YouTube received more AI chatbot-driven traffic than any other website in May 2025, with 37.9 million visits, according to new data from Similarweb.

Similarweb’s research analyzed 1.3 billion visits sent by AI chatbots, including ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, and others. It focused on a sample of 1,000 domains, excluding the chatbot platforms themselves. Despite being a Google-owned platform, YouTube received roughly 75 percent of its AI referral traffic from ChatGPT.

The data shows that YouTube is the top destination when users ask AI chatbots for answers. The video platform attracted three times more referrals than Facebook or Wikipedia, which sit in second and third place.

Why are chatbots linking to YouTube more than other platforms?

The nature of questions users ask AI tools helps explain why YouTube dominates referral traffic. Similarweb explains that YouTube is getting so much traffic from AI chatbots due to the types of queries users submit. When users ask how to learn a new skill or understand a concept in more detail, AI chatbots often refer them to video content.

The platform’s example is the Learn English With TV Series channel, which frequently appears in responses to language-learning prompts. This suggests that AI chatbots choose YouTube videos because they provide deeper, visual explanations that text alone may not capture well.

This shows that users are turning to relevant video content. Unlike static pages, videos offer walk-throughs, demonstrations, and human voices that are more engaging and helpful.

The rest of the leaderboard: Facebook, Wikipedia, Reddit

Facebook and Wikipedia hold the second and third spots but receive far less AI-driven traffic than YouTube. According to Similarweb, Facebook logged 10.9 million visits from AI tools, while Wikipedia received 10.1 million.

Most chatbot traffic to Facebook leads not to user profiles but to business-related help pages, such as how to contact ad support. Prompts like “How can I contact Facebook Business Support for assistance with my ad account?” are driving those visits. This suggests that Facebook is viewed more as a support tool than an information source by chatbot users.

Wikipedia continues to benefit from its reputation as a general knowledge source. Reddit is not far behind, with 9.6 million referrals. Its archive of user conversations, combined with licensing deals with Google and OpenAI, has made it a key data source for AI tools. For instance, Reddit now uses Google’s Gemini to power its AI search feature, which aims to improve search relevance and keep users engaged on the platform.

AI chatbot traffic to e-commerce and news websites

Amazon received 4.6 million AI referrals, the highest among e-commerce platforms. However, most of that traffic went to its cloud computing division, AWS. Prompts like “What is cloud computing?” or “How can I become an AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner?” are driving users to pages like aws.amazon.com. The top retail product linked by AI chatbots was a book on geo-economics, not a typical consumer item.

Other e-commerce sites like Etsy and Walmart had 2.3 million and 1.8 million AI-driven visits, respectively. Etsy stood out for queries like “Where can I find unique handmade gifts online?” showing that AI is connecting users with niche marketplaces based on intent-focused prompts.

Among news sites, The Guardian led with 1.7 million chatbot visits, followed by Reuters with 1.5 million. But even combined, these figures are small compared to what platforms like YouTube or Reddit are receiving. This shows that while users do turn to chatbots for news, they use them far more for education, advice, and support.

ChatGPT dominates the referral traffic share

According to Similarweb, ChatGPT accounted for nearly 80 percent of all chatbot referrals in May. That’s significant. Even as Google’s Gemini and Microsoft’s Copilot ramp up their presence, OpenAI’s tool is most actively influencing traffic patterns. The platform already dominates the AI search with an 80% traffic share.

Yet, platforms like YouTube, which belongs to Google, are still reaping the biggest share of the benefits. Despite OpenAI being one of Google’s biggest AI competitors, its chatbot continues to route users back to Google properties. Similarweb points out that 75% of YouTube’s chatbot traffic comes from ChatGPT. So while Google Gemini might not yet lead the chatbot race, YouTube still benefits heavily from the overall growth in AI-driven content discovery.

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