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ChatGPT Referral Traffic Hits All-Time Peak With 36.7% Jump in May 2026

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Analysis

TLDR

ChatGPT referral traffic reached an all-time high in May 2026, up 36.7% month-over-month across a dataset of over 100,000 websites.

SE Ranking Blog analyzed referral traffic patterns across 101,574 websites and found that ChatGPT-driven traffic jumped 36.7% in May 2026, marking the highest recorded level to date. The data raises questions about whether the spike represents a sustained shift in how users discover content or a temporary anomaly, making it worth monitoring for SEO professionals tracking traffic diversification and AI-driven discovery channels.
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