In short
In Germany, Google shows an AI Overview for 20–24% of keywords. Among people aged 16 and over, 58% use AI at least occasionally, and half of internet users at least sometimes use it instead of a search engine. So far, AI assistants send hardly any visits: at most 0.33% of the website referrals StatCounter counts. As of November 2026.
Google shows an AI Overview for 24.0% of keywords in Germany with at least 100 monthly searches, and for 30.7% of informational ones.
Source: Ahrefs (in German) (external site), · vendor study · 6.99 million keywords in Germany with 100+ monthly searches
With an AI Overview, 11% of searchers click the first result, compared with more than 27% on average.
Source: SISTRIX (in German) (external site), , updated · vendor study, over 100 million keywords in Germany
Among internet users aged 16 and over, 50% at least sometimes use AI chat tools instead of a search engine.
Source: Bitkom (in German) (external site), · 1,030 internet users aged 16 and over
On desktop, Bing accounts for 19.74% of search engine referrals; across all devices, Google accounts for 88.47%.
Source: StatCounter (external site), · monthly values for October 2026, desktop and all devices
From November 2025 to October 2026, AI assistants sent at most 0.33% of the referrals to websites that StatCounter counted.
Source: StatCounter (external site), · monthly values from November 2025 to October 2026
How often does Google show an AI Overview in Germany?
Google shows an AI Overview for 20–24% of keywords in Germany: Ahrefs counted 24.0% in August 2026, and SISTRIX measures just over 20%. For informational keywords, the share is 30.7%. We haven’t found a source for Germany that says how many individual searches show an AI Overview. AI Mode has been available in Germany since October 8, 2025.
| Metric | Value | Population | Period covered | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI Overviews available | since Mar 26, 2025 | signed-in users aged 18 and over at launch, in German and English; according to Google Search Help, all users in Germany today | Mar 26, 2025 | Google (in German) (external site), · provider statement retrieved |
| AI Mode available | since Oct 8, 2025 | Google Search users in Germany, Austria and Switzerland; Google Search Help lists Germany as a supported country | rollout began on Oct 8, 2025 | Google (in German) (external site), · provider statement retrieved |
| Keywords with an AI Overview | 24.0% | 1,677,724 of 6,994,134 keywords in Germany with at least 100 monthly searches | August 2026 | Ahrefs (in German) (external site), · vendor study retrieved |
| Informational keywords with an AI Overview | 30.7%; 98.5% of all keywords with an AI Overview are informational | 1,652,486 of 5,385,729 informational keywords | August 2026 | Ahrefs (in German) (external site), · vendor study retrieved |
| Keywords with an AI Overview, second database | just over 20%; around 30% for rarely searched (long-tail) keywords | more than 100 million keywords in Germany | not stated; as of Oct 13, 2026 | SISTRIX (in German) (external site), , updated · vendor study retrieved |
| Keywords with an AI Overview by topic | health 76.0%, technology and software 40.5%, cooking and recipes 16.2% | 16,728, 36,427 and 28,842 keywords | August 2026 | Ahrefs (in German) (external site), · vendor study retrieved |
| AI Overviews above the organic results | 78.6% | keywords in Germany that show an AI Overview | not stated; as of Oct 13, 2026 | SISTRIX (in German) (external site), , updated · vendor study retrieved |
Google’s help pages on AI Overviews (external site) and AI Mode (external site) both list Germany today; we retrieved them on November 7, 2026. Google also published its launch announcement for AI Overviews in English (external site). The shares count keywords from each vendor’s database, each keyword once, so a keyword people search for often counts the same as a rare one. They don’t directly tell you how many searches actually show an AI Overview.
Our article on AI Overviews and AI Mode explains how Google chooses the sources for an AI Overview. Our guide to generative engine optimization (GEO) shows what the figures mean for your own visibility. The terms “provider statement” and “vendor study” in the Source column are defined under how we choose the figures.
How many people in Germany use AI for search?
In the past 30 days, 39% of online users used an AI assistant to find information and 79% a search engine (YouGov, 2026). Overall, 58% of people aged 16 and over use AI at least occasionally (Bitkom, 2026). In official statistics, 32% of 16- to 74-year-olds used generative AI in the past three months, versus 33% EU-wide (Eurostat, 2025 survey).
| Metric | Value | Population | Period covered | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Used an AI assistant to search for information, past 30 days | 39%; search engines 79%, Generation Z 49% | 1,005 respondents aged 18 and over from an online panel | Apr 21–May 19, 2026 | YouGov (in German) (external site), · survey retrieved |
| Used AI chat tools instead of a search engine, at least sometimes | 50%; ages 16 to 29: two-thirds; 12% mostly or only use AI, 47% only classic search | 1,030 internet users aged 16 and over | September and October 2025 | Bitkom (in German) (external site), · survey by an industry association retrieved |
| Used AI at work or in private life | 58%; 34% at least once a week, 15% daily | 1,003 people aged 16 and over | February and March 2026 | Bitkom (in German) (external site), · survey by an industry association retrieved |
| Used AI tools at least occasionally | 59%; ages 14 to 29: 92%, ages 70 and over: 15% | 2,462 German-speaking people aged 14 and over | Jan 27–Apr 19, 2026 | ARD and ZDF (in German) (external site), · study by public broadcasters retrieved |
| Used generative AI, past three months | 32%; EU average 33% | people aged 16 to 74 | 2025 survey | Eurostat (external site), · official statistics retrieved |
| Used an AI assistant for news, past week | 5%; all markets in the study: 10% | 2,001 respondents from the online population | January and February 2026 | Reuters Institute (external site), · study retrieved |
The figures differ because the studies ask different questions. Some ask about AI in general, others about AI for search. They cover the past three months, the past 30 days or the past week, and people aged 14, 16 or 18 and over. So compare only figures from the same study over time. YouGov gives the sample and survey period in its press release of July 15, 2026 (external site) (in German). Eurostat publishes its figure in the dataset on the use of generative AI tools (external site), based on the official EU survey on the use of ICT in households and by individuals. Eurostat gives the age range of 16 to 74 in its article on the use of artificial intelligence by individuals (external site). The Digital News Report asks about standalone AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini. It doesn’t count AI Overviews in Google Search.
Which AI assistants do people in Germany use, and what for?
ChatGPT is the most widely used AI assistant in Germany, with 71% of AI users, ahead of Gemini at 50% and Microsoft Copilot at 43% (Bitkom, 2026). For 41% of them, AI is their first stop for almost every question. Just under a quarter of ChatGPT messages from Germany are about seeking information; two years earlier, it was a sixth.
| Metric | Value | Population | Period covered | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI assistants used | ChatGPT 71%, Gemini 50%, Microsoft Copilot 43%, Meta AI 35%, DeepSeek 8%, Perplexity 7%, Grok 6%, Claude 5%, LeChat 4% | 579 AI users aged 16 and over; multiple answers possible | February and March 2026 | Bitkom (in German) (external site), · survey by an industry association retrieved |
| AI is the first stop for almost every question | 41% | 579 AI users aged 16 and over | February and March 2026 | Bitkom (in German) (external site), · survey by an industry association retrieved |
| ChatGPT messages about seeking information | 22.9%; July to September 2024: 16.8%; share for writing fell from 38.5% to 21.2% over the same period | messages from Germany sent from consumer accounts of users aged 18 and over; OpenAI category “Seeking information” | July to September 2026, compared with July to September 2024 | OpenAI (external site), · provider data, own calculation retrieved |
| ChatGPT search users in the EU | 185.6 million | average monthly active recipients; figure for the EU only | April to September 2026 | OpenAI (external site) · provider statement under the Digital Services Act retrieved |
OpenAI publishes the number of ChatGPT search users on its page about the EU Digital Services Act (DSA) (external site), retrieved on November 7, 2026. OpenAI says it calculated this average “solely for the purposes of complying with our DSA obligations” and that it shouldn’t be used for anything else. We include it anyway because we haven’t found any other OpenAI figure for the EU. The message shares come from OpenAI’s Signals data, which is based on a global sample of 1 million messages a month from consumer accounts and excludes enterprise accounts. OpenAI adds statistical noise to the data to protect users. To see how your business can appear in these answers, read our how-to on getting recommended by ChatGPT.
How do AI answers change click behavior?
When an AI Overview appears, far fewer people click on search results. Just 11% of searchers then click the first result, versus more than 27% on average. Only 33% of searches end with a click on an organic result, versus 57% (SISTRIX). Across all keywords, that costs about 6.6% of organic clicks.
| Metric | Value | Population | Period covered | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Click-through rate of the first result | 11% with an AI Overview, more than 27% on average | more than 100 million keywords in Germany | not stated; as of Oct 13, 2026 | SISTRIX (in German) (external site), , updated · vendor study retrieved |
| Searches that end with a click on an organic result | 33% with an AI Overview, 57% on average | more than 100 million keywords in Germany | not stated; as of Oct 13, 2026 | SISTRIX (in German) (external site), , updated · vendor study retrieved |
| Organic clicks lost to AI Overviews | 6.6%, about 265 million a month; by topic, from just over 1% for recipe sites to more than 24% for parenting sites | all keywords | not stated; as of Oct 13, 2026 | SISTRIX (in German) (external site), , updated · vendor study retrieved |
| Often used the search engine’s AI summary without looking at the results | 24%; 43% click on the results to form their own view | 1,030 internet users aged 16 and over | September and October 2025 | Bitkom (in German) (external site), · survey by an industry association retrieved |
The SISTRIX figures describe clicks from Google Search. SISTRIX has also published an English version of the study (external site), last updated on April 2, 2026, with the same figures. We haven’t found a public study that measures how often people in Germany click through to a website from a ChatGPT or Perplexity answer. How many visits AI assistants send overall is shown in How many visits do AI assistants send to websites?
How much do people in Germany trust AI answers?
Much less than search engines: 36% of online users trust information from AI assistants, while 72% trust search engines (YouGov, 2026). Of those who use AI for search, 42% have already received false or made-up information. Even so, only 57% check the answers before using them (Bitkom, 2025).
| Metric | Value | Population | Period covered | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trust information from AI assistants | 36%; search engines 72%, navigation apps 76% | 1,005 respondents aged 18 and over from an online panel | Apr 21–May 19, 2026 | YouGov (in German) (external site), · survey retrieved |
| Have received false or made-up information from AI | 42%; 57% check the answers before using them | people who use AI for search | September and October 2025 | Bitkom (in German) (external site), · survey by an industry association retrieved |
| Consider the source citations of AI transparent | 43% | users of AI tools | Jan 27–Apr 19, 2026 | ARD and ZDF (in German) (external site), · study by public broadcasters retrieved |
Which sources do AI answers cite in Germany?
Google’s AI Mode mostly cites German-language pages, while ChatGPT mostly cites English-language ones. According to SISTRIX, 80% of the core domains in AI Mode are German-language; these are the domains that keep being cited week after week. For ChatGPT, 68% of the core sources are in English, even for German queries.
| Metric | Value | Population | Period covered | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| German-language core domains in AI Mode | 80%; 62% for rotating domains | more than 2,500 cited URLs classified by language, from a study of 82,619 prompts in six countries | Dec 17, 2025–Apr 8, 2026 | SISTRIX (in German) (external site), , updated · vendor study retrieved |
| English-language core sources in ChatGPT | 68% | German queries, same study | Dec 17, 2025–Apr 8, 2026 | SISTRIX (in German) (external site), , updated · vendor study retrieved |
According to SISTRIX, the remaining sources change from week to week. In the German market, the sources of the two systems barely overlap, and SISTRIX names language as one reason. SISTRIX has also published an English version of this study (external site), last updated on May 12, 2026.
Which search engines do people in Germany use?
Most clicks from search engines come from Google: in October 2026, it accounted for 88.47% of the referrals StatCounter counted, and for 96.65% on mobile. On desktop, Bing reached 19.74%, averaging 16.7% over the past 12 months. Microsoft reports 34.6 million monthly active Bing users in Germany in the first half of 2026, and 171.6 million across the EU.
| Metric | Value | Population | Period covered | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share of search engine referrals, all devices | Google 88.47%, Bing 6.41%, Yahoo 1.61%, Yandex 1.34%, DuckDuckGo 0.98%, Ecosia 0.91%; 12-month average: Google 84.2%, Bing 7.9% | clicks from search engines to websites with the StatCounter tracking code | October 2026; average from November 2025 to October 2026 | StatCounter (external site) · analytics vendor data retrieved |
| Share of search engine referrals by device | desktop: Google 70.26%, Bing 19.74%; mobile: Google 96.65%, Bing 0.39%; Bing on desktop averaged 16.7% over the 12 months, with monthly values of 12.8–19.7% | clicks from search engines to websites with the StatCounter tracking code | October 2026; average from November 2025 to October 2026 | StatCounter (external site) · analytics vendor data retrieved |
| Monthly active Bing users in Germany | 34.6 million; EU 171.6 million | average monthly active recipients under the Digital Services Act (DSA) | January to June 2026 | Microsoft (external site), · provider statement under the DSA retrieved |
| ChatGPT as a search engine under EU law | since Aug 31, 2026 | designated a very large online search engine under the DSA; the Commission’s list gives 159.1 million users in the EU as reported by OpenAI, with no period; for April to September 2026, OpenAI gives 185.6 million | Aug 31, 2026 | European Commission (external site), updated · regulator retrieved |
The shares come from StatCounter for all devices (external site), desktop (external site) and mobile (external site), with values for October 2026, retrieved on November 7, 2026. StatCounter publishes them as search engine market share, but it counts clicks from search engines to websites that use its tracking code, not searches. According to its FAQ (external site), StatCounter may revise figures for 45 days after first publication. We calculated the averages from the monthly values. The European Commission records ChatGPT’s designation in its list of very large online platforms and search engines (external site). Which search indexes ChatGPT, Copilot and the other AI assistants draw on is explained in our guide to generative engine optimization (GEO) under How do ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google choose their sources? If you sell into Germany from abroad, our page SEO and GEO for Germany shows how we help international companies reach these searchers.
How many visits do AI assistants send to websites?
Very few so far. From November 2025 to October 2026, AI assistants accounted for at most 0.33% of the referrals StatCounter counts from search, social media and AI assistants. In October 2026, it was 0.05%. Search engines delivered more than 92% in each of those months. Among AI assistants, ChatGPT sent the most referrals.
| Metric | Value | Population | Period covered | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI assistants’ share of referrals from search, social media and AI assistants | 0.05% in October 2026; November 2025 to September 2026: 0.15–0.33%; in October, search engines 97.47%, social media 2.48% | websites with the StatCounter tracking code, category “AI Chatbot” | November 2025 to October 2026, monthly values | StatCounter (external site) · analytics vendor data retrieved |
| ChatGPT’s share of referrals from AI assistants | 41.5% in October 2026; November 2025 to September 2026: 67.8–81.3%; in October 2026, Gemini 34.88%, Perplexity 15.87%, Claude 4.04%, Microsoft Copilot 3.68% | websites with the StatCounter tracking code, category “AI Chatbot” | November 2025 to October 2026, monthly values | StatCounter (external site) · analytics vendor data retrieved |
The figures come from StatCounter for search, social media and AI assistants (external site) and for individual AI assistants (external site), retrieved on November 7, 2026; the ranges are monthly values. Through September 2026, ChatGPT’s share never fell below 67.8% and Gemini’s never rose above 11.4%. We found no explanation from StatCounter for the jump in October, so treat the October figures with caution. Our how-to on measuring AI search visibility explains how to spot visits from AI assistants in your own analytics.
How many websites block AI crawlers?
Only a few: 2.43% of the .de websites studied block OpenAI’s GPTBot crawler in their robots.txt (Ahrefs, as of August 2026). Among the 57 largest German-language portals, it’s 40.4%, and among large news and publishing sites, 61%. Most of these publishers, however, allow OpenAI’s search crawler, OAI-SearchBot.
| Metric | Value | Population | Period covered | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| .de websites that block GPTBot | 2.43%, 95% confidence interval ±0.22 percentage points; Germany, Austria and Switzerland combined: 2.27% | 19,444 .de hosts from the public web archive Common Crawl; for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, 24,550 hosts, of which 61.9% have a robots.txt file at all | August 2026 | Ahrefs (in German) (external site), , updated · vendor study retrieved |
| Large portals that block GPTBot | 40.4% | 57 largest German-language portals | August 2026 | Ahrefs (in German) (external site), , updated · vendor study retrieved |
| Large news and publishing sites that block GPTBot | 61%, 17 of 28; large online stores and marketplaces 6%; when rechecked on Nov 5, 2026, 13 of the 17 publishers allowed the search crawler OAI-SearchBot | 28 large news and publishing sites | August 2026, rechecked on Nov 5, 2026 | Ahrefs (in German) (external site), , updated · vendor study retrieved |
AI crawlers are programs that AI companies use to fetch websites. OpenAI uses GPTBot to collect content that may be used to train its models. OAI-SearchBot fetches pages for search in ChatGPT, and according to OpenAI (external site), you can block each of them separately. The study only counts blocks in robots.txt; it can’t see blocks in a firewall or by IP address. Which AI crawlers exist and how to control them is covered in our article on AI crawlers.
Which figures are missing for Germany?
For three key questions about AI search, we haven’t found a reliable public figure for Germany: how many searches show an AI Overview, how many people use ChatGPT and how often AI crawlers fetch pages from German websites. We last checked on November 7, 2026.
- Searches with an AI Overview: The studies count keywords, each keyword once. We haven’t found a figure from Google for actual searches in Germany.
- ChatGPT users in Germany: Under the Digital Services Act, OpenAI only gives a figure for the EU. For Germany, its Signals data shows the share of messages by topic, but no number of users.
- Use of AI Mode: We haven’t found any figures on how much AI Mode is used in Germany.
- Clicks from AI answers: We haven’t found a public study that measures how often people in Germany click a source in an answer from ChatGPT, Perplexity or AI Mode. StatCounter only shows the share of all referrals.
- AI crawler requests: The Ahrefs study counts rules in robots.txt, not requests. We haven’t found any public measurements of AI crawler requests on German websites.
- Google Search users: Under the DSA, Google also publishes counts for Germany. Google says they “overstate the number of unique recipients” and “cannot serve as a basis for comparison” with other providers’ numbers (Google, Aug 14, 2026 (external site)). That’s why we don’t include them.
- Businesses as searchers: We haven’t found a representative study on how businesses in Germany use AI when they look for service providers.
As soon as a source appears that names its publisher, period and population, we’ll add it.
From our work: how we choose the figures
We checked every figure on this page at its original source and recorded its period and population. We ran six evaluations of our own on public data: averages of StatCounter’s monthly values and quarterly ChatGPT figures from OpenAI’s Signals data. We’ll only report our own AI visibility measurements once we publish our measurement log.
| Calculation | Result | How we calculated it | Data |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google, share of search engine referrals, all devices | 84.2% | average of the 12 monthly values from November 2025 to October 2026 | StatCounter, monthly values |
| Bing, share of search engine referrals, all devices | 7.9% | as above | StatCounter, monthly values |
| Bing, share of search engine referrals on desktop | 16.7% | as above; monthly values 12.8–19.7% | StatCounter, monthly values |
| AI assistants, share of referrals from search, social media and AI assistants | 0.23% | as above; monthly values 0.05–0.33% | StatCounter, monthly values |
| ChatGPT messages from Germany about seeking information | 22.9%; 2024: 16.8% | average of the monthly values for July to September, in 2026 and in 2024, category “Seeking information” | OpenAI Signals v3.0 |
| ChatGPT messages from Germany about writing | 21.2%; 2024: 38.5% | as above, category “Writing” | OpenAI Signals v3.0 |
Our selection rules:
- Publisher, period, population: If any of these is missing, we leave the figure out.
- Original sources first: We leave out figures that we only find in third-party reports. That’s why a figure on weekly AI use from the 2026 ARD/ZDF media study is missing here.
- Type of source: We label each source as official statistics, a survey or study (naming who commissioned it), a regulator, a provider statement or a vendor study. A provider statement is a figure that a company publishes about its own product. A vendor study is one that a company selling SEO or AI visibility tools produced from its own data. We list StatCounter as analytics vendor data.
- Keywords aren’t searches: We describe shares from keyword databases as shares of keywords.
- Germany first: EU or global figures appear only where there’s no figure for Germany, or next to one for comparison.
- Contradictions: If two releases about the same survey give different figures for the same question, we leave both out. This affected one figure on the daily use of AI assistants.
- Keeping figures current: We check every figure against its source every quarter. Every change is listed under “Changes to this article” at the end of this page.
- CSV file: The file at the end of this page is licensed under CC BY 4.0. So it contains every metric except those from StatCounter, which licenses its data under CC BY-SA 3.0. You’ll find StatCounter’s values only in the tables on this page, each with a link to the source.
How we’ll measure the AI visibility of websites is described on our page Methodology and measurement log.