Getting Clicks From ChatGPT - Insights from 20 Businesses
Last updated: 15 October 2025
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ChatGPT is becoming a major traffic source for businesses, and most companies are missing it.
We compiled insights from 20 real businesses that cracked the code on AI-driven traffic. These stories show exactly how entrepreneurs are capturing ChatGPT clicks and what our market clarity reports reveal about positioning for this shift.
Quick Summary
ChatGPT traffic converts dramatically better than traditional search, with some businesses seeing 9-16x higher conversion rates than Google organic.
Companies are experiencing anywhere from 30% to 1,400% growth in AI referrals by focusing on depth over keywords, implementing FAQ schema, and building content that AI systems naturally cite. The traffic is still small for most sites (typically under 5% of total), but the intent is much stronger and the growth trajectory is exponential.
Early movers are capturing this channel now while competition remains low, and the pattern is clear: comprehensive, expert-driven content wins in AI search.
In our market clarity reports, you'll always find a sharp analysis of your competitors.
20 Real Success Stories from Businesses Getting ChatGPT Traffic
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1. Form builder turns ChatGPT into #1 referral source with years of authentic forum engagement and comparison content
Who They Are:
Tally.so is a free form builder that lets anyone create forms, surveys, quizzes, and polls with unlimited forms and submissions. They've built a generous free plan with a viral loop through "Made with Tally" badges.What They Did & Results:
Years of showing up authentically in forums and Reddit answering questions paid off when AI started using that data. They created comparison content like "Best Free Form Builders 2025" and published competitor alternative pages. ChatGPT became their #1 referral source, driving 10% of all traffic and over 2,000 new users signing up monthly. This helped them grow from $2M to $3M ARR in just 4 months. They track a 70% appearance rate when users ask ChatGPT about free form creators.Actionable Advice:
Invest years in showing up authentically in forums and communities, because this compounds when AI uses that data. Track AI referrals explicitly in your onboarding surveys by adding ChatGPT as a "How did you find us?" option, since analytics typically undercount the real impact. Create comprehensive comparison content that LLMs naturally reference, and monitor where competitors get mentioned but you don't.Source: Tally.so -
2. Developer platform multiplies ChatGPT signups by 10x in 6 months by making docs crawlable with static HTML
Who They Are:
Vercel is a developer platform for frontend teams that handles deployment and hosting of Next.js applications with optimized performance and scalability.What They Did & Results:
They made their docs crawlable by switching from client-side JavaScript to static HTML using SSR/SSG. They implemented Schema.org and JSON-LD markup, added semantic HTML with proper heading hierarchies, and built presence on Reddit, GitHub, HN, and Stack Overflow. ChatGPT now drives 10% of new signups, up from under 1% 6 months ago. That's a 900% increase over 6 months, adding an average of 21% more referral traffic each month.Actionable Advice:
Make your content crawlable because many AI crawlers don't execute JavaScript. Structure content for machines using semantic HTML and proper heading hierarchies. Community mentions matter tremendously, so build authentic presence on platforms where developers hang out. Track referrers from chat.openai.com, perplexity.ai, and claude.ai separately in your analytics. Understanding what our market clarity reports reveal about your audience's pain points can help you create the depth of content that AI systems cite.Source: Vercel -
3. Team inbox tool gets 50% as much AI traffic as Google with comprehensive comparison pages for ChatGPT
Who They Are:
Missive App is a collaborative inbox platform allowing teams to manage shared email, combine email with chat, and collaborate around communications.What They Did & Results:
They built comprehensive comparison and versus pages optimized for conversational queries, like "best shared inbox for law practice." They tracked AI referrals separately from traditional search to measure the channel properly. For every 100 referrals from Google, AI tools now send 50. ChatGPT and Grok combined represent roughly 50% of Google referral volume, with a significant portion coming from comparison pages performing well in AI search results.Actionable Advice:
Build comprehensive comparison pages for your product category that answer conversational "find solutions" queries. Track AI referrals as a separate channel in your analytics so you can measure growth accurately. Pay close attention to how AI answers natural language queries about finding tools, since this is where comparison content dominates. Monitor this channel actively because it's growing rapidly and early positioning matters.Source: Hacker News -
4. Technical publication doubles AI chatbot traffic in 6 months with deep long-form content written by subject matter experts
Who They Are:
IEEE Spectrum is the editorial flagship of IEEE, publishing deep, expert-driven content about technology, engineering, and science with long-form technical articles.What They Did & Results:
They focused exclusively on deep, high-quality, long-form content written by subject matter experts. They created comprehensive coverage of complex topics with technical accuracy and maintained a trustworthy, authoritative source approach. This led to a 100% increase in AI chatbot traffic from January to June 2025 compared to the previous 5 months. ChatGPT represents 94% of their AI referral mix, with 9% month-over-month growth from May to June 2025.Actionable Advice:
Quality crushes quantity in AI search. Focus on comprehensive, authoritative content where expertise genuinely matters because AI systems heavily favor recognized experts. Long-form content performs exceptionally well, and technical accuracy gets rewarded by citation algorithms. Sustained effort over months compounds, so don't expect overnight results. The insights from our market clarity reports about what your audience truly cares about can guide this depth-first content strategy.Source: RebelMouse -
5. B2B SaaS company converts ChatGPT traffic at 9x Google's rate by tracking AI referrals separately in GA4
Who They Are:
An anonymous B2B SaaS company in the software and technology industry studied by Seer Interactive.What They Did & Results:
They created custom channel grouping in GA4 using regex to track AI traffic separately. They monitored traffic from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude, then analyzed conversion behaviors across different AI platforms. ChatGPT delivered a 15.9% conversion rate versus Google Organic's 1.76%, which is 9x higher. ChatGPT users viewed 2.3 pages per session versus 1.2 for Google, showing deeper engagement. Despite AI traffic representing only 0.07% of total organic sessions, it generated over $205,000 in pipeline value.Actionable Advice:
AI-driven visitors convert at dramatically higher rates because they've already gone through consideration stages within the LLM conversation before clicking. Set a "when to care" threshold, like when AI hits 5% of organic sessions or matches another trusted channel's conversion value. Volume isn't the point here, quality and conversion rate matter far more. Track different AI platforms separately because they bring different user behaviors and intent levels.Source: Seer Interactive -
6. Podcast search engine receives more AI traffic than Google by building specialized knowledge base with semantic search for ChatGPT
Who They Are:
Audioscrape is a search engine for podcast knowledge that lets users search transcriptions and extract who said what across top podcasts with semantic search.What They Did & Results:
They built a specialized knowledge base for podcasts with speaker identification, timestamp search, and semantic similarity across over 1 million hours of audio content. Over recent weeks, they received more referral traffic from AI assistants like ChatGPT and Perplexity than from traditional search engines like Google or Bing. The founder wondered publicly if this represents the start of an "LLM SEO" era.Actionable Advice:
For niche search tools and specialized databases, AI may become your primary discovery channel faster than you expect. Monitor AI referral patterns closely because they shift rapidly and can overtake traditional search surprisingly quickly. Consider how AI search engines might reference and cite specialized knowledge bases, since depth in a narrow domain seems to perform exceptionally well.Source: Hacker News -
7. Startup banking platform sees 3x increase in signups from AI search by answering "good bank for startups" queries
Who They Are:
Mercury is an online business banking platform specifically designed for startups and small businesses, offering powerful banking, financial workflows, and bill management.What They Did & Results:
Their product naturally suits the common query "What's a good bank for startups?" and their content aligned with how users research this question. They were early adopters in understanding AI search as an acquisition channel. Mercury experienced an "exponential rise" in signups from AI search, with a threefold increase in signups driven from LLMs. ChatGPT was noted as their biggest LLM source.Actionable Advice:
Products solving clear, searchable problems for tech-savvy audiences see natural ChatGPT discovery without heavy optimization. Questions like "what bank should I use for my startup?" get asked naturally in conversational AI format. Early movers in tracking and optimizing for LLM referrals gain compound advantages as the channel grows. Make sure your content directly answers these natural language questions.Source: Give It A Nudge -
8. ChatGPT interface builder hits $64K monthly revenue in 6 months with first-mover advantage and viral Reddit launch
Who They Are:
Chatbase is a tool that lets you build a custom ChatGPT interface for your website using your own data.What They Did & Results:
They launched as the first "ChatGPT for your data" SaaS tool, capturing first-mover advantage. A viral Twitter launch (with just 16 followers), authentic stories posted to relevant subreddits (not promotional), and a Product Hunt launch leveraged the AI hype cycle perfectly. They hit $64K MRR within 6 months (February to August 2023) and reached 100,000 unique visitors within 3-4 months with sustained traffic since launch.Actionable Advice:
If you build something that actually solves people's problems, they'll organically share it on Instagram and TikTok, creating zero-pain viral growth. First-mover advantage in the AI and ChatGPT ecosystem provided massive benefits in 2023, but the lesson remains: timing matters. Launch when you can ride a wave of existing interest and hype around a category.Source: Indie Hackers
Each of our market clarity reports includes a study of both positive and negative competitor reviews, helping uncover opportunities and gaps.
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9. Marketing consultant drives 700+ SaaS trials monthly from ChatGPT by implementing FAQ schema markup on blog posts
Who They Are:
Irene Chan provides SaaS marketing consulting services specializing in content marketing, SEO, and growth strategies for B2B SaaS companies.What They Did & Results:
She implemented FAQ schema markup on blog posts and set up Bing Webmaster Tools (since ChatGPT uses Bing's API). She added comprehensive Organization, Product, and Article schema, and created FAQ sections at the end of each blog post with structured data. Her client generated 700+ new trials in 1 month from ChatGPT. Her personal site went from zero ChatGPT traffic to 6 referrals in 39 days, with traffic starting the day after implementing FAQ schema on March 21, 2025.Actionable Advice:
Start simple by setting up basic referrer tracking and a dashboard to monitor trends. FAQ schema implementation has immediate impact, with results appearing within 1 day in some cases. Ensure Bing properly indexes your site since ChatGPT relies on Bing's API. Individual implementation of FAQ schema per blog post proves most effective rather than site-wide generic schemas.Source: Irene Chan -
10. Software development firm achieves 72% engagement from ChatGPT visitors with restructured content matching AI-generated answer formats
Who They Are:
A B2B software development outsourcing company serving enterprise clients, studied by The Digital Bloom (client details protected by NDA).What They Did & Results:
They built a proprietary tool to assess content alignment with Google's AI Overview and generated tailored recommendations for thought leadership articles and case studies. They restructured content to match AI-generated answer formats and implemented a technical SEO strategy with developer-focused content. This achieved a 72.3% engagement rate from ChatGPT traffic with an average session duration of 41 minutes and 22 seconds. They now receive 6 qualified project inquiries per week via ChatGPT traffic and get featured in Google AI Overview for high-intent queries.Actionable Advice:
B2B technical queries convert at exceptionally high engagement rates with extended session times. Focus heavily on technical expertise queries where you can demonstrate deep knowledge. Show expertise through detailed case studies and thought leadership rather than generic blog content. Structure content to match AI-generated answer formats by studying what gets cited and mimicking that structure.Source: The Digital Bloom -
11. Enterprise SaaS startup multiplies AI traffic by 22x in 12 months using ChatGPT Plus for content generation strategy
Who They Are:
Workfellow was a process intelligence startup offering task mining and process mining software for enterprise automation (the company closed in February 2024, but the case study from their operations remains instructive).What They Did & Results:
They switched to AI-driven SEO using ChatGPT Plus (GPT-4), focusing on "HI-PO LO-CO" keywords (High Potential, Low Competition). They created 3 new articles weekly plus improved 3 existing articles, built topic clusters, and improved internal linking. Using ChatGPT for content generation with human editing, they created comparison content against larger competitors. This led to a 22x increase in organic traffic within 12 months, surpassing much larger competitors despite lower domain authority. They achieved 5x growth in marketing qualified leads and ranked #1 for peer-versus-peer comparisons.Actionable Advice:
Don't treat AI content as a finished product; improve it actively over time through editing and updates. Topic authority can overcome domain authority for startups if you go deep enough on specific subjects. ChatGPT Plus (GPT-4) shows significant quality advantages over the free version for content. Start link building on your own website through strong internal structure before chasing external backlinks. When you're building in a competitive space, our market clarity reports can reveal which comparison angles your competitors aren't covering yet.Source: Generate More AI -
12. Digital PR agency successfully modifies ChatGPT Search listing by adding structured Notable Clients section in bullet format
Who They Are:
Go Fish Digital is a digital PR and link building agency specializing in SEO and online reputation management.What They Did & Results:
They identified content ChatGPT was already citing, then added a structured "Notable Clients" section to an existing listicle article using bullet list format as key-value pairs for easier LLM parsing. They monitored ChatGPT Search responses for important queries and waited one week for changes to reflect. They successfully influenced ChatGPT Search output to include their "Notable Clients" section and closed business deals where clients specifically referenced ChatGPT as the discovery source.Actionable Advice:
It is absolutely possible to influence ChatGPT Search results for your brand, and you should be doing it. ChatGPT Search uses Bing results, not just training data, so fresh content matters. Structure information with bullets and key-value pairs because this format is easier for LLMs to parse and cite. Monitor queries important to your business regularly and track what gets cited. Changes typically reflect within 1 week of updating content.Source: Go Fish Digital -
13. B2B ecommerce site grows AI referrals by 1,400% in 6 months analyzing server logs to understand ChatGPT crawler behavior
Who They Are:
A B2B ecommerce company selling commercial plant supplies, studied by The Search Initiative (client details confidential).What They Did & Results:
They used AI to analyze server log files to understand how ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity crawl their site. They implemented structured data (FAQ and Article schema), added multimodal content like images, videos, and tables to support text, and enhanced thin product pages with use case content and styling information. This produced 1,400% AI referral traffic growth in 6 months, along with 103% organic traffic increase overall and 164 keywords appearing in AI Overviews.Actionable Advice:
Analyze server logs to understand how AI bots actually crawl your site, because their behavior differs from traditional search crawlers. Implement structured data comprehensively across your site, not just on a few pages. Add multimodal content beyond just text because AI systems increasingly reference visual and tabular data. Enhance product pages with real use cases rather than just specs, and fix crawl errors immediately when you detect them.Source: Diggity Marketing -
14. Travel brand portfolio achieves 79% monthly AI traffic growth optimizing high-intent product pages for ChatGPT and Perplexity
Who They Are:
A portfolio of top 20 travel brands providing travel booking and information services (specific brands not disclosed).What They Did & Results:
They took a portfolio approach managing multiple travel brands simultaneously, focusing on traffic quality over quantity and optimizing for high-intent, product-led pages. They achieved 15% week-over-week growth (roughly 79% monthly) with traffic making a material difference to the business. AI traffic performed 3x better than organic Google traffic and 1.6x better than paid traffic, with higher conversion rates than other channels except brand search. By summer 2025, they projected a 7x increase over current numbers.Actionable Advice:
Focus relentlessly on quality over quantity for AI traffic because high-intent visitors matter far more than volume. Optimize specifically for high-intent, product-led pages rather than informational content. AI traffic performs exceptionally well in the travel vertical, so if you're in this space, prioritize it heavily. A portfolio approach can amplify learnings across brands by testing strategies on one and rolling them out to others.Source: Aiso
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15. Marketing agency multiplies organic traffic by 42x with AI SEO framework focused on thought leadership content for ChatGPT
Who They Are:
Xponent21 is a marketing agency specializing in cutting-edge AI SEO strategies and thought leadership.What They Did & Results:
They built an AI SEO Accelerator framework focused on thought leadership content. They created comprehensive guides and case studies demonstrating expertise, positioning themselves as experts in the AI SEO domain. They invested hundreds of hours in a content marketing machine and focused on being cited by Perplexity, Bing Chat, and LLM-powered tools. This generated 4,162% organic traffic growth year-over-year, with 10.5 million impressions and 20,100 clicks in May 2025 alone. On July 22, 2025, they peaked at 168,337 impressions in a single day, with 5%+ of traffic from AI search agents on peak days.Actionable Advice:
Invest heavily in thought leadership content that demonstrates genuine expertise rather than surface-level blog posts. Create comprehensive guides that become the definitive resource on a topic. Position yourself as an authority in your specific domain by going deeper than anyone else. Focus on quality over quantity because being cited by multiple AI platforms simultaneously amplifies your reach exponentially. The positioning strategies in our market clarity reports can help you identify which expertise angles will resonate most with your market.Source: Xponent21 -
16. Local home services company quadruples AI referrals by optimizing Google Business Profile for ChatGPT Overview visibility
Who They Are:
A local home services company providing residential services, studied by The Search Initiative (client details confidential).What They Did & Results:
They optimized their Google Business Profile for AI Overviews visibility and identified third-party platforms that AI systems cite. They targeted informational queries with natural curiosity gaps, created layered valuable content where the AI Overview becomes a teaser, and added video demonstrations and unique expertise. Focusing on "best" and comparison queries that drive clicks beyond snippets, they achieved 370% AI referral traffic growth, increasing from 804 to 1,498 monthly sessions from AI search. They also saw 82% organic traffic increase overall with 155 keywords appearing in AI Overviews.Actionable Advice:
Optimize your Google Business Profile specifically for AI visibility since local businesses get major benefits here. Target third-party citation platforms where AI pulls information. Create content with curiosity gaps that naturally require users to click through rather than getting everything from the AI answer. Add video demonstrations that showcase your unique expertise, and focus heavily on comparison and "best" queries that naturally drive clicks beyond zero-click answers.Source: Diggity Marketing -
17. Meeting recording SaaS grows AI traffic 30% monthly with functional tool-based content optimized for ChatGPT and Perplexity
Who They Are:
tldv.io is a meeting recording and transcription SaaS allowing teams to record, transcribe, and share meeting insights.What They Did & Results:
They focused on content optimization for AI platforms, strategic positioning in the B2B SaaS vertical, and functional, tool-based content that AI can easily reference. This led to 30% monthly growth in AI search traffic from April to May 2025, with consistent month-over-month increases demonstrating a sustainable growth pattern rather than a one-time spike.Actionable Advice:
Focus on functional, tool-based content that clearly explains what your product does and solves, since AI systems favor practical information over marketing fluff. Position yourself strategically within your vertical by owning specific use cases. Continuous optimization for AI platforms drives sustained monthly growth rather than one-off wins, so treat this as an ongoing channel investment, not a project. When choosing which features and use cases to emphasize, our market clarity reports reveal which pain points your audience feels most intensely.Source: Aiso -
18. CEO interview platform generates 32,000 AI clicks from ChatGPT and Perplexity with unique expert-driven founder interviews
Who They Are:
Getlatka is a CEO interview platform and media site providing founder interviews, revenue data, and business insights.What They Did & Results:
They created unique CEO interview content that LLMs cite as authoritative sources. They leveraged traditional SEO investments to support AI visibility and focused on original, expert-driven content versus generic articles. This generated 31,937 clicks from ChatGPT and Perplexity combined, with roughly 40% monthly growth. Their content regularly gets cited in AI responses about startup metrics and founder insights.Actionable Advice:
Create unique, expert-driven content that LLMs cite as authoritative rather than aggregating information from other sources. Original interviews and proprietary data perform exceptionally well because AI systems need primary sources. Traditional SEO investments support AI visibility rather than competing with it, so continue strong SEO practices. Focus on being the primary source rather than an aggregator, since AI prefers to cite original content directly.Source: Aiso -
19. Marketing agency secures 66.7% engagement from AI search optimizing content alignment with Google's AI Overview and ChatGPT
Who They Are:
A digital marketing agency providing SEO and marketing services, studied by The Digital Bloom (client details protected by NDA).What They Did & Results:
They used a proprietary tool to assess content alignment with Google's AI Overview, optimized content for AI-generated answer formats, and implemented technical SEO and content strategy optimization. This achieved a 66.7% engagement rate from ChatGPT traffic with an average session duration of 38 minutes and 49 seconds. They now receive 4 form submissions per week via ChatGPT traffic, secured featured placement in Google's AI Overview for high-intent queries, and boosted zero-click SERP presence while reinforcing brand authority.Actionable Advice:
Marketing agencies are seeing consistent weekly conversions from ChatGPT with significantly higher engagement than traditional channels, so treat this as a serious lead generation channel. Focus on being featured in AI Overview results because this amplifies visibility across multiple AI platforms. Structure content specifically for AI citation by studying what formats get pulled into AI responses. Technical SEO fundamentals still matter tremendously for AI visibility.Source: The Digital Bloom -
20. Legal document generator gets 5% traffic from ChatGPT optimizing for AI-first search platforms from early startup stage
Who They Are:
Airstrip AI is an AI-powered document generation tool for agencies (software, design, legal, marketing) that creates service agreements, NDAs, contracts, and scopes of work through guided questions.What They Did & Results:
They optimized content for AI-first search platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini from the early stage. They focused on a problem-first approach solving a real pain point and invested in SEO from day one. Currently, 5% of their traffic comes from ChatGPT referrals as a growing channel. They hit 1,000 signups in 1 day from Product Hunt, but AI traffic represents an ongoing sustainable channel rather than a spike.Actionable Advice:
Don't ignore SEO from day one, even if you're a tiny startup, because early optimization compounds over time. Focus heavily on optimizing for AI-first search platforms (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini) as major discovery engines since these platforms are where future traffic growth will come from. Even 5% is just the beginning, and there's significant room to scale this percentage higher. Solve a clear problem that people naturally ask AI about, and you'll get discovered organically.Source: Indie Hackers
In our market clarity reports, for each product and market, we detect signals from across the web and forums, identify pain points, and measure their frequency and intensity so you can be sure you're building something your market truly needs.
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