Unexpected Traffic: Of Course, AI Search Is Expected To Grow … But So Is SEO!

It’s pretty rare to see positive numbers associated with traditional SEO these days.

Yet actual recent projections from Branch have web traffic from traditional SEO up 8 percentage points (45% last year to 53% for 2026). Alongside it, traffic from AI search is expected to grow from 35% to 50%.

“This shift is dramatic,” says the AI Search and Discovery: Enterprise Benchmark Report. “Only 26% received over half their traffic from AI search in 2025, but by the end of 2026, 49% expect to hit that threshold. That’s nearly doubling in one year.”

(Source: Branch)

The report highlights how enterprise leaders are managing both channels, which requires “tracking more touchpoints, mapping more complex customer journeys, and solving attribution challenges that didn’t exist a year ago.”

Of the tactics used (or planning to be used) to optimize AI-powered search, 62% are improving crawlability, 60% are tracking and measuring AI-driven traffic or citations, 58% are “creating LLM-friendly content formats” such as FAQs or Q&As, and 56% are refreshing existing content for AI.

And when it works? Almost nine in 10 (89%) saw improved marketing performance, including 35% seeing significant improvement with at least a 10% increase. 

“The data shows ‘old’ channels like traditional SEO aren’t going anywhere while new ones emerge,” the report says. “This isn’t about choosing between SEO and AI search — it’s about understanding how they work together. When someone sees an AI Overview, clicks through from traditional search, and converts three days later, you need infrastructure that connects those dots across channels.”