AI traffic vs. SEO traffic: what our benchmark for wood web shops shows
SEO is changing. While search traffic came almost entirely from Google for years, we are now seeing a new source emerge: traffic from AI systems such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Bing Copilot, and Gemini.
Users are increasingly asking their questions directly to AI rather than to a search engine. The AI then provides a summary and references sources. Websites mentioned in those answers are increasingly receiving traffic from these AI systems.
But how large is that share now?
To better understand this, we at Digital Wizards conducted a benchmark analysis of multiple websites in the wood and construction sectors. The results show that AI traffic is now beginning to play a significant role.
How significant is AI traffic compared to SEO?
The timber trade benchmark shows that AI traffic now accounts for between approximately 2% and 8% of SEO traffic.
What stands out in the benchmark is that smaller niche websites often score relatively better in AI traffic than large e-commerce sites. For example, a specialized niche website from the benchmark generates nearly 8% AI traffic compared to SEO traffic, while larger national players clearly lag behind.
Interesting detail: two of the top-scoring websites in this benchmark are clients of Digital Wizards. This confirms to us that a strategy combining SEO with AI Optimization (AIO/GEO) is indeed effective.
The size of an online store therefore says little about the quality of SEO or AI visibility. In practice, we see that websites with specialized knowledge-based content are often used more effectively as a source by AI systems.
View the full benchmark here:
AI selects different content than Google
Whereas Google often displays product categories and commercial landing pages, AI models primarily select informative content as their source.
These are usually pages that:
- explaining a problem
- provide a step-by-step plan
- answer a technical question
These types of pages answer specific questions and are therefore ideal for AI to use as a source. Product pages or category pages are (for now) cited much less frequently.
Why niche websites often win here
Many e-commerce websites are structured around products and categories. This works well for commercial keywords, but less well for AI.
AI systems look for content that:
- answers a clear question
- contains specific information
- can be easily summarized as
Less suitable for AI
“View our selection of … wood.”
Suitable for AI
“For a …, beams … are usually used with a spacing of …”
The more concrete and informative the content, the greater the chance that AI will use it.
The importance of topic clusters
Another key insight is that AI models place a strong emphasis on topical authority.
This means that a single article on a topic is usually not enough. Websites that publish multiple articles on a topic are more often used as a source.
For example, a cluster centered on decking:
- decking project roadmap
- building a deck on sand
- building a deck on tiles
- distance between deck boards
- hardwood vs. Douglas fir decking
When a website has multiple articles on a single topic, AI systems recognize that as expertise.
SEO and AI are converging
For many companies, this means that SEO strategies need to become broader. Optimizing for search engines remains important, but knowledge-based content is becoming increasingly valuable.
Instead of focusing solely on product categories, it is becoming increasingly important to also publish these types of pages:
- explanatory articles
- step-by-step plans
- technical guides
Websites that build this knowledge layer have a greater chance of becoming visible in both search engines and AI-generated answers.
How Digital Wizards Can Help with SEO and GEO
At Digital Wizards, we help companies expand their SEO strategy to include AI Optimization (AIO). To this end, we have established AI Labs where we develop various AI tools to get the best results from online marketing.
For SEO and GEO, we use these tools for, among other things:
- developing content clusters around key themes
- building knowledge content suitable for AI models
- Analyzing SEO and AI data to discover new opportunities
- developing scalable content and creating templates
- programmatic SEO for e-commerce sites using our proprietary SEO tool: Productaizer.
This ensures that websites are not only visible in search engines but also in AI-generated answers. In this way, we ensure that clients grow through SEO and also establish a presence with GEO, covering both informational and conversion-driven terms.
