Gemini referral traffic has grown so quickly, it’s lapped Perplexity

Last year, Google was certainly feeling the holiday spirit.

Something clicked for Gemini in December: Referral traffic surged 51%, then another 42% in January, per SE Ranking’s data across over 101,000 sites. Eight months of nothing, then this.

The catalyst was Flash. Google’s final Gemini 3 release, which became the default across the Gemini app and AI Mode for Search, and traffic climbed almost immediately.

If a single product launch can boost a platform’s growth rate that dramatically, your AI visibility strategy needs to be nimble.

Brands that were already showing up in Gemini’s responses caught that wave. Brands that weren’t missed entirely.

And Perplexity didn’t see it coming: As of January, Gemini is sending 29% more referral traffic than Perplexity globally.

Five months ago, Perplexity was sending 3x more than Gemini. Oh, how the tables have turned.

If you’ve been tracking Perplexity as a referral source, Gemini may have already overtaken it in your analytics. It’s worth checking before your next reporting cycle.

And some numbers behind the numbers:

• ChatGPT’s traffic share fell from 86% to 64% over the past year
• Gemini climbed from 5% to 21% over the same period

ChatGPT still dominates AI referral traffic at around 80% of all visits. And though its lead over Gemini is shrinking, it’s still roughly 8x. For now.

Relying solely on ChatGPT optimization is starting to look like relying solely on one search engine. Track all the major LLMs, not just the one topping the charts today.

ChatGPT ad business is growing fast, but is it ready for everyone yet?

Every new ad platform has a golden window before costs climb and competition crowds in.

That’s ChatGPT right now: OpenAI has crossed $100M in annualized ad revenue in just six weeks.

That milestone comes from a platform still reaching a fraction of its potential audience. With roughly 85% of Free and Go users eligible to see ads.

A few more reasons to pay attention:

• Over 600 brands are on the platform and all through a managed pilot, not self-serve.
• Self-serve access is expected in April, which is when the broader market actually gets in.
• International expansion is in the works, with Canada, Australia, and New Zealand in the pipeline.

And users are finding ads relevant. OpenAI reports fewer than 7% of ads are rated low relevance by users. A solid start, though they’re still actively working on it.

Advertising isn’t a side experiment for OpenAI. They hired a former Meta ad executive to lead sales and have an IPO to answer to.

ChatGPT is where users are actively seeking recommendations and solutions. That’s high-intent territory. When self-serve opens and advertisers pile in, costs will climb.

On the other hand, managed-only access, limited inventory, and an audience that’s still warming up to ads means this isn’t a plug-and-play channel yet.

April’s self-serve launch is the real moment to watch.

Keep it on your radar. Just don’t reshuffle your budget for it quite yet.

How to track your AI prompts on a budget?

Let’s talk about prompt tracking. Or how you monitor your brand’s appearance in AI-generated answers across a saved set of prompts.

Instead of chasing Google rankings, you’re tracking mentions, sentiment, and how often a model surfaces your brand for relevant queries on different LLMs like ChatGPT or Gemini.

Naturally, tracking prompts is a different beast than tracking rankings. Tracking every prompt for every keyword inflates costs, muddies your data, and burns resources. A big ouch.

And Briie Anderson breaks down how to build a prompt tracking strategy that generates real progress without draining your budget.

Prompts that don’t align with your business goals reduce ROI. Prompts that don’t fit the tool’s specs produce false positives.

You need a smarter list.

Start with your audience: Before spending anything, check GA4 to identify which LLMs are already sending you traffic.

Research shows LLM preferences vary by gender, age, and country, so confirm where your audience spends time before setting up tracking.

In GA4, go to Reports > Acquisition > Traffic acquisition. Switch the primary dimension to Session source/medium and filter for LLM referrers. Simple as.

Don’t limit yourself to ChatGPT and Gemini, as you might miss smaller but growing referral sources.

Prepare your brand topics before building prompts. This helps you validate branded terms and catch regional differences.

Validate competitors using entity signals. Search your brand on Google and review the People Also Search For panel.

That list reflects how Google’s Knowledge Graph actually maps your competitive landscape.

Separate prompts into three types: Branded, comparison, and non-branded. Branded prompts inflate visibility metrics without telling you if you’re being recommended organically.

The real opportunity is non-branded prompts where the model recommends solutions unprompted.

Prune aggressively. Remove anything off-topic, commercially irrelevant, or tied to fast-changing topics your tool updates too slowly to capture.

Finally, treat prompt tracking like CRO: Go in with a hypothesis, test in clusters, and iterate.

That’s the short version. If you want a full breakdown, check the full post here.

Why do people stick around for your brand?

Brand values? We like to think that’s why.

But more often than not, it’s gamification:

The number one reason consumers remain loyal (at 41%) is simply that the brand offers a loyalty rewards program. The golden handcuffs, if you like.

Program can be bigger than the product: While 33% stay for high-quality products, the program itself is the stronger tether for this specific segment.

Only 7% stay because the brand aligns with their values, and only 5% because the brand makes them “feel special.”

This data contradicts the “love the brand” narrative.

For many, loyalty is transactional. They are loyal to the rewards, not necessarily the logo. If the program stops, the customer stops.

The takeaway: If you don’t have a loyalty program, you are losing 41% of your potential retention power. Start simple: a points-for-purchase system is better than nothing.

So stop hoping customers stay. Give them a reason to. Pro subscribers get regular intel on loyalty mechanics, gamification tactics, and retention strategies that drive repeat revenue.

$349/year for your entire team (up to 10 people).