Since ChatGPT emerged as a phenomenon, there have been frequent headlines about chatbots soon replacing Google Search as the default search engine.
However, when you delve deeper into the numbers, the reality is more complex. While there's a rapidly increasing trend towards using chatbots, Google search remains the dominant "main door" for news research.
Google Search still holds a huge share of the pie.
According to a June report by Similarweb, a company specializing in website research, ChatGPT is rapidly growing as a tool for Americans to look up information.
Specifically, from January to May 2025, there were approximately 25 million visits to a news website after users clicked on a link in ChatGPT. This represents a 25-fold increase compared to the 1 million visits in 2024.
However, during the same period, Americans accessed news websites approximately 9.5 billion times using traditional web search engines like Google Search and clicking on a link.
In other words, for every American who asks ChatGPT for information and accesses a news website to learn more, 379 other users have used Google to do the same.
 |
The ratio of users accessing the website to search for information versus using AI chatbots. Image: Washington Post. |
There's an important observation regarding user behavior when using chatbots to obtain information compared to web search engines. Chatbots like ChatGPT interpret information from articles and news reports. This means users are less likely to click on a web link to learn more, as they typically do with search engines like Google.
This behavior is damaging websites and altering Similarweb's numbers. When users use ChatGPT to summarize news events and stop there, it doesn't show up in Similarweb's web click data.
Another report, from web analytics firm Datos and software company SparkToro, shows that approximately 11 out of 100 website visits from computer users are to Google and other search engines.
AI technologies—including ChatGPT, Google Gemini, or Claude—account for less than 1/100 of combined website visits.
The report also shows that despite a significant increase in visits to chatbot websites over the past year, users generally still tend to use traditional search websites.
"Search is one of the most popular and fastest-growing features in ChatGPT. We're investing in a faster, smarter search experience and remain committed to helping people discover high-quality news and information," an OpenAI spokesperson said.
Google Search is difficult to replace.
SparkToro CEO Rand Fishkin conducted some relevant data analysis and concluded that chatbots are still not comparable to search engines.
Specifically, Fishkin stated that users are performing over 14 billion Google searches per day compared to a maximum of 37.5 million similar searches on ChatGPT. In other words, Google has approximately 373 times the usage of ChatGPT.
When considering the number of individual app users, ChatGPT is leading Google's Gemini. However, the advantage of a vast ecosystem still helps Google maintain its superior strength.
Google Search currently has over 2 billion monthly active users (MAUs) and approximately 1.5 billion daily active users (DAUs). Even with ChatGPT's rapid growth, its daily active user count was only about 10% of Google Search's as of March.
Gemini's recent growth, with its daily active users nearly quadrupling since October 2024, is largely due to its pre-installed strategy on Android devices rather than attracting organic downloads. This is the same tactic that helped Google Search dominate the market for many years, by becoming the default choice on billions of devices, including iPhones.
 |
The chart shows the number of daily active users for ChatGPT and Gemini. Source: Barclays research. |
Gemini is gradually being integrated directly into Google Search, allowing this AI technology to reach over 2 billion users every month. At the same time, Google is signing agreements to pre-install Gemini on Android devices and Chromebooks, further expanding its distribution channels.
Meanwhile, ChatGPT's growth is primarily based on its organic appeal thanks to continuously updated features, such as the impressive image creation technology launched earlier this year.
Experts and consumers alike often underestimate the speed at which new technologies replace old habits. There was once a belief that consumers would buy everything online, but e-commerce actually accounts for only 16% of all goods purchased by Americans.
Until recently, Americans spent more time watching cable or free-to-air television than streaming services on TV, according to market research firm Nielsen.
"With people and the media going crazy over AI, this technology can feel much bigger than it actually is," Fishkin said.
Source: https://znews.vn/chatgpt-thay-the-google-chi-la-ao-tuong-post1567217.html
Comment (0)