11+ Key Generative Engine Optimization Statistics 2025

ChatGPT reached 100M users in 64 days, breaking all previous records (Demandsage, Apr 2025)

 Estimated 6% of global population and 12.5% of workforce use it monthly. 

Here’s a summary of the GEO Statistics for content types generative engines prefer:

1. General Research remained the top use case throughout the year, consistently close to 37% with minimal fluctuation.
2. Academic Research held steady around 18–19%, showing it’s the second most common use, especially stable across all months.
3. Email Composition and Coding Assistance were neck and neck, both ranging between 13–15%, with minor dips and recoveries.
4. Commercial Research showed a gradual upward trend, growing from 4.7% to 6.4%, indicating rising business adoption.
5. Marketing Copywriting stayed under 5% overall, with small surges in Dec 2024 and Feb 2025, but remained a niche use case.

Here’s a summary of the GEO Statistics for the most frequently cited websites in generative engines:

• ChatGPT leaned hard on Wikipedia starting in Nov 2024, jumping from almost 0% to 13% of all citations nearly overnight.
• It peaked in March 2025 at 15%—meaning 1 in 6 citations pointed to Wikipedia.
• Then in just 3 weeks, that number dropped to 4%, showing how quickly AI source priorities can shift.
• As of May 2025, Wikipedia citations in ChatGPT are climbing again—currently at 7.5%.
• Google AI Overviews has kept Wikipedia use low—around 1% consistently.
• Perplexity pulls from Wikipedia even less, sticking with broader web results.

(Profound, 2025)

Here’s a summary of the GEO Statistics for intent types in Google vs LLMs like ChatGPT:

1. On Google, the dominant intent is navigational (49.6% of searches).
2. On LLMs like ChatGPT, the dominant intent is informational (52.2% of “known” prompts).
3. Top-of-funnel content is most at risk: Generative engines are reshaping awareness by answering questions before users ever reach your organic listing.
4. Recent surveys confirm this behavioral shift. A July 2025 study by Innovating with AI revealed that 83% of users find AI-powered search tools more efficient than traditional engines.
5. Bain & Company’s February 2025 research showed a similar trend, with 80% of consumers relying on AI-generated summaries for at least 40% of their searches.
6. Adobe’s July 2025 report reinforced this momentum: 77% of U.S. ChatGPT users treat it as a search engine, and nearly one in four already prefer it over Google. Together, these findings underline how informational intent is steadily moving toward generative platforms.
7. Adapt your strategy:  focus on capturing attention within AI Overviews for informational topics, while reinforcing transactional and brand-driven paths to maintain visibility.

AI-generated search results, such as Google’s AI Overviews, are reshaping user engagement by changing how people interact with content.

As intent shifts toward informational queries in generative engines, user behavior is also evolving. These changes affect how people interact with search results and websites, reshaping engagement patterns.

How Do AI-Generated Search Results Affect User Engagement?

Reduced Click-Through Rates (CTR): A Pew Research Center study found that when AI summaries were present, users clicked on traditional search links in only 8% of visits—compared to 15% when no AI summaries appeared.

Increased Zero-Click Searches: SparkToro data shows that 58% of U.S. searches now end without a click, as users get answers directly in AI summaries (SWS Marketing).

Impact on Website Traffic and Behavior: AI-driven clicks are fewer but more intentional. Visitors who do click through engage with fewer pages per session and bounce faster, but their intent is sharper and interactions more focused (Seoteric).

To capture this high-quality traffic, applying the most effective strategies for AI visibility enhancement ensures your content gets cited and trusted by AI engines, not skipped over.

Changes in Query Style: Users are asking longer, question-based queries that often trigger AI summaries. Roughly 31.6% of AI Overview queries start with “what,” “how,” or “why,” averaging 4.29 words in length (Glowtify).

For content creators, this means optimizing for visibility in AI summaries, producing concise, high-quality answers, and adjusting engagement metrics to reflect fewer—but often higher-quality—visits.

These engagement shifts translate directly into measurable performance. The most visible impact is on organic click-through rates, where GEO plays a defining role.

What Impact Does GEO Have on Organic Click-Through Rates (CTR)?

1. Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is already having a measurable impact on organic click-through rates (CTR). When AI-generated answers are displayed, CTRs for informational queries decline by more than half—dropping from 1.41% to 0.64% (Relixir).
2. This pattern reflects the rise of zero-click searches, which made up nearly 60% of all Google searches in the US and EU during 2024—a trend accelerated by AI integration (GetAI Monitor).
3. However, CTR erosion is not inevitable. Studies show that when brands are cited inside AI-generated answers, they experience a 38% lift in organic clicks and a 39% increase in paid ad clicks (Relixir).
4. In practice, this means that GEO strategies—like optimizing content for clarity, citations, and authoritative statistics—can turn AI disruption into a new source of visibility and engagement.

Here’s a summary of the GEO Statistics the difference of content sourcing for each generative engine:

ChatGPT (OpenAI GPT-4o): The Authority Seeker

• Source preference: Encyclopedias, major news outlets, and reference-style materials
• Top citations: Wikipedia (~27%), Reuters (~6%), Financial Times (~3%)

Google Gemini (2.0 Flash): The Balanced Synthesizer

• Source preference: Mixes blogs, news sites, and a bit of community input
• Top citations: Blogs (~39%), news (~26%), YouTube (~3%), community content (~2%)

Perplexity AI (Sonar mode): The Expert Curator

• Source preference: Niche expert sites, review platforms, and quality editorial blogs
• Top citations: Editorial blogs (~38%), news (~23%), expert review sites (~9%)

Score: 22.0

Easy to understand

Score: 25.0

Backed by Citations

Score: 25.4

Included Statistics

Score: 22.3

Authoritative