AI traffic is already here: What FI's are missing about the agentic web

58min | 05/05/2026

Description

n this episode, I sit down with my co-founder Ryan Harmon to break down the results of our latest AI traffic study and what it reveals about how the internet is fundamentally changing.

For years, banks and credit unions have focused on driving human traffic to their websites. But what happens when AI agents become the primary way people find information? Ryan and I dig into what we discovered after tracking millions of AI bot visits across financial institution websites, and why traditional analytics tools like Google Analytics are missing most of the picture.

We walk through how AI bots actually interact with websites, the difference between user bots, search bots, and training bots, and why “visibility” inside tools like ChatGPT may matter more than clicks. We also share real data showing that AI bot traffic is already rivaling human traffic—and what that means for your digital strategy. Listen to learn how AI is reshaping search, why content strategy needs to evolve, and what financial institutions should do right now to stay visible in an AI-driven world.

⏱️ Timestamps
00:00 Welcome back and introduction to the AI traffic study
01:00 How AI changed the way people search (basketball shoe example)
04:30 The shift from human browsing to AI agents as intermediaries
06:00 What “AI visibility” means and why it matters
07:30 Case study: going from 0% to 100% visibility with targeted content
09:00 The big question: does AI visibility actually drive traffic?
10:00 Why Google Analytics can’t see most AI traffic
12:00 Tracking AI referrals vs. actual AI bot activity
14:00 Why AI referral traffic appears so small (and misleading)
17:00 Discovering AI bots in server logs
18:00 Building tools to track AI traffic (WordPress plugin + Cloudflare)
20:00 Why pixel tracking doesn’t work for AI bots
23:00 How the AI traffic study was conducted (40+ institutions)
25:00 Millions of AI bot visits: what the data revealed
26:30 The three types of AI bots: user, search, and training
29:00 What user bots tell us about real human intent
30:30 How AI search bots index and retrieve content
34:00 How AI agents actually search (Bing queries + deep crawling)
41:30 What training bots are and why they matter
44:00 Do you actually want training bots on your site?
46:00 Benchmark data: AI bot traffic vs. human traffic (almost equal)
48:30 Breakdown: 88% training, 7% search, 4% user bots
50:00 Why AI citations don’t always result in bot visits
52:00 The connection between AI visibility and AI traffic
53:00 Real example: content driving top AI traffic pages
54:30 Why AI traffic is the new form of website engagement
55:30 What kind of content performs best for AI vs. humans
57:00 Final thoughts and what to watch next (AI optimizing for AI)

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

About Banking on Digital Growth

If you’re part of a financial brand marketing, sales, or leadership team, you know the entire industry is in the midst of exponential change fueled by new technologies. Consumers now make purchase decisions long before they walk into a physical branch location, if they walk into a branch at all, while mobile banks, digital lenders, and fintechs have transformed traditional growth models rooted in legacy broadcast marketing and branch sales strategies.Get ready to gain practical insights, proven ideas, and empowering inspiration as financial brand marketing and sales leaders, along with the leading digital marketing and sales technology firms, share their stories to help you maximize your digital growth potential here on Banking on Digital Growth.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

About Banking on Digital Growth

If you’re part of a financial brand marketing, sales, or leadership team, you know the entire industry is in the midst of exponential change fueled by new technologies. Consumers now make purchase decisions long before they walk into a physical branch location, if they walk into a branch at all, while mobile banks, digital lenders, and fintechs have transformed traditional growth models rooted in legacy broadcast marketing and branch sales strategies.Get ready to gain practical insights, proven ideas, and empowering inspiration as financial brand marketing and sales leaders, along with the leading digital marketing and sales technology firms, share their stories to help you maximize your digital growth potential here on Banking on Digital Growth.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Description

n this episode, I sit down with my co-founder Ryan Harmon to break down the results of our latest AI traffic study and what it reveals about how the internet is fundamentally changing.

For years, banks and credit unions have focused on driving human traffic to their websites. But what happens when AI agents become the primary way people find information? Ryan and I dig into what we discovered after tracking millions of AI bot visits across financial institution websites, and why traditional analytics tools like Google Analytics are missing most of the picture.

We walk through how AI bots actually interact with websites, the difference between user bots, search bots, and training bots, and why “visibility” inside tools like ChatGPT may matter more than clicks. We also share real data showing that AI bot traffic is already rivaling human traffic—and what that means for your digital strategy. Listen to learn how AI is reshaping search, why content strategy needs to evolve, and what financial institutions should do right now to stay visible in an AI-driven world.

⏱️ Timestamps
00:00 Welcome back and introduction to the AI traffic study
01:00 How AI changed the way people search (basketball shoe example)
04:30 The shift from human browsing to AI agents as intermediaries
06:00 What “AI visibility” means and why it matters
07:30 Case study: going from 0% to 100% visibility with targeted content
09:00 The big question: does AI visibility actually drive traffic?
10:00 Why Google Analytics can’t see most AI traffic
12:00 Tracking AI referrals vs. actual AI bot activity
14:00 Why AI referral traffic appears so small (and misleading)
17:00 Discovering AI bots in server logs
18:00 Building tools to track AI traffic (WordPress plugin + Cloudflare)
20:00 Why pixel tracking doesn’t work for AI bots
23:00 How the AI traffic study was conducted (40+ institutions)
25:00 Millions of AI bot visits: what the data revealed
26:30 The three types of AI bots: user, search, and training
29:00 What user bots tell us about real human intent
30:30 How AI search bots index and retrieve content
34:00 How AI agents actually search (Bing queries + deep crawling)
41:30 What training bots are and why they matter
44:00 Do you actually want training bots on your site?
46:00 Benchmark data: AI bot traffic vs. human traffic (almost equal)
48:30 Breakdown: 88% training, 7% search, 4% user bots
50:00 Why AI citations don’t always result in bot visits
52:00 The connection between AI visibility and AI traffic
53:00 Real example: content driving top AI traffic pages
54:30 Why AI traffic is the new form of website engagement
55:30 What kind of content performs best for AI vs. humans
57:00 Final thoughts and what to watch next (AI optimizing for AI)

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

About Banking on Digital Growth

If you’re part of a financial brand marketing, sales, or leadership team, you know the entire industry is in the midst of exponential change fueled by new technologies. Consumers now make purchase decisions long before they walk into a physical branch location, if they walk into a branch at all, while mobile banks, digital lenders, and fintechs have transformed traditional growth models rooted in legacy broadcast marketing and branch sales strategies.Get ready to gain practical insights, proven ideas, and empowering inspiration as financial brand marketing and sales leaders, along with the leading digital marketing and sales technology firms, share their stories to help you maximize your digital growth potential here on Banking on Digital Growth.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

About Banking on Digital Growth

If you’re part of a financial brand marketing, sales, or leadership team, you know the entire industry is in the midst of exponential change fueled by new technologies. Consumers now make purchase decisions long before they walk into a physical branch location, if they walk into a branch at all, while mobile banks, digital lenders, and fintechs have transformed traditional growth models rooted in legacy broadcast marketing and branch sales strategies.Get ready to gain practical insights, proven ideas, and empowering inspiration as financial brand marketing and sales leaders, along with the leading digital marketing and sales technology firms, share their stories to help you maximize your digital growth potential here on Banking on Digital Growth.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

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