Social media beats SEO as SMBs’ top traffic source, survey says

Social media now drives more traffic to small and medium-sized businesses than search, and many SMBs are beginning to track AI-generated referrals. They also see competitors showing up in AI summaries as an emerging threat, according to new survey data published today by WordStream by LocaliQ.

Why we care. Small businesses now see AI summaries as an emerging and important channel. These summaries shape buyers’ early decisions and can steer them toward competing products. AI referrals have also become clear and trackable, convincing businesses that they can – and should – optimize for them.

Google traffic losses rise. Forty percent of SMBs say they’ve lost traffic from Google updates and AI-driven search. Larger companies felt the hit hardest, with nearly half reporting declines. Still, most SMBs (72%) said their SEO is “effective.”

Social surpasses search. Sixty-four percent listed social as a main traffic driver, beating organic search at 52%.

• Solopreneurs and micro-businesses ranked social first.
• 35% of businesses without a website said social and marketplaces give them enough leads that they don’t need one.

AI attention rising. AI search isn’t a top driver yet, but it’s on the radar of SMBs:

• 50% monitor AI referrals and mentions.
• 70% of larger SMBs do the same.
• GEO awareness is rising across business sizes.

The biggest frustration for SMBs is seeing competitors show up in AI summaries instead of them, but the upside is that these models often pull from sites beyond Google’s top 10, giving smaller brands a rare chance to get visibility they wouldn’t normally earn.

Core webpages are vital. Among SMBs tracking AI traffic, the most cited pages are:

• Homepages (57%)
• Product or service pages (48%)
• Contact pages (34%)

How SMBs are adapting. The top actions to boost AI visibility overlap with SEO fundamentals:

• Use clear, descriptive headlines (35%)
• Improve readability (26%)
• Fix technical basics like speed and mobile performance (24%)
• Larger SMBs build external brand mentions (33%) and add structured data (30%)

About the data. WordStream by LocaliQ surveyed 300+ U.S. small businesses across 24 industries. Responses came from companies with and without websites, from sole proprietors to 100-employee organizations.

The report. The Big SMB Website Trends Report: SEO, GEO, & the Future of Traffic

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