Published 04.11.2026
OpenAI says ChatGPT search has reached about 20% of Google's query volume. The figure came from Adam Fry, ChatGPT's consumer product lead. It's a big claim, but the company counted it itself.
Why to treat the number with care
- It's OpenAI's own estimate. No one has verified it independently.
- "Search" is defined broadly. Any prompt that sends ChatGPT to the web counts. Google may count differently.
- The baseline is unknown. OpenAI hasn't said where its Google figure comes from.
What to check on your site
The takeaway doesn't depend on the exact figure: people look for answers in ChatGPT too. Different bots handle different jobs:
| Bot | What it's for | What to do |
|---|---|---|
OAI-SearchBot | ChatGPT search | let it in if you want to appear in answers |
ChatGPT-User | opens a page at a user's request | let it in if you want to appear in answers |
GPTBot | model training | can be blocked separately |
An open robots.txt isn't enough: site protection can still stop a bot. That happened on 14 of 100 well-known sites in our research.
Check your site
The free aiseen.cloud check shows in 15 seconds whether your site lets ChatGPT's bots in.
Sources: 9to5Google, Gizmodo.