After decades of relying on Google’s ten blue links to find everything from travel tips to jeans, consumers are quickly adapting to a completely new format: AI chatbots that do the searching for them.

According to new research from Adobe, AI search has become a significant traffic channel for retailers. The company analyzed “more than 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail sites” through its analytics platform, and conducted a survey of “more than 5,000 U.S. respondents†to better understand how people are using AI.

The report says AI search referrals surged 1,300 percent during the 2024 holiday season compared to 2023, with Cyber Monday seeing a 1,950 percent jump. While these are dramatic increases, it’s somewhat expected, since AI search was still in its nascency last year.

What’s more interesting is the engagement metrics: Users who are referred from AI search compared to traditional referrals (like a standard Google or Bing search) tend to stay on the site 8 percent longer, browse through different pages 12 percent more, and are 23 percent less likely to just visit the link and leave (or “bounceâ€). This could suggest that AI tools are directing people to more releva …

Read the full story at The Verge.

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