Nowadays, when you open a website, the visitors are very likely not human. Data shows that in 2025, 53% of global internet traffic came from bot programs. For businesses, while it may seem like website traffic has increased, it doesn’t necessarily mean there are more real customers behind it.
The 2026 Bad Bot Report by internet security company Imperva reveals that bot-generated internet traffic has surpassed that of humans.
When referring to “bots” here, it doesn’t mean physical robots but rather software programs that automatically visit websites. Some are crawlers (bots) used by search engines like Google to read and index web pages; AI tools also use automated programs to gather online information. Others might scrape website content in large quantities, generate fake clicks, or engage in other malicious activities.
For small businesses that rely on websites to attract business, distinguishing between human and bot traffic has become a practical issue.
Cameron Figgins, the owner of California-based mold and water damage restoration company Absolute Maintenance and Consulting, told the Epoch Times that in some months, 30% to 40% of the website visits his company receives are not from real people.
Figgins uses the example that if a company spends $2,000 a month on internet advertising, and one-third of the clicks come from bots, they might end up wasting $600 to $700 without bringing in actual customers.
Ilya Ornatov, the owner of the home cleaning company NW Maids, has also encountered similar situations. He mentioned that the website is essentially the company’s “number one salesperson,” with most new customers coming from the site. However, some traffic is now just bots scraping content and not booking cleaning services.
Naveen Ayalla, a Senior Data Engineer at Microsoft, suggested that companies should reduce reliance on superficial data like page views and clicks, and instead focus on indicators that reflect real human behavior such as actual purchases, form submissions, and long-term retention.
However, not all bot traffic is harmful. Search engine crawlers and AI assistants can read website information, helping users find relevant businesses and services.
Analysis by Similarweb shows that brands recommended by AI are more likely to receive visits from real people. The likelihood of users interacting further with brands recommended by ChatGPT is on average 2.5 times higher than with competing brands.
This trend is starting to change how some small businesses operate their websites. Ornatov mentioned that previously, companies primarily created website content with Google search rankings in mind. Now, they include clear FAQs that directly answer questions like “How much for a deep clean” or “Do you provide cleaning supplies,” making it easier for AI tools to read and provide relevant information to users.
He stated that while the number of customers companies find through AI is still small, it has become a tangible new source of customers.