Introduction to Google’s Traffic Patterns
New data shows that Google is keeping users on its site longer, with visitors now making 10 clicks on Google’s site before leaving for another website. This finding comes from a 13-month study comparing Google and ChatGPT traffic patterns. The study analyzed Similarweb data and found that Google’s "pages per visit" metric has climbed to 10 as of March, a significant jump from before.
Google’s Growing Retention Rate
The report explains that increasing "pages per visit" for Google.com indicates that users are spending more clicks within Google’s search results. Most interactions with Google’s search results, such as interacting with features, paging, refining searches, or clicking images, change the URL but keep visitors on Google’s domain. Google still sends the most overall traffic to external websites, generating 175.5 million outgoing visits in March compared to ChatGPT’s 57.6 million.
The Efficiency Gap Between Google and ChatGPT
ChatGPT is more efficient at sending people to other websites. The numbers tell the story: ChatGPT generates 1.4 external website visits per user, while Google produces just 0.6 visits per user. This means ChatGPT users are 2.3 times more likely to visit external websites than Google users, even though Google’s audience is about 6.8 times larger.
Google’s SERP Retention Strategy
Google’s increasing in-platform clicks match its strategy of expanding search features. These features provide immediate answers without requiring users to visit other websites. Google is succeeding at two goals: remaining the web’s primary traffic source and keeping users on Google’s properties longer. While Google sent more outgoing traffic in early 2025, its audience barely grew, showing a complex relationship between keeping users and referring them elsewhere.
Implications for SEO Pros and Marketers
For SEO pros and marketers, this trend creates new challenges and opportunities. With users spending more time on Google’s interfaces, capturing attention in the first screen view matters more than ever. Focus on appearing in featured snippets, knowledge panels, and other SERP elements to maintain visibility as traditional organic clicks become harder to get. Consider ChatGPT and other AI platforms as additional traffic sources since they refer more visitors per user.
The Broader AI Search Market
While Google and ChatGPT lead the conversation, other AI search platforms are growing fast. Perplexity grew 110.7% month-over-month in March, while Grok grew 48.1% and Claude grew 23%. These newer platforms could change current traffic patterns as they gain users, though the report doesn’t analyze their referral efficiency in detail. Google remains the biggest traffic source overall, but its growing "walled garden" approach means marketers should watch these trends and diversify where their traffic comes from.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Google’s increasing retention rate and efficiency gap with ChatGPT have significant implications for SEO pros and marketers. As Google continues to expand its search features and keep users on its platform longer, marketers must adapt their strategies to capture attention and maintain visibility. The growing AI search market also presents new opportunities and challenges, and marketers must stay ahead of the curve to succeed in this evolving landscape. By understanding these trends and adjusting their approaches, marketers can better navigate the changing traffic patterns and reach their target audiences more effectively.