AI-driven referral traffic is undergoing a significant transformation. Since July 21, referrals from ChatGPT to various websites have plummeted by 52%. It is a major shift sparked by changes in how the platform gathers and prioritizes information. This analysis, which looked at over a billion citations and a million referral visits, shows a clear trend towards platforms like Reddit, Wikipedia, and TechRadar as preferred sources for quick answers.
Josh Blyskal from Profound has shed some light on the situation:
Citations from Reddit have skyrocketed by 87% since July 23, now making up over 10% of all ChatGPT citations.
Wikipedia has also seen a 62% increase from its low in July, reaching nearly 13% of the share.
When combined with TechRadar, these three sites now account for 22% of all citations, a remarkable 53% rise in just a month.
This shift started even before the release of GPT-5, suggesting that the changes in citation weighting are intentional rather than a result of modifications to the underlying model.
OpenAI’s reshuffling of citations seems to favor communities that provide straightforward answers, boosting the visibility of general informative sources while pushing branded content further down the list. Blyskal advises brands to shift their focus from conversion-driven messaging to creating valuable, educational content that addresses the actual questions users are asking.
Multiple analyses highlight the instability of ChatGPT referrals and emphasize the increasing need to optimize content specifically for visibility in AI.
On a broader scale, industry leaders like Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince are warning that these trends could jeopardize the traditional internet model that relies on referral traffic. As AI “answer engines” take over search navigation, content creators might find themselves losing crucial visibility, and revenue.
News publishers are also feeling the pinch, facing a decline in organic traffic not only from AI platforms but from traditional sources as well. Google’s AI Overviews have cut referral traffic by as much as 25%, making it even tougher for publishers to maintain their audience.