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19th February,2025 – Data confirms a dramatic shift—bots now account for 80% of all web traffic, meaning only 1 in 5 website visitors is a REAL human.
This isn’t just a tech problem—it’s a big shift in how the internet works. Businesses are unknowingly paying while Big Tech collects their data for free.
Are businesses now spending more to serve AI than actual users?
How Bots Are Quietly Taking Over the Internet
A look at traffic data over the past three years reveals a massive shift in the balance of human vs. automated web interactions.
* This data is based on DesignRush’s proprietary traffic analysis and may not represent the entire web. While human vs. bot traffic proportions vary by site and industry, our findings are a strong indicator of current trends.*
AI Crawlers and Marketing Bots Are Surging (2023-2025)
- OpenAI GPT bots now make up 13% of total web traffic, up from 0% in 2023.
- Googlebot Search traffic has dropped to just 8%, signaling a shift away from traditional search indexing toward AI-driven data collection.
Bots are no longer just search engines crawling websites for ranking purposes. They’re now AI models, marketing tools, and data harvesters—automatically scraping content for training, analysis, and competitor insights.
Big Tech Is Extracting Business Data for Free
Twitter/X, Google, Apple, and OpenAI are constantly scraping website content without compensating site owners. The more businesses invest in high-quality content, the more AI models are being fed for free, potentially powering the very tools that compete against them.
Infrastructure Costs Are Rising—But for What?
Every visit to a website costs the business money—whether through hosting, security, or content delivery networks (CDNs). With bots now outnumbering real visitors 4:1, companies are spending four times more than necessary just to accommodate AI-driven traffic.
What This Means for Businesses
Ad Budgets Are Being Wasted
If bots make up 80% of web traffic, how much of a company’s PPC budget is actually reaching human customers? Without proper targeting and traffic filtering, businesses could be losing millions on ad spend that never converts.
Higher Server and Security Costs
Businesses are unknowingly paying to support non-human traffic, increasing their infrastructure and cybersecurity expenses. Without better bot management, companies will continue to pay for digital foot traffic that brings no revenue.
AI Models Are Learning from Your Business
The rise of OpenAI GPT bots and other AI scrapers means that businesses are training AI tools that could one day replace their own services. Content, strategies, and insights published online are now being absorbed into AI models—without credit or compensation.
Search Behavior Is Changing
As Googlebot’s presence declines while AI crawlers surge, businesses need to ask: Are customers still using traditional search engines, or is AI-generated search replacing human-driven discovery?
4 Immediate Actions Every Business Owner Should Take
With bots now dominating online traffic, companies must rethink their digital strategy to avoid wasting resources.
- Audit Web Traffic – Identify how much of your site traffic is real vs. bot-generated and analyze its impact on costs, engagement, and conversions.
- Reevaluate Ad Targeting – If bots are consuming digital ads, businesses must adjust their PPC campaigns to ensure better ROI.
- Redefine SEO Strategy – If AI models are pulling data instead of humans clicking search results, companies may need a new approach to online visibility.
- Invest in Bot Mitigation – Businesses must limit bot activity that doesn’t serve their interests by using rate-limiting and filtering tools to reduce non-essential AI traffic.
Internet Is No Longer Just for Humans
With bots now making up the vast majority of web traffic, companies can no longer operate under the assumption that their digital audience is human.
But beyond these steps, one of the most effective ways to adapt to the shift in web traffic is by focusing on visibility.
DesignRush is a valuable platform not only for reaching real human audiences but also for boosting your presence in AI-driven searches. With millions of visits each week from both search bots and AI models, getting your business listed on DesignRush can help you gain increased visibility and a stronger share of voice where both AI and human traffic intersect.
Get Listed on DesignRush Today
Also read: Chatbots vs. Conversational AI: Understanding the Differences and Use Cases
Image source: DesignRush
