AI-driven referrals to websites surge by 357% in June 2025, reaching 1.13 billion

AI referrals to websites have grown significantly in the past year, with a 357% increase from June 2024 to June 2025, totaling 1.13 billion referrals to the top 1,000 websites globally. Despite this rapid growth, Google Search still leads the pack with 191 billion referrals for the same period. The most notable growth has been observed in the news and media category, where AI referrals surged by 770%, suggesting that AI platforms like ChatGPT are increasingly being used to drive traffic to news outlets. However, some publishers, like The New York Times, are blocking access to their content for AI platforms. Yahoo led the news category with 2.3 million AI referrals in June 2025, followed by other major news sites such as Reuters and The Guardian. Other industries like e-commerce also saw significant AI-driven referrals, with Amazon, Etsy, and eBay leading the pack. Overall, AI referrals are becoming an essential source of traffic for websites across multiple categories, but Google Search still holds the majority of web traffic, with over 190 billion referrals in June 2025.