Shopify: AI referrals up 197%, but organic search still leads traffic

AI-referred sessions to merchant storefronts grew 197% year over year in the second quarter, Shopify said. Organic search traffic also increased 12%, according to new commerce data the company released this week.

The company found that AI and organic search serve different shopping behaviors. AI-referred shoppers converted at roughly twice the rate of organic visitors in research-intensive product categories. But organic search remained the largest source of referral traffic for Shopify merchants.

Organic search kept growing. AI-referred sessions and orders both roughly tripled from a year earlier across nearly every product category Shopify tracks. But organic search still sent more traffic to Shopify merchants than all tracked AI platforms combined. Shopify said the data suggests shoppers continue using traditional search even as AI adoption accelerates.

AI performed best on research-heavy purchases. The biggest conversion gains came in categories where shoppers compare specifications, compatibility, reviews, and other buying criteria before making a purchase.

• In those specification-heavy categories, AI-referred shoppers converted at about twice the rate of organic visitors. In broader, taste-driven categories, organic search remained the larger discovery channel. AI, however, brought in about 1.3 times more first-time customers.

Structured product data improved conversion. Shopify also found that AI-referred shoppers converted at twice the rate when AI systems used structured Shopify Catalog data instead of scraped or third-party product feeds.

• The company said this supports Google’s guidance that AI Overviews and AI Mode use the same core ranking systems as Google Search. That means the same structured product data can improve visibility in both AI and traditional search.

What they’re saying. Shopify CTO Mikhail Parakhin said on X the results challenge the idea that AI search is replacing organic search.

• “Everyone (myself included) assumes AI is swallowing Search and killing organic discovery. Surprisingly, Shopify’s numbers say otherwise: AI-referred sessions are up 3x YoY, but organic still grew 12% on a much bigger base. The pie itself got bigger.”

Why we care. AI search is growing quickly, but Shopify’s data shows organic search still drives the largest share of traffic. The same work that improves structured product data for AI platforms also supports visibility in traditional search. That means you can’t optimize for one without the other.

About the data. Shopify analyzed second-quarter commerce data from merchant storefronts. It compared AI-referred and organic search traffic using sessions, orders, and conversion rates across product categories. The company didn’t disclose how many merchants or transactions were included in the analysis.

The report. AI and organic search are doing different jobs: What Shopify’s data shows