What’s Happening with ChatGPT Referral Traffic?

Referral traffic from ChatGPT has declined dramatically since mid-July. According to research from Profound, led by Josh Blyskal, referral traffic dropped by 52% in a single month². This decline was not due to technical issues but rather to a shift in how OpenAI’s systems select and weight citations in responses.

The takeaway is clear: ChatGPT is prioritizing answer-first sources. And right now, the major winners are Reddit and Wikipedia.

The Rise of Reddit and Wikipedia in ChatGPT Citations

Profound’s study found that one in every five ChatGPT citations is directed to only three sites: Wikipedia, Reddit, and TechRadar. According to Marketing 4 Ecommerce, “Citations to Reddit increased by 87% in late July, while Wikipedia citations increased by 62%.¹

Why these two platforms? They align with the way Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) works.

Wikipedia offers structured, neutral, and regularly updated content that models can easily parse
Reddit delivers user-driven discussions, real comparisons, and opinions that capture how people actually evaluate products, tools, and ideas

Both are frequently updated, both use natural language, and both provide clarity in a way that AI tools reward.

Why Brands Are Losing Citations

This shift creates challenges for brand websites. When a user asks ChatGPT, “What’s the best CRM for startups?,” Reddit is cited because it contains a thread comparing multiple options. By contrast, a brand website often says “Request a demo.”

The difference is utility. In an answer-first ecosystem, vague marketing copy underperforms. AI favors sources that:

Compare multiple solutions
Provide step-by-step how-to answer
Include structured, neutral information

How to Optimize for Reddit and Wikipedia to Gain AI Visibility

While you cannot control OpenAI’s algorithms, you can influence your chances of being cited by optimizing for the ecosystems AI favors.

1. Wikipedia Optimization

Wikipedia has been a weighted dataset in LLM training for years. Its structured, community moderated content makes it a priority source. To optimize:

Ensure your brand or product has an accurate, neutral Wikipedia entry
Provide citations from reputable third-party publications, not self-published sources
Strengthen topic-level entries related to your industry. AI favors category-level context (e.g., “Ecommerce platforms”) as much as brand-level pages

2. Reddit Optimization

OpenAI also has a data licensing agreement with Reddit, giving ChatGPT direct access to Reddit’s API. That means Reddit is not just cited, it’s baked into the pipeline. To optimize:

Participate authentically in relevant subreddits

Know the culture, lead with value, and be transparent

Encourage community discussion of your brand or product
Share insights, comparisons, and helpful resources, not promotions
Focus on engagement: upvotes and comments improve visibility and likelihood of being cited in LLM outputs

3. Align Your Content with Answer-First Search

Even outside these platforms, your website should mirror the formats that ChatGPT prefers:

Publish detailed comparative guides
Create question-and-answer content
Add statistics, quotations, and sourced data
Write in natural language, structured so an AI model can easily synthesize your information

The Volatility of AI-Driven Traffic

Just as with Google’s algorithm updates, traffic from ChatGPT is volatile. A single adjustment to citation weighting caused millions of lost referrals in weeks.

That instability underscores a new reality. Visibility in AI ecosystems depends on answer-first content, participation in community moderated platforms, and agility in adapting to AI’s evolving signals.

The Future of SEO in the AI Era

Search is not dead, but it is decentralized. Traditional SEO metrics like keyword rankings and organic clicks are no longer the sole measure of visibility.

Instead, marketers must now optimize for:

Citations in AI engines (visibility within the answer itself)
Presence on weighted platforms like Wikipedia and Reddit
Answer first content formats that solve problems directly

ChatGPT will not kill SEO. But it will kill SEO strategies that fail to adapt. Brands that invest in credibility, utility, and community presence will continue to earn visibility.

Ready to adapt your SEO for the AI-first era? Our team at Revel helps brands integrate Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) strategies to gain visibility in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and beyond.

Sources:

This blog was edited with the help of Claude AI.