Since late July, referral traffic from ChatGPT has fallen sharply down 52% in less than a month. At first glance, this looks like a major setback for brands that rely on AI citations to drive visitors to their sites.
But a closer look at the data (sourced from Profound’s analysis of 1+ billion citations and 1+ million referral visits) tells a more nuanced story: ChatGPT is consolidating its outbound links toward a few “answer hubs.”
And at the top of that list sits Reddit.
The rise of Reddit and Wikipedia
The shift began around July 23rd, when citation patterns changed dramatically:
- Reddit citations surged +87%, now representing more than 10% of all ChatGPT citations.
- Wikipedia climbed +62% from its July low, reaching nearly 13% share — an all-time high.
- Together with TechRadar, the top three domains now account for 22% of all citations. That means 1 in 5 ChatGPT citations now goes to just three sites.
This isn’t the result of GPT-5. The consolidation started weeks before the model shipped. Instead, it reflects OpenAI experimenting with how citation weights are distributed inside its retrieval system.
Why direct traffic is down, but indirect visibility is up
For brands, the immediate impact is clear: fewer direct referrals. If ChatGPT is pointing users to Reddit instead of to your landing page, you lose a click.
But here’s the twist: if your product or company is mentioned inside those Reddit threads (or on Wikipedia pages), your indirect visibility may actually be higher than before.
Think about a user asking: “What’s the best CRM for startups?”
- A brand page might just say, “Book a demo.”
- A Reddit thread will compare 10 CRMs in detail and if your brand is in that list, that’s the page ChatGPT now cites.
So even though the traffic passes through Reddit, your brand still benefits if it’s part of the conversation.
The lesson for brands: become the answer
As Profound’s analysis shows, ChatGPT rewards sites that provide direct, utility-driven answers.
That means brands can’t rely on polished conversion pages alone. To stay visible in AI-driven discovery, companies need to:
- Publish comparison content that mirrors real user questions.
- Use the language customers actually search for.
- Prioritize answer-first content over demo CTAs.
This doesn’t mean abandoning conversion goals. It means earning your place in the “answer layer” that ChatGPT now favors.
The volatility risk
One caveat: OpenAI’s weighting adjustments create massive swings. A single tweak produced a -52% collapse in referral traffic in under a month. That level of volatility is a reminder of how dependent SEOs and content teams are on decisions made upstream.
But regardless of whether this particular experiment sticks, the long-term direction is clear: platforms like Reddit and Wikipedia are being prioritized because they provide answers directly.
Final thought
ChatGPT referral traffic may be down, but visibility isn’t disappearing. It’s shifting.
Brands that show up inside answer-driven hubs like Reddit and Wikipedia are still being cited — often more than before. The winners won’t be the ones with the slickest landing pages, but the ones who make sure their expertise lives where ChatGPT is already looking for answers.
Analysis courtesy of Profound.