90% of AI Traffic comes from Desktop
Recent reports from eMarketer, Search Engine Land, and Search Engine Journal, all drawing on data from BrightEdge, show that AI-powered search tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Bing Copilot, and Google Gemini are overwhelmingly generating referral traffic from desktop rather than mobile. For example, BrightEdge found that 94% of ChatGPT traffic and 96% of Perplexity traffic came from desktop devices. Across the board, desktop accounted for over 90% of referrals from these AI search tools, while mobile traffic made up just 3–6%.
While traditional Google Search still delivers a relatively balanced split between mobile and desktop traffic, this is not yet the case with newer AI-driven platforms. The imbalance is largely due to how AI search features behave on mobile. On smartphones, AI tools often show answer previews within the app or search results, which means users don’t need to click through to websites. On desktop, users are more likely to explore full search results and click on links, leading to more visible referral traffic
This presents a clear challenge for marketers who have built their digital strategies around a mobile-first world. As highlighted in all three articles, a failure to adapt to the way AI search works on desktop could result in missed opportunities, especially for brands hoping to benefit from early exposure in generative search environments. Marketers are being encouraged to adopt "Generative Engine Optimization" (GEO), which focuses on making content discoverable and useful within AI search results, taking into account how users behave differently on desktop and mobile.
What This Means for Irish Advertisers
Desktop now plays a crucial role in how users interact with AI-powered search tools. Brands that continue to prioritise mobile-only strategies may lose visibility as generative AI becomes more influential. Desktop currently drives engagement in the world of AI search, being proactive and aligning AI strategy to be more desktop focused even for brands who focus mainly on mobile for traditional search could give Irish advertisers a competitive advantage as the AI landscape continues to evolve.
Read more :
https://www.emarketer.com/content/marketers-risk-missing-ai-traffic-by-ignoring-desktop
