The battle for digital attention is experiencing a decisive moment. Although search engines continue to be the main gateway to online information, the accelerated growth of artificial intelligence chatbots, such as ChatGPT, Claude or Perplexity, points to a structural transformation in the way users browse, consult and discover content. From WAM, a hybrid ecosystem where strategy, technology and creativity connect to transform brands and businesses, they point out that this transition is already beginning to be noticeable in the search habits of millions of users.
According to a study prepared by OneLittleWeb using data from SEMrush, during the period from April 2024 to March 2025, search engines generated 1.86 billion visits. The slight decrease of 0.51% compared to the previous year confirms the maturity of these platforms, while reinforcing their strength. Google, alone, concentrates 1.63 billion annual visits, which is 26 times more daily traffic than ChatGPT.
Despite these data, the study also reveals the beginning of a cycle change where information stops being sought and begins to be talked about. Users still turn 34 times more to traditional search engines, but that gap narrows as conversational AI is integrated into new platforms and devicesa phenomenon that WAM identifies as one of the great vectors of change for the coming years.
AI chatbots are the new entry point to information
The most significant trend in the report is the exponential growth of conversational assistants. Chatbots recorded 55.2 billion visits between April 2024 and March 2025, an increase of 80.92% from the previous year. Although its global weight is still small compared to search engines, the speed of adoption is decisive.
ChatGPT leads the sector with 47.7 billion visits, after growing 67.09% in one year. Around it, services such as Grok, driven by its integration into X, Microsoft Copilot, Claude and Perplexity are leading some of the most notable growth in the entire digital ecosystem. Its expansion is supported, above all, by the intensive use from mobile phones and on platforms where conversation and navigation coexist naturallyan area that WAM points out should be followed closely to anticipate new digital behaviors.
From “searching” to “asking”: an inevitable change
The rapid evolution of conversational assistants is accelerating the transition to a discovery model based on questions, context, and advanced personalization. Although search engines maintain a dominant position, chatbots are beginning to offer more agile responses, more intuitive processes and increasingly integrated user experiences.
“We are experiencing the transition from ‘search’ to ‘ask’. The arrival of conversational assistants integrated into mobile phones, browsers and social networks is going to completely transform how we discover information. The brands that understand that SEO is no longer just for Google, but also for ChatGPT or Perplexity, will be the ones that maintain their relevance in the coming years”afirma Jorge Carriazo, Head of Strategy en WAM.
New implications for digital marketing strategy
This context brings with it profound implications for marketing. Traditional SEO continues to be essential to guarantee visibility, but a new discipline is beginning to emerge: SEO for conversational AI. This approach requires more dialogic, personalized content oriented to specific questions, a format similar to the functioning of language models. Added to this is the appearance of chatbots integrated into social networks, such as Grok in X, which open a new way to activate contextual marketing strategies, in real time and with a special impact on mobile audiences.
According to WAM, Although search engines continue to clearly dominate, chatbots They stop being a novelty and become real channels of traffic and discovery. The transition will be gradual, but increasingly evident. For brands, the conclusion is clear: integrating conversational AI into their digital strategy is no longer an option for the future, but rather a present necessity to maintain relevance in a rapidly evolving information ecosystem.
