

Zero click conversions are the missing piece, and SEO attribution is cooked in the AI era

It’s harder to measure conversions from ChatGPT due to the dark SEO funnel.

Most answers that cause conversions are zero click. Meaning they head over to Google and search the brand to convert after the research has been done everywhere else.

The modern search path from discovery to conversion has become insanely fragmented.

When an LLM surfaces a vendor the buyer didn’t know, the majority of respondents said they go straight to the vendor website.

The conversion pattern I’m observing for B2B SaaS

• AI = top of funnel discovery, exploration, narrowing.

• Google = Brand / Direct = conversion.

While there are no absolutes on this topic, I think patterns and trends are starting to emerge that can help us better understand this highly complex puzzle.