What's the actual growth rate of AI search? Need data for budget conversations

Here’s the data compilation I use for executive presentations.

Current Usage Statistics (2026):

ChatGPT:

• 800+ million weekly active users
• 1 billion+ prompts per day
• 100 million+ daily active users
• 10% of new user sign-ups now attributed to ChatGPT referrals (up from <1% six months prior)

Google AI Overviews:

• 1 billion+ users reached
• Appearing on 60%+ of informational queries
• 10%+ usage increase in major markets

Perplexity:

• 15 million+ monthly active users
• Growing 30%+ month-over-month
• Strongest growth in professional/research segments

Consumer Behavior:

• 71% of Americans have used AI tools for product research
• 82% find AI-powered search more helpful than traditional
• 58% have replaced traditional search with AI for some queries

The Traffic Impact:

• AI Overviews reducing organic traffic by 18-64% for affected queries
• 50% reduction in traditional search traffic expected by 2028
• “Zero-click” searches increasing across categories

Use these as your foundation.

How I positioned this to my board.

The narrative that worked:

The Shift: “Search behavior is fragmenting. Users increasingly get answers from AI rather than clicking through to websites. This is a structural shift, not a trend.”

The Numbers:

• 71% of our target demographic uses AI for research
• Our organic traffic is down 15% while rankings held
• Competitors appearing in AI responses are gaining share of voice

The Opportunity:

• Only 22% of marketers actively monitor AI visibility
• First-mover advantage in GEO optimization is real
• Investment now establishes competitive moat

The Ask:

• Monitoring tools: $X/year
• Content optimization: $X (internal resources or agency)
• Ongoing monitoring: $X

The ROI Framework: “If we capture X% of AI-referred traffic that’s currently going to competitors, that’s $Y in pipeline opportunity.”

Board approved immediately. The gap between user behavior and marketing attention was the compelling argument.

The projections that matter for planning.

2026-2028 Projections:

AI Search Adoption:

• 2026: 40-50% of search queries touch AI
• 2027: 55-65% projected
• 2028: 70%+ expected

Traditional Search Traffic:

• 25-30% decline by end of 2027
• 40-50% decline by end of 2028
• Varies significantly by industry/query type

RAG Market Growth:

• $1.96 billion (2025) → $40.34 billion (2035)
• 35.31% CAGR
• Indicates massive AI search infrastructure investment

The Platform Landscape:

• Google AI Mode expanding
• ChatGPT Search growing
• Perplexity gaining professional users
• Apple Intelligence entering search

What this means for budgets:

Companies not investing in AI visibility will see compounding visibility loss. The gap between AI-optimized and non-optimized competitors widens each quarter.

The traffic impact data I share with clients.

Real client data (anonymized):

Client A (B2B SaaS):

• Organic traffic: -22% YoY
• Rankings: Stable
• Cause: AI Overviews absorbing informational queries
• Solution: GEO investment

Client B (E-commerce):

• Product page traffic: -18%
• Conversion rate: +35%
• Net revenue: +8%
• Traffic quality improved even as volume declined

Client C (Publisher):

• Traffic: -31%
• Ad revenue: -28%
• AI visibility: 12% (very low)
• Competitor AI visibility: 45%

The insight:

Traffic decline ≠ failure. But traffic decline without AI visibility = real problem.

The companies maintaining visibility across both traditional and AI search are outperforming those focusing only on traditional SEO.

Finance perspective on how to frame the investment.

What finance wants to see:

Risk framing:

• “If we don’t invest, we project X% visibility decline”
• “Competitors investing are gaining Y% share of voice”
• “Cost of inaction: $Z in lost opportunity”

Opportunity framing:

• “Investment of $X yields Y% visibility improvement”
• “Each 10% visibility gain = Z leads/conversions”
• “Payback period: N months”

The comparable:

• “We spend $X on SEO for traditional search”
• “AI search is Y% of user behavior and growing”
• “Proportional investment would be $Z”

Budget categories:

• Tools (monitoring, analytics): Operating expense
• Content optimization: Can be internal reallocation
• Authority building: Marketing budget line item

The approval accelerator:

Tie to pipeline/revenue. “Each AI-referred lead has X% higher close rate” gets attention faster than “visibility scores.”

Competitive data as budget justification.

What I do:

Monitor competitor visibility across AI platforms. Present the gap.

Example presentation:

“When users ask ChatGPT about [our category]:

• Competitor A is mentioned: 67% of responses (first position 45%)
• Competitor B is mentioned: 52% of responses
• We are mentioned: 18% of responses (rarely first)

This visibility gap represents X potential customers seeing competitors first.”

How to get this data:

Am I Cited tracks competitor visibility alongside yours. Set up monitoring for top 3-5 competitors on your key topics.

The competitive argument:

Leadership responds to competitive pressure. “Competitor X is investing in this and gaining visibility” is often more compelling than abstract market data.

Show them the gap. Propose closing it.

The strategic framing that resonates.

The “new channel” frame:

“AI search is a new discovery channel, like social media was 15 years ago. Early investors in social captured lasting advantages. AI search is at that inflection point now.”

The “visibility tax” frame:

“Every month we delay investment, we pay a visibility tax. Competitors gain ground. Users form habits. AI systems establish trusted sources. We pay more later to catch up.”

The “audience reality” frame:

“71% of our target audience uses AI for research. We’re invisible to them. That’s not a future problem - it’s a current gap.”

Pick the frame that matches your leadership’s thinking:

• Risk-averse? Use visibility tax frame.
• Growth-focused? Use new channel frame.
• Customer-centric? Use audience reality frame.

Same data, different narrative emphasis.

How we position this in proposals.

The slide that wins:

Title: “The Search Landscape is Shifting”

Visual: Pie chart showing:

• Traditional Search: Declining %
• AI-Enhanced Search: Growing %
• Voice/Conversational: Emerging %

Key stats overlay:

• 1 billion+ ChatGPT prompts daily
• 71% of consumers using AI for research
• 50% traffic decline expected by 2028

The ask: “Investment in AI visibility is insurance against this shift + opportunity capture during transition.”

Budget context: “Recommended: 20-30% of SEO budget reallocated or additional for GEO initiatives.”

This framing positions it as strategic necessity, not experimental.

The “start small, prove it” approach.

If you can’t get full budget approval:

Phase 1: Proof of concept ($1-2K/month)

• Am I Cited monitoring
• Baseline visibility assessment
• 3-month tracking

Phase 2: Initial optimization (internal resources)

• Top 10 page optimization
• Basic schema improvements
• Track visibility changes

Phase 3: Budget expansion (with data)

• Show visibility improvements
• Demonstrate competitor gaps
• Request full investment

The data you’ll have:

• “We were invisible. Now we’re cited X% of the time.”
• “Each 10% visibility gain correlated with Y leads.”
• “Competitors who aren’t investing are falling behind.”

Pilot programs de-risk the ask. Build the case with your own data.

This thread is gold for budget season.

My presentation outline:

1. The Shift - 71% using AI search, 1B+ daily prompts
2. The Impact - Traffic declining while rankings stable, 50% decline projected by 2028
3. Our Situation - Competitor visibility comparison (will pull from Am I Cited)
4. The Gap - Only 22% of marketers monitoring this
5. The Ask - Specific budget for tools + optimization
6. The ROI - Lead/pipeline connection to visibility

Key stats I’m using:

• 800M+ weekly ChatGPT users
• 71% of Americans use AI for research
• 82% find AI search more helpful
• 50% traffic decline by 2028
• Only 22% of marketers monitoring

Competitive hook: Will show our visibility vs top 3 competitors. The gap will make the case.

Thank you all for the comprehensive data!