Google vs ChatGPT: Why Users Are Adopting Both Instead of Switching
- Similarweb data reveals a 95% overlap between ChatGPT and Google users through May 2026.
- While users aren't leaving Google, Bocconi University found a 9.4% drop in traditional search queries per household.
- The gap between user retention and falling clicks suggests AI is substituting specific query types.
- API and desktop app usage remain blind spots in current audience overlap metrics.
The narrative surrounding the AI revolution has often been framed as a zero-sum game: a battle for the search bar where generative AI would eventually displace the traditional search engine. However, recent data suggests a far more nuanced reality. Rather than a mass exodus from Google to ChatGPT, the market is witnessing a hybrid behavior where users integrate both tools into their daily digital routines.
According to data from Similarweb, the overlap between the two audiences is staggering. In September 2025, 95% of ChatGPT users were also found within Google's audience, a figure that remained stable through May 2026. This persistence occurred even as overall visits to generative AI platforms surged by 70% year-over-year. On the surface, this suggests that AI is being added to the search ecosystem as a complementary tool rather than a replacement.
The Paradox of Stable Audiences and Falling Queries
If nearly every AI user is still visiting Google, why are digital marketers reporting a decline in organic traffic? The answer lies in the distinction between counting people and counting actions. While the audience overlap remains high, the actual volume of search activity is shifting. Search Engine Journal highlights a critical gap: a user can remain a Google user while drastically reducing the number of queries they send to the platform.
A study from Bocconi University provides the empirical evidence for this shift. By analyzing U.S. desktop clickstream data from October 2024 to July 2025, researchers compared households that gained access to ChatGPT Search with those that did not. The findings were clear: households with ChatGPT access reduced their traditional search queries by an average of 3.14 per week, representing a 9.4% drop. This gap widened the longer the households had access to the AI tool.
Why Using Google Is a Low Bar to Clear
To understand why the 95% overlap figure might be misleading for business owners, one must consider what constitutes a Google user. In the eyes of audience measurement tools, a person who performs a single search in a month is categorized as a user. This broad definition masks the reality of how people are redistributing their intent.
Many users have migrated their complex research, coding questions, or synthesis tasks to ChatGPT, yet they still rely on Google for specific, high-utility functions. These include:
- Checking local store hours or addresses via Maps.
- Using Google as a primary login portal for third-party services.
- Quickly accessing specific navigational links.
The Invisible Leak: APIs and Desktop Applications
The current data on audience overlap has a significant blind spot. Similarweb notes that its reports typically exclude API usage, dedicated desktop applications, and integrated in-app AI features. This is a critical distinction for entrepreneurs and tech leaders because these specific interfaces are far more likely to replace traditional search entirely than a web-based chatbot.
A developer utilizing an API or a power user operating entirely through a desktop app may never visit a traditional search engine for their professional tasks. Because these users do not appear in the standard browser-based panel, the actual rate of search replacement might be higher than the 95% overlap suggests. The "complementary" nature of AI search may be a phenomenon limited to casual web users, while professional and technical cohorts are moving toward deeper integration.
Shifting User Habits in the United States
The American market serves as a primary indicator for these trends. Data from a Pew survey of 5,119 U.S. adults reveals a widespread, if varied, adoption of AI. Approximately 49% of adults have used a chatbot, and 42% specifically use them to find information. Furthermore, 60% of users are now interacting with AI summaries at the top of their search results.
This indicates that the transition is not just happening between different platforms, but within the search interface itself. As Google integrates more AI-driven summaries, the need for a user to click through to a third-party website diminishes. This creates a scenario where the user is still using Google, the query is still being performed, but the referral traffic to the business owner vanishes.
The search practitioner being asked why referrals fell while reports say nobody left Google is standing in the middle of that gap.
Strategic Implications for Global Business Growth
For entrepreneurs in the USA, UK, and other global markets, the "overlap" is a distraction from the real problem: the erosion of the click. The fact that users are not leaving Google does not mean that the traditional SEO model of driving traffic via blue links is safe. Instead, the market is moving toward a task-based surface where the AI provides the answer directly.
Businesses must now optimize for visibility within AI summaries and LLM citations. If a household is reducing its traditional queries by nearly 10%, the remaining queries are likely the ones that AI cannot yet answer reliably. The goal for modern digital strategy is no longer just to rank in a list of links, but to be the authoritative source that the AI cites when it synthesizes an answer for the user.
Global Market Outlook: What This Means for International Firms
For companies operating across the US and UK, this shift necessitates a pivot in how digital acquisition is measured. In the US, where AI adoption is rapid and integrated into desktop workflows, the risk of "zero-click" searches is highest. Businesses should expect a continued decline in traditional organic referral traffic even if their brand awareness remains stable.
From a regulatory perspective, the focus in the US and UK remains on competition and data privacy. While the EU's AI Act introduces strict transparency requirements for generative AI, US and UK firms should focus on the technical shift in how information is retrieved. The priority is now AI Engine Optimization (AEO). Since users are utilizing both tools, a dual strategy is required: maintaining traditional SEO for navigational and local intent while building a footprint of structured data and authoritative citations to capture the growing share of queries moving toward ChatGPT and Gemini.
FAQ
Are people stopping the use of Google in favor of AI?
No, data shows 95% of ChatGPT users still use Google, but they are performing fewer traditional search queries per household.
Why is organic traffic falling if users are still using Google?
Users are shifting specific types of queries to AI and interacting more with AI summaries, which reduces the need to click through to external websites.
What is the 'Bocconi study' finding?
It found that households gaining access to ChatGPT Search reduced their traditional search queries by an average of 9.4% per week.
Does the 95% overlap include all AI usage?
No, it generally excludes API usage and desktop applications, which are more likely to replace traditional search activities.
Sources: Searchenginejournal, Newsbreak, Bnqdigital ·
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