LLMs vs. Search Engines: Who’s Winning?

You may have heard the rumors that the use of LLMs is going to outpace search engines. 

That makes for great headlines, but the real-world user behavior tells a different story — at least for now.

In this article, we’ll explore what the latest research actually shows, how consumers are toggling between LLMs and search engines and what that means for your organic traffic and conversions. 

• Search Engines Still Dominate Daily Behavior
• Which Traffic Converts Better: LLMs or Search Engines?
• Final Thoughts
• Quick Solutions
• FAQ: How Do We Optimize Our Website for Better Conversions?
• 20 Ideas for Conversion Optimization
• About Us

Search Engines Still Dominate Daily Behavior 

According to 2025 research from Sparktoro, about 95% of searchers “remain regular users of traditional search engines.” 

The analysis notes that the percentage has decreased by only a negligible amount (less than 1%) over the past 2.5 years, “even as AI tool use has nearly quintupled (from 8% to 38% over the same period).”

Even the percentage of heavy AI users (using it more than 10 times per month) doesn’t come close to the percentage of heavy search engine users, and that number seems to be plateauing.

For instance, when tracking AI adoption among American users from 2023 to 2025, the data shows adoption waning.

Rand Fishkin at Sparktoro speculates that “AI adoption is slowing because we’re reaching saturation among the group most likely to use and need AI for their jobs (i.e. knowledge workers in tech-enabled positions).” 

So, when do people use AI versus traditional search? In reality, people use a mix of different channels to get the answer they want. 

Q3 research from Yext shows that only 11% of U.S. consumers trust the first tool they use when searching online.

The data shows that traditional search is the go-to resource for 62% of people searching “sensitive topics” and for 60% making “everyday decisions.”

On the other hand, the report indicates that AI is primarily used for research and ideation.

Fifty-four percent use it for informational queries, 48% for creative prompts and 43% for analysis. 

If you’re interested in making smarter decisions about prioritizing search engines or LLMs for your team’s goals, read: 

How Do We Determine Whether to Prioritize Search Engines or LLMs in Our Marketing?

Which Traffic Converts Better: LLMs or Search Engines?

So people are still using traditional search, but website publishers want to know: How does LLM usage impact their traffic and conversions? 

The Yext report (linked earlier) states that “when it comes to conversions, U.S. shoppers are still grounded in traditional purchase drivers like price, peer reviews, and product specifications.” 

According to an analysis from SALT.agency, traffic from the organic search channel (like Google) is more likely to convert than traffic from an LLM like ChatGPT.

But there are exceptions, says the data. According to the research, certain sectors get more engagement from LLM traffic than others: 

• Health (13.24% LLM vs. 12.88% organic).
• Careers (22.31% LLM vs. 16.58% organic).
• Catalog Website (2.34% LLM vs. 2.13% organic).

An academic paper published findings from more than 50,000 transactions via ChatGPT referrals in addition to 164 million transactions from traditional channels. 

The analysis found that:

• LLM traffic is 200 times smaller than Google organic search and less than 0.2% of total traffic.
• ChatGPT visitors are interested enough to stay, but they don’t end up buying as often or spending as much.

Overall, across nearly a thousand e-commerce sites, ChatGPT referrals converted less and produced lower revenue per visit than every major channel except paid social. 

This is consistent with research coming from Amsive, which reported that LLM traffic represented only less than 1% of sessions from LLM traffic.

However, what differed from the data in the academic paper was that, for the most part, overall conversion averages for organic search traffic vs. LLM traffic performed about the same, though there were variations.

For example, LLM traffic converted slightly higher than organic for B2B sites (2.17% vs. 1.16%) and slightly lower for B2C sites (6.58% vs. 6.78%).

On a more granular level, conversion rates varied widely by industry with the financial sector seeing the most conversions from LLMs and education seeing the least.

For more context, the data showed that organic traffic accounted for about one-third of total sessions (31.9%) and conversions (33.8%), whereas LLM traffic contributed less than 1% on average (0.24% of sessions, 0.42% of conversions).

Final Thoughts

The latest data on LLMs vs. search engines shows that, while LLM referrals remain a tiny slice of total sessions, search still dominates traffic. 

LLMs are helping people do research, explore options and narrow choices, while search engines are typically the place they compare providers, validate information, evaluate pricing and ultimately convert.

The opportunity isn’t choosing one channel over the other, but understanding the role each plays and optimizing for the entire decision journey.

For more, check out: How Do I Effectively Integrate AI into Our Marketing Strategy?

Are you ready to optimize your site for an AI-powered world? 

Contact Us for a Free Consultation!

Quick Solutions

• How Do We Determine Whether to Prioritize Search Engines or LLMs in Our Marketing?
• How Do We Effectively Integrate AI into Our Marketing Strategy?

FAQ: How Do We Optimize Our Website for Better Conversions?

As organizations work to understand how different channels convert such as search engines vs. LLMs, they also need to ensure their site is conversion-ready for those clicks. 

Optimizing a website for conversions requires a comprehensive approach that focuses on understanding the audience, using data-driven insights and improving the user experience. 

First, ensure you’ve conducted thorough market research to identify your target audience’s preferences, behaviors and pain points. 

This information will help you tailor the website’s content and design to meet their needs. 

Creating conversion-optimized content means addressing your audience’s questions and concerns.  

Then, enhancing user experience is essential to conversion optimization. 

Ensure your website is easy to navigate with a clean and intuitive layout that guides visitors toward desired actions. 

A big part of this is mobile optimization — ensuring your site is set up to create a great mobile experience, from the layout to the design and the content. 

To bring it all together, ensure you’re regularly monitoring and analyzing website performance metrics. 

Metrics such as engagement rates and conversion rates can reveal how users interact with your site depending on which channel they came from.  

A/B test different elements, such as headlines, images and CTAs to help determine what resonates most with your audience and refine accordingly.

20 Ideas for Conversion Optimization

Here are 20 ideas for better converting the traffic that comes to your site, whether it’s from search engines or LLMs:

1. Conduct market research to understand your target audience’s preferences and behaviors.
2. Identify key pain points and challenges faced by your audience.
3. Analyze competitors’ websites to gather insights into successful strategies.
4. Develop user personas to guide your website optimization efforts.
5. Simplify your website’s navigation to enhance user experience.
6. Optimize your website for mobile devices to accommodate mobile users.
7. Create high-quality, relevant content that addresses your audience’s needs.
8. Use clear and compelling call-to-action buttons strategically placed throughout your site.
9. Regularly monitor website performance metrics such as engagement rates and conversion rates.
10. Identify underperforming pages and prioritize them for improvement.
11. Conduct A/B testing to evaluate the effectiveness of different website elements.
12. Implement changes based on A/B testing results to optimize user engagement.
13. Use multimedia elements, such as images and videos, to enhance content engagement.
14. Ensure your website’s design is visually appealing and aligns with your brand identity.
15. Optimize your website’s loading speed to reduce bounce rates.
16. Include trust signals, such as customer reviews and security badges, to build credibility.
17. Set up analytics tools to track user behavior and website performance.
18. Regularly update your content to keep it fresh and relevant.
19. Implement retargeting strategies to re-engage visitors who did not convert initially.
20. Monitor industry trends to stay ahead of changes in user behavior and preferences.

About Us

Bruce Clay Inc. has been a leader in the digital marketing industry since 1996, providing innovative solutions to help businesses succeed online. Our expertise spans search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising and content marketing, and we bring it all together to help clients succeed in the age of AI. Learn more About Us.

Bruce Clay is founder and president of Bruce Clay Inc., a global digital marketing firm providing search engine optimization, pay-per-click, social media marketing, SEO-friendly web architecture, and SEO tools and education. Connect with him on LinkedIn or through the BruceClay.com website.

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