AI Isn’t Killing Search. It’s Exposing It.
AI Isn’t Cannibalizing Search. It’s Just Exposing the Fluff.
There’s a lot of panic right now about AI killing organic search.
And yeah, traffic patterns are shifting fast.
But here’s the part no one seems to be talking about:
Not all traffic is created equal.
And AI-driven traffic? It’s not just different.
At Webflow, it’s better.
Almost 10 percent of our signups now originate from large language models, with 98 percent of that coming directly from ChatGPT.
That number is actually low. Why?
Because user behavior is changing in subtle ways. People are starting their journey in ChatGPT, then jumping to Google to complete the task — especially when ChatGPT doesn’t return a direct link.
We’re watching that pattern unfold in real time.
Now here’s the part that actually matters:
That AI-originated traffic is converting six times higher than our standard non-branded organic search traffic.
Let that sink in.
Sure, we’re seeing some traffic loss from classic organic.
But what we’re gaining is more valuable:
Higher intent
Shorter paths to signup
Buyers, not browsers
This isn’t the death of SEO. It’s the rebirth.
And the metric that matters now is intent velocity — how quickly someone goes from curiosity to conversion.
If you’re not already thinking about AEO (Answer Engine Optimization), it’s time to start.
This post was inspired by a recent webinar featuring my good friend and GTM Father himself, G from Hypergrowth Partners, and Eoin from AirOps, who brought a sharp point of view on the shift in LLM behavior and buyer journeys. (Thanks for the shoutout in it, too.)
The chart below was created by Ethan from Graphite and Vivian, our SEO lead at Webflow, who recently hosted an amazing AEO workshop in San Francisco. Expect more virtual and in-person sessions soon.
I’ll be sharing more behind-the-scenes breakdowns of what’s working (and what isn’t) as we build through this shift in public.
No fluff. No fake frameworks. Just raw learnings, bold bets, and honest lessons as we scale in an AI-first world.
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