ChatGPT Draws More Paid Search Traffic Than Any Other Top Google Destination, Study Finds

iPullRank examined 13.1 billion search events over 15 months and found that while ChatGPT ranked sixth in overall Google clicks, it attracted a higher share of paid clicks than any competing destination—signaling that advertisers are actively bidding to funnel users to OpenAI's platform. Search Engine Land reports that this paid traffic growth coincides with Google's rising zero-click rate, though organic clicks have borne the brunt of the decline rather than ads. The finding underscores how paid search now functions as a bridge between Google Search and AI discovery tools, reshaping how marketers think about customer journeys in an increasingly AI-integrated ecosystem.