We're often asked by our partners and clients: which business categories are best positioned to thrive with ChatGPT search? To answer this confidently, we've analyzed ChatGPT referral traffic to various website categories, offering a clear view into where generative platforms are already driving significant traffic.
This article delves into the most promising categories for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), revealing current engagement patterns and demographic insights that marketers can leverage beyond traditional SEO strategies.
Our Approach: Analytics + ChatGPT Referral Traffic
Our study examined referral traffic from ChatGPT across different website categories through comprehensive analytics, focusing on:
Traffic Volume: Total referral traffic from generative platforms.
Traffic Share: Percentage of overall referral traffic captured by each category.
Site Distribution: Number of distinct websites receiving traffic.
Traffic Per Site: Average traffic received by sites within each category.
We also developed a demographic alignment model, evaluating each category's appeal across dimensions like youth appeal, income correlation, technical sophistication, gender balance, and openness to experiences. This allowed us to create a composite score identifying categories with strong current traction and significant future growth potential beyond what Google Analytics typically captures.
Future Trends in Content Discovery Through AI
It's crucial to understand that direct referral clicks are only one part of the story. Industry research indicates that brand mentions within generative conversations occur approximately 25 times more frequently than actual clicks. While our analytics covers only direct referrals from ChatGPT, the true impact on brand visibility is substantially larger. Brands are likely to see a rise in referral traffic from ChatGPT search, Perplexity, Gemini, and Copilot platforms. Further, though hard to measure, brands should expect to see a rise in branded and transactional queries in their Google Search Console.
Our research aligns with broader industry observations showing that shopping, image generation, text generation, and brand searches represent the most prominent categories in generative search. Additionally, professional services industries including Healthcare, Law, Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate are experiencing particularly strong search growth, reflecting the complex information synthesis needs that characterize these sectors - much traffic that traditional Google search attribution models often miss.
Important Note: We excluded "Computers Electronics and Technology - Other" from our analysis. A large portion of its ChatGPT referral traffic looped back to generative platforms themselves, not to consumer-facing sites. This exclusion ensures our findings genuinely reflect consumer interest and provide accurate attribution data for marketers.
13 Promising Categories for Marketers Based on AI Referral Traffic
Based on our analysis, here are the categories poised for significant impact from AI search:
1. News and Media
News and Media is a powerhouse in generative search, with ChatGPT referral traffic generating an estimated 864.5 million monthly brand mentions distributed across 429 sites. For publishers looking for ways to benefit from platforms beyond Google search, this represents a vital opportunity for attribution modeling.
Growth Drivers: Generative platforms excel at synthesizing real-time information, offering balanced perspectives, and personalizing news feeds. As ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other search engines enhance credibility assessment and summarization, they become trusted gateways for news, democratizing visibility for even niche publications. Marketers should track this traffic separately from traditional Google Analytics.
2. TV Movies and Streaming
This entertainment-focused category demonstrates significant ChatGPT referral traffic in content discovery and recommendation, with an estimated 638 million monthly brand mentions. Streaming content represents one of the most discussed categories in generative conversations across 45 sites, generating much traffic for entertainment platforms.
Growth Drivers: Generative search navigates the content paradox – vast choice, limited discovery. With tens of thousands of titles on major platforms, ChatGPT cross-references viewing history, reviews, and preferences for tailored recommendations. Fragmentation across services makes generative platforms essential for tracking availability and comparing options, with voice search further benefiting this category. This represents a significant shift from traditional Google search patterns.
3. Health
Health represents a top category in our ChatGPT referral traffic analysis, with an estimated 560 million monthly brand mentions, distributed across 82 sites. The distribution is heavily concentrated in the "Health - Other" subcategory, accounting for 87.8% of all health-related engagement across 38 sites - much traffic that doesn't appear in standard Google Analytics reports.
Growth Drivers: Generative platforms' ability to synthesize complex medical information makes them crucial resources. The strong focus on "Health - Other" suggests ChatGPT acts as a general health information gateway, helping users understand terminology before professional consultation. Growing interest in fitness and wellness also drives usage for personalized regimens and nutritional plans, indicating increasing comfort with generative search for sensitive health topics due to anonymity. Marketers in this space need attribution models that account for ChatGPT referral traffic.
Ecommerce and Shopping
Ecommerce and Shopping shows significant ChatGPT referral traffic with an estimated 308.7 million monthly brand mentions distributed across 111 sites. The Marketplace subcategory dominates, capturing 77.14% of the category's engagement across 54 sites, representing substantial traffic that traditional SEO strategies might miss.
Growth Drivers: Generative search helps navigate transaction complexity and fragmented consumer options. Marketplaces dominate, showing ChatGPT's value in aggregating and comparing sellers, tackling the paradox of choice. Significant engagement in price comparison and coupon subcategories highlights the platform's role in value-oriented shopping. ChatGPT particularly excels in multi-dimensional product queries combining requirements, aesthetics, and price - creating attribution challenges for marketers used to Google Analytics tracking.
Retailers must optimize product content for generative platforms beyond traditional Google search; our new Shopify integration helps sellers achieve this, providing a ChatGPT Product Visibility Score. If you'd like to get your product featured in ChatGPT search results, schedule a call with us here.
5. Graphics, Multimedia, and Web Design
The Graphics, Multimedia and Web Design category drives significant ChatGPT referral traffic with an estimated 217.7 million monthly brand mentions, distributed across 70 sites - representing much traffic that traditional search engines might not capture effectively.
Growth Drivers: The convergence of creative tools with generative technology fuels interest in design resources, tutorials, and materials. As design software integrates generative capabilities, searches for prompt engineering and workflow integration surge across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot platforms. The audience's early adopter profile and broad site distribution indicate content specialization beyond major platforms, creating new attribution opportunities for marketers.
Investing
Investing shows exceptional alignment with higher-income demographics and ChatGPT referral traffic patterns, with an estimated 141.9 million monthly brand mentions across 68 sites. This category demonstrates strong performance across generative search engines, requiring specialized analytics beyond standard Google tracking.
Growth Drivers: Generative platforms democratize financial information, making sophisticated investment concepts accessible. As markets grow complex, ChatGPT's comparative analysis synthesizes objective information across diverse financial products. Younger investors increasingly use generative search to navigate concepts previously exclusive to advisors, a trend accelerating as platforms improve data visualization and real-time market insights. Marketers need attribution models that capture this ChatGPT referral traffic effectively.
7. Jobs and Employment
This category shows particularly strong appeal to younger users through ChatGPT referral traffic, with an estimated 92.1 million monthly brand mentions across 58 sites. The employment sector represents significant opportunity beyond traditional Google search optimization.
Growth Drivers: The post-pandemic restructuring of work makes generative platforms vital synthesizers of complex job market information. ChatGPT's ability to personalize job searches beyond keywords—considering culture, growth, and skill alignment—improves upon traditional job boards and Google search results. Engagement increasingly consolidates around platforms offering comprehensive company insights, salary transparency, and skill development. Marketers should track this traffic separately in their analytics.
8. Lifestyle (Fashion and Beauty)
This category, encompassing personal interest verticals like Fashion and Beauty, generates ChatGPT referral traffic with an estimated 55.2 million monthly brand mentions, distributed across 62 sites. Fashion and Apparel dominates, capturing 73.33% of lifestyle engagement across 39 sites - much traffic that requires specialized attribution tracking.
Growth Drivers: Generative search acts as a personalized style consultant, helping consumers navigate vast options based on preferences, body types, and aesthetics. Visual search integration accelerates growth, with ChatGPT processing image-based queries for styles and similar products. For high-consideration purchases like jewelry, generative platforms offer objective analysis. As preferences individualize, ChatGPT synthesizes product attributes, customer experiences, and trend forecasting for content-rich lifestyle sites, creating new opportunities beyond traditional SEO.
Real Estate
Real Estate shows exceptional alignment with higher-income demographics through ChatGPT referral traffic, with an estimated 50.9 million monthly brand mentions across 26 sites. This sector demonstrates strong performance across generative search engines including Perplexity and Gemini.
Growth Drivers: Generative platforms are propelled by the high-stakes, complex nature of property transactions, synthesizing market trends, property characteristics, and neighborhood data. The perfect income correlation captures high-value searches that traditional Google Analytics might undervalue. Growth is accelerated by increasing geographic flexibility and ChatGPT's comparative analysis capabilities, especially for comprehensive property data integration and pricing transparency. Marketers need attribution models that capture this specialized traffic.
10. Video Games Consoles and Accessories
This category exhibits the strongest demographic alignment with early adopters of generative search, with ChatGPT referral traffic generating an estimated 43.3 million monthly brand mentions across 41 sites. Gaming represents a crucial vertical for understanding attribution beyond traditional search engines.
Growth Drivers: Gaming's increasing technical complexity, with intricate systems benefiting from ChatGPT's synthesized explanations and optimization, drives this growth. The trend toward live service games creates consistent information needs, while cross-platform and compatibility questions are ideally suited for generative search. Marketers should track this traffic separately from Google Analytics to understand the full attribution picture.
Consumer Electronics
Consumer Electronics demonstrates direct appeal to tech-savvy early adopters through ChatGPT referral traffic, with strong youth appeal and income correlation leading to an estimated 31.4 million monthly brand mentions across 19 sites. This category shows significant potential beyond traditional Google search optimization.
Growth Drivers: Generative platforms' synthesis capabilities are perfectly suited for the increasing complexity of technical specifications and ecosystem compatibility. Rapid product release cycles create constant information needs for comparisons, compatibility, and upgrade value assessments. ChatGPT excels in multi-dimensional comparisons (e.g., "best lightweight laptop with all-day battery life under $1000"), and smart home integration drives further attention to specialized review platforms. Much traffic in this sector now originates from generative search rather than traditional search engines.
12. Vehicles
This category demonstrates moderate current interest but significant demographic alignment through ChatGPT referral traffic, with an estimated 28.2 million monthly brand mentions across 26 sites. The automotive sector shows growing potential across Perplexity, Gemini, and Copilot platforms.
Growth Drivers: The transformation of transportation technology (electrification, advanced driver assistance) creates complex information needs perfectly suited for generative search. The high income correlation indicates engagement from consumers with substantial purchasing power. ChatGPT's synthesis capabilities are ideal for evaluating battery range, charging infrastructure, and software features, particularly for comprehensive comparison tools. Marketers need attribution models that capture this emerging traffic source beyond Google Analytics.
Home and Garden
Despite currently modest engagement, this category demonstrates alignment with higher-income households (income score: 4/5), with an estimated 23.8 million monthly brand mentions across just 7 sites.
Growth Drivers: Increased home investment post-pandemic drives focus on living space improvement. Its strong income correlation indicates high purchasing power. AI excels at connecting aesthetic preferences with practical solutions and product recommendations, especially for project planning and style visualization. As smart home technology integrates, AI's ability to synthesize information across design, technology, and sustainability creates uniquely valuable guidance.
Conclusion
While generative search is still in its early stages, our research highlights emerging categories where optimization efforts beyond traditional SEO are beginning to yield results. From entertainment to niche sectors like investing and gaming, ChatGPT referral traffic and other generative platforms are already directing meaningful traffic to businesses that marketers need to track through specialized attribution models.
Looking ahead, the landscape is poised for significant transformation. Speculation suggests that ChatGPT could become the primary search experience on Apple devices, potentially rivaling Google search dominance. OpenAI's recent integration of shopping features into ChatGPT signals a shift toward generative-powered commerce, while Google's search overviews represent their response to this emerging competition. For brands in high-potential categories, investing in generative search optimization now offers a strategic opportunity to engage with this rapidly evolving channel and capture ChatGPT referral traffic that traditional analytics might miss.
How Can I Track ChatGPT Referral Traffic?
ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs) including Perplexity, Gemini, and Copilot append UTM parameters to their outbound links, so website owners can track and analyzing AI traffic in Google Analytics 4 (GA4). The challenge isn't just identifying ChatGPT referral traffic—it's understanding the growth patterns, user behaviors, and conversion paths that differ from traditional search engine traffic.
Effective generative AI analytics involves category, and topic, traffic estimates based on industry benchmarks unique to each sector. Our team at Azoma specializes in helping businesses decode their AI traffic patterns, providing insights into how your specific category and niche is performing across generative platforms, and identifying where you should focus your optimization efforts for maximum impact. You can contact us here.
Article Author: Max Sinclair