Statistics library

UK search, AI and marketing numbers, checked at source

15 pages of statistics I keep up to date. Each figure names who measured it, when and on what sample, so you can cite the original rather than me.

Pages
15
Open datasets
3
Newest update

Search and AI

Who gets the clicks, and how AI answers are changing that.

  • 91.35%

    of UK search referrals came from Google

    Statcounter, September 2026

    UK SEO Statistics 2026

    Search engine share, click-through rates, agency numbers and AI referral data for the UK.

    DataCSV, UK SEO statisticsJSON, UK SEO statistics

    Updated

  • 1.2bn+

    people use ChatGPT each week

    OpenAI, 21 October 2026

    120 AI Search Statistics 2026

    Platform usage, AI Overviews, citations and AI referral traffic, with the sample behind each number.

    Updated

  • 1.84%

    of sessions came from AI assistants across 104 sites

    Author's own portfolio data, GA4, 90 days to 21 September 2026

    AI Referral Traffic Study

    First-party GA4 data: how much traffic AI assistants send across 104 sites, by assistant and sector.

    Updated

  • 87.9%

    median share of a site's pages with impressions that got zero clicks in 12 months

    Author's own portfolio data, Google Search Console API, to 29 October 2026

    Small-Site SEO Benchmarks: Zero-Click Pages and New-Page Timings on 100 Sites

    First-party Search Console data: zero-click pages, click concentration and new-page timings on sites I own.

    Updated

  • 69.8%

    of clicks came from queries of 4 or more words

    Author's own portfolio data, Google Search Console API, 30 October 2025 to 29 October 2026

    Search Query Length on 97 Small Sites: Clicks, CTR and Question Queries

    First-party Search Console data: share of impressions, clicks and CTR by query word count, and question queries, on sites I own.

    Updated

  • 47.8%

    of 393 usable UK queries showed an AI Overview

    Ahrefs GB SERP data, 25 September 2026

    UK AI Overviews by Industry 2026

    How often Google shows an AI Overview across 10 UK sectors, and which kinds of source it cites.

    Updated

  • 7.1% to 28.5%

    range of position-one organic CTR across three published studies

    First Page Sage, Advanced Web Ranking and Sistrix, 2026

    Google CTR by Position: Benchmarks, Caveats and How to Measure Your Own

    What published studies report for click-through rate by position, with this site's own benchmark withdrawn and explained.

    Updated

  • +120%

    organic clicks per impression when a brand is cited in the AI Overview

    Seer Interactive, 2026 update

    Content Marketing Statistics 2026

    What content programmes cost, where they pay back, and what being cited in AI answers is worth.

    Updated

Local and sector

Reviews, the Local Pack and one sector worked through in detail.

  • 80%

    of consumers likely to use a business that replies to all reviews

    BrightLocal, 2026 survey of US adults

    46 Local SEO Statistics 2026

    Reviews, Local Pack behaviour and AI Overviews on local searches, with US and UK scope marked.

    Updated

  • 49%

    trust online reviews from strangers about as much as personal recommendations

    BrightLocal, 2026 survey of US adults

    UK Dental Practice Marketing Statistics 2026

    Sourced figures for dental practices, with the gaps where no UK dental data exists stated outright.

    Updated

Web and commerce

The size of the web and how much UK buying has moved online.

  • 411.6m

    domain name registrations across all top-level domains

    Verisign, Q3 2026

    How Many Websites Are There in 2026? Web and Search Statistics

    Domains, active sites, CMS share and UK registrations, each from the registry or survey that counts them.

    Updated

  • 28.8%

    of Great Britain retail sales made online

    ONS, September 2026

    UK Ecommerce SEO Statistics 2026

    Online share of sales, conversion rates, device split and Core Web Vitals for ecommerce sites.

    Updated

How the dates work

  • A page's date moves only after its figures have been re-checked at the source. Anything not re-checked is said on that page.
  • Figures I cannot trace to a source are removed, not rounded or softened.
  • A weekly review lists any page not updated for 25 days, so none goes quiet unnoticed.
  • My own studies, as opposed to these roundups, are on the research hub.

How to cite

Link to the original source behind a figure, and to the page here if it helped you find it. Figures from other organisations belong to them. My own studies are licensed on my research data page.

Spotted something out of date? Tell me and I will check it.