AI Is Quietly Driving More Traffic Than Social — Here’s What We’re Seeing

At Digitaldoor, we’ve just rolled out our new AI Reporting — and it’s already revealing something most local businesses aren’t expecting.

For a growing number of clients, AI-driven traffic is now outperforming social media traffic.

• Not impressions.
• Not “reach”.
• Actual visits, enquiries, and discovery.

And in many cases, business owners didn’t even know it was happening.

What Changed When We Turned on AI Reporting

Traditional reporting focuses on:

• Google search
• Paid ads
• Social platforms like Facebook and Instagram

Our new AI Reporting layer tracks how AI systems interact with, reference, and drive users to your business — including AI search, conversational tools, and recommendation engines.

Once we started measuring this properly, a clear pattern emerged:

"Some local businesses are getting more traffic from AI platforms than from social media — without posting a single update"

How Is AI Sending Traffic at All?

AI traffic doesn’t behave like social traffic.

• There’s no post to like.
• No ad to scroll past.
• No algorithm to “game” with daily content.

Instead, AI systems:

• Answer local service questions
• Recommend businesses directly
• Summarise options for users ready to act
• Send high-intent visitors straight to websites



AI doesn’t show a feed — it chooses.

And that’s where the opportunity (or risk) lies.

What the Data Is Telling Us

Across multiple Digitaldoor clients, our AI Reporting has uncovered:

• AI-referred traffic exceeding Facebook and Instagram combined for some clients
• High engagement time from AI visitors
• Stronger intent signals (pages viewed, enquiry paths)
• Businesses being recommended by AI even when owners weren’t aware

In short:

AI traffic is quieter, but far more decisive.

Why Social Isn’t the Benchmark Anymore

Social platforms still matter — but they’re no longer the reference point for performance.

Social traffic is:

• Interruption-based
• Passive
• Dependent on constant posting or ad spend

AI traffic is:



• Intent-based
• Trust-driven
• Triggered at the decision moment

That’s why fewer visits from AI can outperform thousands of social impressions.

The Real Risk: Flying Blind

Here’s the uncomfortable truth we’re seeing.

Many businesses are already being judged, summarised, and recommended by AI — without tracking it, optimising for it, or even knowing where they stand.

If you’re not measuring AI visibility:

• You don’t know why you’re being recommended (or ignored)
• You can’t improve your AI positioning
• You’re relying on platforms that are losing influence over decisions

That’s exactly why we built AI Reporting.

What AI Reporting Gives Our Clients

With Digitaldoor’s AI Reporting, businesses can now see:

• How much traffic AI platforms are actually driving
• Which services and pages AI systems reference
• How AI traffic compares to social and search
• Where authority, trust, and visibility gaps exist
• What to optimise next — strategically, not guesswork

It turns AI from a mystery into a measurable channel.

The Takeaway

Social media still talks.
Search still matters.

But AI is deciding.

And now that we’re finally measuring it, one thing is clear, for some local businesses, AI has already overtaken social — and most owners had no idea. If you’re not looking at AI traffic yet, you’re only seeing half the picture.

And half the picture isn’t enough anymore.

Get started today.