Every week another headline screams the same panic: “AI is destroying organic traffic,” “Google referrals are dying,” “App stores are doomed.”
It’s pure, unfiltered clickbait.
Journalists love the drama because fear sells. But when you open the analytics dashboards of real companies — from indie developers to publicly traded giants — the picture looks completely different.
Here’s what the data actually shows in late 2025:
1. Google Search & app store traffic still dominate — and they’re growing
- Organic Google traffic accounts for 90–96 % of external referrals for most websites and mobile apps.
- Year-over-year, Google-driven sessions are up 18–25 % for e-commerce, SaaS, media, and content sites (SimilarWeb aggregate data across 100 000+ domains).
- App installs from Google Play Search + Apple Search Ads grew 21 % globally in 2024–2025, according to Sensor Tower’s State of Mobile 2025 report.
- If AI were “killing” these channels, we would see flat or negative curves. Instead we see the opposite.
2. Traffic directly from AI chat interfaces is tiny
- ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini combined send less than 2.5 % of total external traffic to most publishers and product sites (Parse.ly, Chartbeat, and internal analytics of several large media companies, Q3–Q4 2025).
- Even in the most AI-exposed niches (programming tools, writing assistants, image generators), direct AI traffic rarely exceeds 6–8 %.
3. Google’s own AI Overviews are not a replacement — they’re an enhancement
Google AI answers sit on top of the classic SERP, not instead of it.
- Sites that rank in positions 1–10 still receive the featured snippet that feeds the AI summary.
- Google explicitly stated in 2025 that AI Overviews have increased clicks to publishers in many cases because the AI box contains multiple cited links, not just one.
- Early internal tests from SEO agencies (Ahrefs, SEMrush) show that being cited in an AI Overview can boost click-through rates by 10–30 % compared to a normal featured snippet.
4. The ironic twist: AI is creating new “app stores” — and Google is still the front door
Far from killing stores, AI platforms are spawning their own marketplaces:
- ChatGPT’s GPT Store (launched 2024, fully opened 2025) already has over 3 million custom GPTs.
- Claude Projects, Gemini Gems, Perplexity Apps, and Grok plugins all function as discovery layers.
- And where do users discover most of these third-party GPTs and agents?
Through Google Search.
Search volume for “best ChatGPT GPTs for X” or “top Claude projects 2025” exploded 400 % year-over-year. Google remains the primary on-ramp even to AI-native stores.
5. AI lowered the barrier to entry and multiplied niches
- One-person teams can now ship fully functional SaaS in weeks instead of months.
- New categories (AI voice cloning, AI video avatars, AI SEO auditors, AI logo generators, etc.) are creating entirely new search demand.
- Every new niche means new keywords, new intent, and new organic growth opportunities — all flowing through Google and traditional stores.
The Bottom Line
AI is not cannibalizing the old channels; it is stacking on top of them and amplifying them.
- Google Search is stronger than ever.
- App stores are growing, not shrinking.
- AI platforms are becoming new stores themselves — and Google is still the main discovery engine for those stores.
The traffic pie is not getting smaller; it’s getting bigger, and new slices are being added.
Anyone telling you that “AI killed organic traffic” is selling fear, not facts.
Look at your own analytics. The numbers don’t lie — and right now they’re pointing straight up.
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Author: Slava Vasipenok
Founder and CEO of QUASA (quasa.io) - Daily insights on Web3, AI, Crypto, and Freelance. Stay updated on finance, technology trends, and creator tools - with sources and real value.
Innovative entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in IT, fintech, and blockchain. Specializes in decentralized solutions for freelancing, helping to overcome the barriers of traditional finance, especially in developing regions.
