{"id":205952,"date":"2025-09-17T15:55:41","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T15:55:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/?p=205952"},"modified":"2026-01-26T10:26:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T10:26:20","slug":"google-reddit-dominate-in-genai-referrals-to-tech-platforms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/insights\/ai-news\/google-reddit-dominate-in-genai-referrals-to-tech-platforms\/","title":{"rendered":"Google, Reddit Dominate in GenAI Referrals to Tech Platforms"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Reddit, Github, Canva, Samsung, and Hostinger win their categories<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As AI referrals emerge as an important, emerging marketing channel, we see AI engines referring the usual suspects at the top of every <a href=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/top-websites\/\">web traffic ranking<\/a>, with <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">google.com<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> at the top of the list. Yet the sites most likely to win links and clicks from ChatGPT don\u2019t necessarily mirror overall traffic rankings. For example, Reddit beats Facebook among social networks and Hostinger tops GoDaddy in web hosting, according to Similarweb estimates for August 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For any tech products company, winning a larger share of AI referrals than the competition could be very important going forward. Although smaller in volume than search traffic, AI referrals bring visitors who have already done their research and are often ready to buy. As disclosed in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/corp\/reports\/the-state-of-ecommerce-2025\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Similarweb\u2019s report on The State of Ecommerce 2025<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, AI referrals are associated with a higher conversion rate than any other marketing channel. Based on June 2025 traffic, visits referred by AI converted to sales at 11.4%, compared with 9.3% for paid search and 5.3% for organic search.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-205953\" src=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-ai-conversions-cropped-the-state-of-ecommerce-2025-scaled.png\" alt=\"Chart: Conversions for ChatGPT versus other traffic channels\" width=\"2560\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-ai-conversions-cropped-the-state-of-ecommerce-2025-scaled.png 2560w, https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-ai-conversions-cropped-the-state-of-ecommerce-2025-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-ai-conversions-cropped-the-state-of-ecommerce-2025-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-ai-conversions-cropped-the-state-of-ecommerce-2025-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-ai-conversions-cropped-the-state-of-ecommerce-2025-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-ai-conversions-cropped-the-state-of-ecommerce-2025-1536x1536.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-ai-conversions-cropped-the-state-of-ecommerce-2025-2048x2048.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this report, we take a closer look at the extent to which AI tech platforms send the bulk of their referrals to other tech-centric domains, and which domains lead in categories like social networks, programming and design resource websites, consumer electronics, and web hosting.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Tech Giants Top the List<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If we look at an overall ranking of top web domains according to their volume of AI Referrals, most fall into the category colloquially known as \u201cBig Tech\u201d \u2013 search, social media, programming, and web infrastructure. All except for Reddit and Wikipedia are owned by either Google, Facebook owner Meta Platforms, or Microsoft.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-205954 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-image5-1.png\" alt=\"Chart: AI Referrals, all categories\" width=\"895\" height=\"546\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-image5-1.png 895w, https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-image5-1-300x183.png 300w, https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-image5-1-768x469.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 895px) 100vw, 895px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The standing of <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">openai.com<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on the list is misleading because 99% of those referrals are from <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">chatgpt.com<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 ChatGPT referring visitors to the resources of OpenAI, its parent company.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The top position of <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">google.com<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> could also be somewhat exaggerated, given Google\u2019s core role in web infrastructure, including \u201clog in with Google\u201d services employed by the AI engines. Google attracted 51.7 million AI referral visits in August, according to Similarweb estimates. That number does not include referrals from <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">gemini.google.com<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which Similarweb classifies as internal to the <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">google.com<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> domain. Google got 27.3 million referrals from ChatGPT alone, many of them in response to questions about Google products and services or its role in setting web standards.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google also owns <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">youtube.com<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which got 30.7 million AI referral visits in August, including 20.1 million from <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">chatgpt.com<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and 6.3 million from <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">gemini.google.com<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Similarweb classifies most of these domains as Computers, Electronics, and Technologies sites, with the exception of <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">yout<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">u<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">be.com<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (Arts and Entertainment) and <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">wikipedia.org<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (Reference). For this report, we took a closer look at the rankings within key subcategories of tech.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We also used Similarweb\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/corp\/search\/gen-ai-intelligence\/ai-chatbot-traffic\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AI Chatbot Traffic Tool<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to explore the types of prompts that lead to these referrals, particularly those where people don\u2019t necessarily ask for the company by name (a question about Google Keep driving traffic to <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">keep.google.com<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) but ask a more general question that leads the AI tool to recommend a site (\u201cCan you suggest some color palette ideas for my design project?\u201d driving <a href=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/ai-traffic\/canva.com\/\">AI traffic to canva.com\/colors\/color-palettes<\/a>). Like \u201cunbranded queries\u201d in search, the more general questions suggest success in using content marketing and user-generated content to attract the interest of AI engines.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Reddit, Github, Canva, Samsung, and Hostinger Win Their Categories<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here are the categories we focused on, with their respective AI referral traffic leaders. After Reddit, the total volume of these referrals drops significantly for the other category leaders. These aren\u2019t all the subcategories of tech, but they are the ones we found most interesting, with millions of AI referral visits being directed to the top sites.<\/span><\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Category<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>Top Domain<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>AI Referrals<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Social Networks and Online Communities<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">reddit.com<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">11.3M<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Programming and Developer Software<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">github.com<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">6.2M<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Graphics, Multimedia, and Web Design<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">canva.com<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3.1M<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Consumer Electronics<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">samsung.com<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2.1M<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Web Hosting and Domain Names<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hostinger.com<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">1.2M<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To be clear, AI traffic is an interesting emerging traffic channel, but it typically accounts for less than 1% of traffic even for the websites attracting the most AI referrals.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Reddit Leads Among Social Networks for Having a Forum on Every Topic<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For both search engines and AI answer platforms, Reddit\u2019s forums (subreddits) provide a rich source of authentic user-generated content on almost any topic, including topics of intense interest for online merchants. For example, one of the landing pages with the most referral visits is <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/reddit.com\/r\/FashionReps\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">reddit.com\/r\/FashionReps<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which attracts traffic driven by prompts like \u201cWhat are the best places to buy high-quality fashion replicas?\u201d and \u201cHow can I find reviews of replica clothing items?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-205956\" src=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-image8-1.png\" alt=\"Sample prompts associated with traffic to specific forums on reddit.com\" width=\"1140\" height=\"840\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-image8-1.png 1140w, https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-image8-1-300x221.png 300w, https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-image8-1-1024x755.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-image8-1-768x566.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1140px) 100vw, 1140px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sample prompts from Similarweb\u2019s AI Traffic Tool<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-205957\" src=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-image2-1.png\" alt=\"Chart: AI Referrals to social networking domains\" width=\"894\" height=\"547\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-image2-1.png 894w, https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-image2-1-300x184.png 300w, https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-image2-1-768x470.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 894px) 100vw, 894px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reddit\u2019s content is so diverse that no one page attracts more than 1% of AI referral traffic.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The traffic flowing to Facebook lands on similarly diverse destinations but those pages are more likely to be related to user help topics or advertiser resources. That\u2019s probably because more Facebook user content is private. Instagram is more likely to attract queries related to key influencers or business accounts. Some of the traffic LinkedIn gets is related to blog-like articles posted by experts in its userbase, such as one on <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/linkedin.com\/pulse\/us-government-needs-lower-rates-more-than-anyone-0tglc\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the implications of the US government\u2019s national debt<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>GitHub tops the list for developer resources<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The top domain for software developer resources is <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">github.com<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, with 6.2 million AI referrals in August.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-205958\" src=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-image1-1.png\" alt=\"Chart: AI referrals to Programming and Developer domains\" width=\"891\" height=\"549\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-image1-1.png 891w, https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-image1-1-300x185.png 300w, https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-image1-1-768x473.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 891px) 100vw, 891px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">GitHub is owned by Microsoft, an OpenAI partner, and uses OpenAI tech in its GitHub Copilot coding assistant, which may give it an edge. But GitHub is also an extremely important repository of open source code, downloadable resources, and discussion about software issues.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While GitHub referrals include many branded prompts about GitHub products, they also include traffic to download pages for software like a <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/github.com\/lay295\/TwitchDownloader\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Twitch downloader<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some of the domains listed here such as <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">office.com<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> are not necessarily purely programming resources, even though that\u2019s how they are classified in Similarweb\u2019s taxonomy. But they all outrank StackOverflow, the programming forums website often identified as a casualty of the rise of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/corp\/search\/gen-ai-intelligence\/\">generative AI tools<\/a> that summarize the wisdom to be found there. The <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">stackoverflow.com<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> domain appears farther down the list, with 343.2 K referral visits from AI platforms.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ilovepdf.com<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> domain, which appears at #3 on this list, gets traffic related to some branded prompts but also gets 8% of its traffic to pages that answer questions like \u201cHow can I reduce the size of my PDF files?\u201d and \u201cHow can I split a PDF into separate pages?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Canva runs away with the Graphics, Multimedia, and Web Design category<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not only does Canva (canva.com) lead the graphics and design category by a wide margin, attracting over 3.1 million AI referral visits in August, but the next most popular domain, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">remove.bg<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, is for an image background removal tool Canva also owns. A big part of Canva\u2019s ranking is likely its <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/chatgpt.com\/g\/g-alKfVrz9K-canva\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Custom GPT integration with ChatGPT<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for access to Canva templates.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-205959\" src=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-image3-1.png\" alt=\"Chart: AI referrals to graphics and design domains\" width=\"893\" height=\"551\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-image3-1.png 893w, https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-image3-1-300x185.png 300w, https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-image3-1-768x474.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 893px) 100vw, 893px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Canva attracts many visits to pages explaining its products and services, but also some to its resume templates and other design resources.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Consumer Electronics referrals mirror overall rankings<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Consumer Electronics, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">samsung.com<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">apple.com<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> are at the top of the list, as they are in overall traffic, reflecting the breadth of Samsung and the popularity of Apple. They rank ahead of consumer electronics retailers, probably because AI links to their sites are part of answers to questions about their top selling products.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-205960\" src=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-image7-1.png\" alt=\"Chart: AI referrals to consumer electronics domains\" width=\"894\" height=\"553\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-image7-1.png 894w, https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-image7-1-300x186.png 300w, https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-image7-1-768x475.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 894px) 100vw, 894px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More than 10% of the AI referral traffic to <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">bestb<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">u<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">y.com<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is driven directly to its home page, in response to prompts like \u201cWhat are the current top deals on electronics at Best Buy?\u201d The retailer also benefits from referrals to product pages, such as those for specific models of TVs and computers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One outlier on the list, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">manuals. Plus<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, it is neither a vendor nor a retailer but a search engine and repository for tech product documentation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Web Hosting and Domains: AI boosts Hostinger, Wix, and Namecheap<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AI engines appear to recommend Hostinger (<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hostinger.com<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) more than twice as often as any other web host or domain registrar, while <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">wix.c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">o<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">m<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">namecheap.com<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> both also place significantly higher in AI referrals than in overall <a href=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/website\/\">web traffic<\/a>. The placement of <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">aws.amazon.com<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> seems more predictable, given how synonymous Amazon Web Services is with cloud computing and the number of questions about cloud software, services, and programming techniques.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-205961\" src=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-image6-1.png\" alt=\"Chart: AI referrals to web and domain hosting sites\" width=\"891\" height=\"553\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-image6-1.png 891w, https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-image6-1-300x186.png 300w, https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-image6-1-768x477.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 891px) 100vw, 891px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The top placements for Hostinger and Wix both seem to be related to answers to questions from people seeking powerful and relatively easy to use website builder tools. Hostinger attracts many visits to pages related to its website builder, but also draws traffic to content marketing assets like a tutorial on <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/hostinger.com\/tutorials\/web-developer-portfolio\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">how to build a web developer portfolio<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Meanwhile, one of the reasons Namecheap ranks ahead of the better-known domain registrar GoDaddy is that AI engines are directing people to its <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/namecheap.com\/logo-maker\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">free logo maker app<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which gets nearly 5% of the AI referral traffic. Wix benefits from a similar gambit, drawing 3.2% of its AI referral traffic to a <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/wix.com\/logo\/maker\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">logo creator<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (free to try, but with a fee required for commercial use). While logo creation might seem to be more about digital graphics than hosting, making it easy to create a logo helps these businesses position themselves as providing a complete package of services for creating a digital presence.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These tactics are not so different from those business websites use to attract search traffic. For example, Namecheap\u2019s logo generator and other free tools also represent some of its top organic search landing pages.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Not the same as search. Not completely different.<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Digital professionals are currently waging fierce debates over whether getting noticed by AI platforms is just a new twist on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or ought to be recognized as a distinct discipline, GenAI Optimization (GEO). In many cases, the winners appear to have crafted successful SEO and content strategies that happen to translate to the AI era.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Meanwhile, AI engines are picking winners and losers with the websites they choose to recommend and recommend strongly enough that users are motivated to click on links in the chat. As opposed to those they choose to ignore.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/corp\/about\/press-data\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Similarweb Press Office<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> can pull additional or updated data on request for the news media (write to <\/span><\/i><a href=\"mailto:press@similarweb.com\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">press@similarweb.com<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">). When citing our data, please reference Similarweb as the source and link back to the most relevant blog post or <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/insights\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">similarweb.com\/blog\/insights\/<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/support.similarweb.com\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/360001631538-Similarweb-Data-Methodology\"><b>Methodology<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>Disclaimer: All names, brands, trademarks, and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The data, reports, and other materials provided or made available by Similarweb consist of or include estimated metrics and digital insights generated by Similarweb using its proprietary algorithms, based on information collected by Similarweb from multiple sources using its advanced data methodologies. Similarweb shall not be responsible for the accuracy of such data, reports, and materials and shall have no liability for any decision by any third party based in whole or in part on such data, reports, and materials.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reddit, Github, Canva, Samsung, and Hostinger win their categories As AI referrals emerge as an important, emerging marketing channel, we see AI engines referring the usual suspects at the top of every web traffic ranking, with google.com at the top of the list. Yet the sites most likely to win links and clicks from ChatGPT [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":441,"featured_media":205968,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8270,7892,8290],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-205952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai-news","category-insights","category-software-tech-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Google, Reddit Dominate in GenAI Referrals to Tech Platforms | Similarweb<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Reddit, Github, Canva, Samsung, and Hostinger attract the most AI referrals traffic within their categories\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/insights\/ai-news\/google-reddit-dominate-in-genai-referrals-to-tech-platforms\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David F. Carr\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"12 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/insights\/ai-news\/google-reddit-dominate-in-genai-referrals-to-tech-platforms\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/insights\/ai-news\/google-reddit-dominate-in-genai-referrals-to-tech-platforms\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"David F. Carr\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/88a1c371bedf9ca0167e026f38ed11d8\"},\"headline\":\"Google, Reddit Dominate in GenAI Referrals to Tech Platforms\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-17T15:55:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-26T10:26:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/insights\/ai-news\/google-reddit-dominate-in-genai-referrals-to-tech-platforms\/\"},\"wordCount\":1869,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/insights\/ai-news\/google-reddit-dominate-in-genai-referrals-to-tech-platforms\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-ChatGPT-Image-Sep-16-2025-10_36_29-AM.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"AI News\",\"Insights\",\"Software &amp; Technology News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/insights\/ai-news\/google-reddit-dominate-in-genai-referrals-to-tech-platforms\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/insights\/ai-news\/google-reddit-dominate-in-genai-referrals-to-tech-platforms\/\",\"name\":\"Google, Reddit Dominate in GenAI Referrals to Tech Platforms | Similarweb\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/insights\/ai-news\/google-reddit-dominate-in-genai-referrals-to-tech-platforms\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/insights\/ai-news\/google-reddit-dominate-in-genai-referrals-to-tech-platforms\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-ChatGPT-Image-Sep-16-2025-10_36_29-AM.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-17T15:55:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-26T10:26:20+00:00\",\"description\":\"Reddit, Github, Canva, Samsung, and Hostinger attract the most AI referrals traffic within their categories\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/insights\/ai-news\/google-reddit-dominate-in-genai-referrals-to-tech-platforms\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/insights\/ai-news\/google-reddit-dominate-in-genai-referrals-to-tech-platforms\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/insights\/ai-news\/google-reddit-dominate-in-genai-referrals-to-tech-platforms\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-ChatGPT-Image-Sep-16-2025-10_36_29-AM.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-ChatGPT-Image-Sep-16-2025-10_36_29-AM.png\",\"width\":1536,\"height\":1024},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/insights\/ai-news\/google-reddit-dominate-in-genai-referrals-to-tech-platforms\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Google, Reddit Dominate in GenAI Referrals to Tech Platforms\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Similarweb\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Similarweb\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1587374135933.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1587374135933.png\",\"width\":200,\"height\":200,\"caption\":\"Similarweb\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Similarweb\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/Similarweb\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCVCI01HR6iB4AA4ChW08cvQ\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/similarwebinsights\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/similarweb\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Similarweb\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/88a1c371bedf9ca0167e026f38ed11d8\",\"name\":\"David F. Carr\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/david-sky.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/david-sky.jpg\",\"caption\":\"David F. Carr\"},\"description\":\"David F. Carr is Editor, Insights News &amp; Research, at Similarweb. He regularly covers topics including social media, digital advertising, and the explosion of interest in generative AI tech like ChatGPT. David has been writing about web trends and technologies since he was an editor at Internet World magazine in the mid-1990s. His areas of expertise include social media, collaboration and community technologies, healthcare IT and edtech, and he is the author of Social Collaboration for Dummies. You can connect with him on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/davidfcarr\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/x.com\/davidfcarr\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/author\/david-carr\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Google, Reddit Dominate in GenAI Referrals to Tech Platforms | Similarweb","description":"Reddit, Github, Canva, Samsung, and Hostinger attract the most AI referrals traffic within their categories","robots":{"max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/insights\/ai-news\/google-reddit-dominate-in-genai-referrals-to-tech-platforms\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"David F. Carr","Est. reading time":"12 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/insights\/ai-news\/google-reddit-dominate-in-genai-referrals-to-tech-platforms\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/insights\/ai-news\/google-reddit-dominate-in-genai-referrals-to-tech-platforms\/"},"author":{"name":"David F. Carr","@id":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/88a1c371bedf9ca0167e026f38ed11d8"},"headline":"Google, Reddit Dominate in GenAI Referrals to Tech Platforms","datePublished":"2025-09-17T15:55:41+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-26T10:26:20+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/insights\/ai-news\/google-reddit-dominate-in-genai-referrals-to-tech-platforms\/"},"wordCount":1869,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/insights\/ai-news\/google-reddit-dominate-in-genai-referrals-to-tech-platforms\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-ChatGPT-Image-Sep-16-2025-10_36_29-AM.png","articleSection":["AI News","Insights","Software &amp; Technology News"],"inLanguage":""},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/insights\/ai-news\/google-reddit-dominate-in-genai-referrals-to-tech-platforms\/","url":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/insights\/ai-news\/google-reddit-dominate-in-genai-referrals-to-tech-platforms\/","name":"Google, Reddit Dominate in GenAI Referrals to Tech Platforms | Similarweb","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/insights\/ai-news\/google-reddit-dominate-in-genai-referrals-to-tech-platforms\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/insights\/ai-news\/google-reddit-dominate-in-genai-referrals-to-tech-platforms\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-ChatGPT-Image-Sep-16-2025-10_36_29-AM.png","datePublished":"2025-09-17T15:55:41+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-26T10:26:20+00:00","description":"Reddit, Github, Canva, Samsung, and Hostinger attract the most AI referrals traffic within their categories","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/insights\/ai-news\/google-reddit-dominate-in-genai-referrals-to-tech-platforms\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/insights\/ai-news\/google-reddit-dominate-in-genai-referrals-to-tech-platforms\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"","@id":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/insights\/ai-news\/google-reddit-dominate-in-genai-referrals-to-tech-platforms\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-ChatGPT-Image-Sep-16-2025-10_36_29-AM.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/attachment-ChatGPT-Image-Sep-16-2025-10_36_29-AM.png","width":1536,"height":1024},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/insights\/ai-news\/google-reddit-dominate-in-genai-referrals-to-tech-platforms\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Google, Reddit Dominate in GenAI Referrals to Tech Platforms"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/","name":"Similarweb","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":""},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Similarweb","url":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"","@id":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1587374135933.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1587374135933.png","width":200,"height":200,"caption":"Similarweb"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Similarweb","https:\/\/x.com\/Similarweb","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCVCI01HR6iB4AA4ChW08cvQ","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/similarwebinsights\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/similarweb","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Similarweb"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/88a1c371bedf9ca0167e026f38ed11d8","name":"David F. Carr","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"","@id":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/david-sky.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/david-sky.jpg","caption":"David F. Carr"},"description":"David F. Carr is Editor, Insights News &amp; Research, at Similarweb. He regularly covers topics including social media, digital advertising, and the explosion of interest in generative AI tech like ChatGPT. David has been writing about web trends and technologies since he was an editor at Internet World magazine in the mid-1990s. His areas of expertise include social media, collaboration and community technologies, healthcare IT and edtech, and he is the author of Social Collaboration for Dummies. You can connect with him on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/davidfcarr\/","https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/x.com\/davidfcarr\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/author\/david-carr\/"}]}},"lang":"en","translations":{"en":205952},"pll_sync_post":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/441"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205952"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":208060,"href":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205952\/revisions\/208060"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}