ChatGPT is sending less traffic to websites – down 52% in a month

Referral traffic from ChatGPT to websites is down 52% since July 21, according to Profound’s Josh Blyskal, who analyzed more than 1 billion ChatGPT citations and 1 million referral visits from a sample of sites across various verticals.

By the numbers. Some of the key findings:

• Reddit citations are up 87% since July 23, now topping 10% of all ChatGPT citations.
• Wikipedia jumped 62% from its July low, grabbing nearly 13% of citation share.
• The top three sites – Wikipedia, Reddit and TechRadar – accounted for 22% of all citations, up 53% in just a month.

Why we care. ChatGPT seems to now favor a handful of “answer-first” sources, while branded websites are losing visibility – and millions of potential referral clicks.

What’s happening. Blyskal said this isn’t a GPT-5 effect ( GPT-5 launched Aug. 7 ). ChatGPT’s citation consolidation began weeks earlier, suggesting OpenAI manually reweighted its retrieval system to favor useful answers.

The bigger picture . Some takeaways from Blyskal’s LinkedIn post :

• Branded content that prioritizes conversion (“Schedule a demo”) is getting passed over.
• Answer-first platforms like Reddit and Wikipedia win by default because they directly address user queries.
• “The citation opportunity is massive for brands willing to shift from conversion first to answer first content,” wrote Blyskal.

Bottom line . OpenAI’s citation experiments can trigger big traffic swings. Brands that don’t provide real answers could be squeezed out of ChatGPT answers.