Last updated October 2026.
Finance does not fund a feeling. It funds a number with a name attached to it.
This page collects 15 of those numbers. Real studies, real organizations, real years, all pointed at one question: does tracking and fixing your AI search visibility pay for itself?
Every entry below follows the same shape: the claim, the number, and the named source you can check yourself. None of it comes from a study this site ran. It comes from Adobe, G2, Forrester, 6sense, BrightEdge, Semrush, SparkToro, and Gartner, the organizations already measuring how AI search changes buying.
Scan the table for the number that fits your pitch. Read the entries under it for the context finance will ask for next.
The 15 stats, at a glance
| # | Claim | Number | Source | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Buyers now start research in a chatbot, not Google | 51% | G2 | 2026 |
| 2 | Buyers used generative AI on their last purchase | 94% | Forrester | 2025 |
| 3 | Buyers used an LLM to summarize their research | 94% | 6sense | 2025 |
| 4 | Buyers rely on AI chatbots somewhere in their process | 71% | G2 | 2026 |
| 5 | Buyers say chatbot research beats traditional search | 53% | G2 | 2026 |
| 6 | AI guidance changed a buyer’s chosen vendor | 69% | G2 | 2026 |
| 7 | Buyers bought from a vendor AI introduced them to | About a third | G2 | 2026 |
| 8 | Buyers trust a vendor more once AI names it | 85% | G2 | 2026 |
| 9 | The early-favorite vendor still wins the deal | 77% | 6sense | 2025 |
| 10 | Evaluation now finishes before a seller joins | 60% | 6sense | 2025 |
| 11 | AI engines disagree on which brand to recommend | 61.9% | BrightEdge | 2025 |
| 12 | Zero-click rate when an AI Overview appears | 83% | Semrush | 2025 |
| 13 | US Google searches ending with zero clicks | 58.5% | SparkToro / Datos | 2024 |
| 14 | Forecast drop in traditional search volume by 2026 | 25% | Gartner | 2024 |
| 15 | AI-referred retail traffic’s conversion lift | 60% | Adobe / Digital Commerce 360 | 2026 |
Buyer behavior: AI already runs the research phase
1. Buyers now start research in a chatbot, not Google. 51%. As of April 2026, 51% of B2B software buyers began their purchase research inside an AI chatbot instead of a search engine, up from just 29% a year earlier. (G2, The Answer Economy, April 2026)
2. Nearly all buyers used generative AI on their last purchase. 94%. The share of business buyers who used generative AI during their most recent purchase reached 94% in 2025, up from 89% the year before. (Forrester, Buyers’ Journey Survey, 2025)
3. Buyers now let an LLM do the reading for them. 94%. In 6sense’s 2025 Buyer Experience Report, 94% of buyers said they used a large language model to summarize reviews or analyze vendor data before they bought. (6sense, 2025 Buyer Experience Report)
4. Most buyers lean on AI chatbots at some point, not just at the start. 71%. The share of buyers relying on AI chatbots somewhere in their research reached 71%, up from 60% just seven months earlier. (G2, The Answer Economy, April 2026)
5. Buyers say chatbot research beats traditional search. 53%. More than half of buyers, 53%, called AI-chatbot research more productive than a traditional search engine, up from 36% seven months before. (G2, The Answer Economy, April 2026)
What an AI recommendation does to your shortlist
6. AI recommendations change who wins the deal. 69%. The share of buyers who ended up choosing a different vendor than the one they originally planned, because an AI chatbot steered them elsewhere, hit 69%. (G2, The Answer Economy, April 2026)
7. A third of sales now start as a cold introduction from AI. About a third of B2B buyers bought from a vendor they had never heard of before, on the strength of an AI chatbot’s recommendation. (G2, The Answer Economy, April 2026)
8. Getting named by an AI engine earns real trust. 85%. The share of buyers who think more highly of a vendor once an AI chatbot includes that vendor in its answer reached 85%. (G2, The Answer Economy, April 2026)
9. The vendor buyers pick first usually wins. 77%. When buyers settle on a preferred vendor before ever talking to a salesperson, that early favorite still closes the deal 77% of the time. (6sense, 2025 Buyer Experience Report)
10. The research phase now eats most of the journey. 60%. Buyers complete 60% of their evaluation on their own before a seller enters the conversation, a shift from a 70/30 split a year before. (6sense, 2025 Buyer Experience Report)
What invisibility costs, and what visibility is worth
11. Engines rarely agree on who deserves the recommendation. 61.9%. ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Google AI Mode disagree on which brand to recommend for the same query 61.9% of the time. (BrightEdge AI Catalyst research, July 2025)
12. An AI Overview cancels most of the clicks it touches. 83%. The share of searches that end with zero clicks to any website climbs to about 83% once an AI Overview appears, versus about 60% when one does not. (Semrush AI Overviews Study, 2025)
13. Most Google searches never send a visitor anywhere. 58.5%. More than half of all US Google searches, 58.5%, end with no click to any website at all. (SparkToro and Datos, 2024 Zero-Click Search Study)
14. Traditional search itself is forecast to shrink. 25%. Traditional search engine volume is set to drop 25% by 2026 as generative AI tools replace queries that used to run through a search bar. (Gartner, February 2024)
15. AI-referred traffic is worth more per visit, not just more visits. 60%. AI-referred retail traffic converted 60% better than every other channel in July 2026, the 11th straight month running, and it produced 53% more revenue per visit than non-AI traffic. (Adobe Analytics, via Digital Commerce 360, Aug. 19, 2026)
What this means for your next budget request
These 15 numbers say the same thing from eight different angles. Buyers research inside AI chatbots before they ever find your website. AI recommendations move the shortlist, and often the sale. When an AI engine leaves your brand out of an answer, the buyer never learns you exist, let alone gets to compare you.
None of that tells you which software to buy. It tells you what to buy for: coverage across the engines buyers actually use, and a clear read on whether your brand shows up in their answers.
Temso tracks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot from $89 a month, and every plan carries unlimited users and projects, so the seat count never inflates the bill the way a per-user tool does. That matters once the stats above justify rolling access out past one marketer. Otterly.AI opens the door cheapest, at $29 a month, if a smaller first step fits your ask better. Profound goes deepest on enterprise citation mapping, from a real working price of $399 a month, once a board wants proof beyond a summary slide.
Compare all three, and the rest of the roster, on the full AI SEO software rankings, scored against the criteria on our methodology page.
Pull the three or four stats above that match your business, attach the real numbers from your own traffic, and take the pitch to finance. Start by pricing your own plan on Temso.