{"id":4234,"date":"2025-09-03T05:56:51","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T05:56:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/?p=4234"},"modified":"2025-10-29T07:14:21","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T07:14:21","slug":"new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\/","title":{"rendered":"New Study Reveals AI Assistants Hallucinate Links Nearly 3X More Than Google Search"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>AI hallucinations are no longer just about facts or made-up citations. A <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/how-often-do-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links\/\">new study from Ahrefs<\/a> explored a different and equally important question: how often do AI assistants hallucinate links and send users to non-existent pages?<\/p>\n<p>The results are striking. After analyzing 16 million unique URLs cited by ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Copilot, Gemini and Mistral, researchers found that AI assistants send users to 404 pages almost three times more often than Google Search does.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s a big deal for businesses and SEOs. If AI is changing how people discover content, what does it mean when the very links driving traffic sometimes lead to dead ends?<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_83 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-transparent ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\"><\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\/#what-did-the-study-examine\" >What Did the Study Examine?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\/#test-1-clicked-urls-in-web-analytics\" >Test 1: Clicked URLs in Web Analytics<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\/#test-2-cited-urls-in-brand-radar\" >Test 2: Cited URLs in Brand Radar<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\/#why-do-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links\" >Why Do AI Assistants Hallucinate Links?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\/#how-big-of-a-problem-is-this\" >How Big of a Problem Is This?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\/#how-can-sites-detect-their-hallucinated-urls\" >How Can Sites Detect Their Hallucinated URLs?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\/#should-seos-and-marketers-worry\" >Should SEOs and Marketers Worry?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"what-did-the-study-examine\"><\/span><b>What Did the Study Examine?<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The research, led by Ryan Law and Xibeijia Guan at Ahrefs, used two datasets to measure hallucination rates:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Web Analytics test (clicked URLs):<\/b> Examined anonymized data from real websites to track visits referred by AI assistants.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Brand Radar test (cited URLs):<\/b> Analyzed millions of URLs AI assistants cited in outputs, whether or not they were clicked.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/hallucinated-urls-2.jpg\" alt=\"AI hallucinated links \" width=\"2012\" height=\"764\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Together, these tests created one of the most comprehensive snapshots to date of how AI-generated referrals actually behave online.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"test-1-clicked-urls-in-web-analytics\"><\/span><b>Test 1: Clicked URLs in Web Analytics<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>For the first test, Ahrefs used anonymized data from its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/blog\/google-analytics-guide\/\">Web Analytics<\/a> tool, focusing on URLs referred by AI assistants. Pages were flagged as 404s if their titles contained \u201c404\u201d or \u201cnot found.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The results?<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Referrer<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>Likely 404 Pages<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>Total Unique URLs<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>404 Rate<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><b>ChatGPT<\/b><\/td>\n<td>84,465<\/td>\n<td>8,332,436<\/td>\n<td><b>1.01%<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Claude<\/td>\n<td>550<\/td>\n<td>95,293<\/td>\n<td>0.58%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Copilot<\/td>\n<td>1,466<\/td>\n<td>431,319<\/td>\n<td>0.34%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Perplexity<\/td>\n<td>3,529<\/td>\n<td>1,133,084<\/td>\n<td>0.31%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Gemini<\/td>\n<td>734<\/td>\n<td>351,242<\/td>\n<td>0.21%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Mistral<\/b><\/td>\n<td>8<\/td>\n<td>6,760<\/td>\n<td><b>0.12%<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Now compare that to Google, which had a baseline referral 404 rate of just <b>0.15%<\/b> across 629 million URLs.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191121-1.png\" alt=\"404 rates by referral channel\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1579\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In other words, ChatGPT sends users to broken links 7X more often than Google. Even the better-performing AI tools (like Gemini and Perplexity) still exceed Google\u2019s 404 rate.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"test-2-cited-urls-in-brand-radar\"><\/span><b>Test 2: Cited URLs in Brand Radar<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The second test used Brand Radar, Ahrefs\u2019 searchable database of millions of AI prompts and outputs, to examine cited URLs. This went deeper than clicks by looking at everything the assistants recommended.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s what they found:<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><b>AI Assistant<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>Unique Cited URLs<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>URLs in Crawler DB<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>404 Rate<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><b>ChatGPT<\/b><\/td>\n<td>2,452,776<\/td>\n<td>1,524,277<\/td>\n<td><b>2.38%<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Perplexity<\/td>\n<td>3,471,754<\/td>\n<td>2,450,016<\/td>\n<td>0.87%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Gemini<\/td>\n<td>1,354,171<\/td>\n<td>641,603<\/td>\n<td>0.86%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Copilot<\/td>\n<td>1,485,355<\/td>\n<td>1,120,780<\/td>\n<td>0.54%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Key insight:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191121-5.png\" alt=\"Brand radar data \" width=\"1600\" height=\"1619\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">ChatGPT again tops the list, with a hallucination rate nearly 3X higher than its competitors.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Perplexity and Gemini hover around 0.86\u20130.87%, almost identical to the 0.84% baseline 404 rate in Google\u2019s SERPs. That makes sense, since both tools lean heavily on Google\u2019s index.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Copilot, which draws from Bing, shows a lower rate (0.54%).\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"why-do-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links\"><\/span><b>Why Do AI Assistants Hallucinate Links?<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Ahrefs identified two primary reasons:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Expired but once-valid URLs: <\/b>Some links cited by AI were once real pages but have since been deleted or moved without redirects. Since AI blends internal knowledge with live search, it may recall URLs that no longer exist.\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>True \u201cpattern-based\u201d hallucinations: <\/b>AI often generates URLs that look right but were never real. For example, Ahrefs noticed hallucinations like \/blog\/internal-links\/ or \/blog\/newsletter\/ on its own site. Both match plausible blog structures but don\u2019t exist.\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>This is why hallucinations are not random. They are pattern-driven guesses based on how URLs usually look. For sites with structured naming conventions, this is both a curse (more hallucinations) and an opportunity (predictable traffic to fix or redirect).<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"how-big-of-a-problem-is-this\"><\/span><b>How Big of a Problem Is This?<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Here is where things get nuanced.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">On average, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/ahrefs-launches-first-ever-tracker-comparing-google-chatgpt-referral-traffic-4105\/\">AI referrals<\/a> make up just 0.25% of a website\u2019s traffic.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">By comparison, Google drives nearly 40% of traffic.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\">Even if 1% of AI referrals hit 404s, that\u2019s 1% of 0.25% \u2014 a drop in the bucket compared to overall traffic.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So, no, hallucinated URLs aren\u2019t going to sink your site tomorrow. But they represent:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Lost opportunities<\/b>: Even small volumes of misdirected traffic could be recaptured.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Signals for the future<\/b>: As <a href=\"http:\/\/stanventures.com\/news\/ai-tool-usage-on-the-rise-but-search-still-rules-says-study-4154\/\">AI adoption grows<\/a>, today\u2019s small problem could become tomorrow\u2019s bigger one.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Remember: in 2023, almost no one thought AI would account for a measurable share of search traffic. By mid-2025, AI referrals already exist, and platforms like ChatGPT are experimenting with default web-browsing modes.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"how-can-sites-detect-their-hallucinated-urls\"><\/span><b>How Can Sites Detect Their Hallucinated URLs?<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Ahrefs suggests a clear process for identifying hallucinated links:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b> Filter analytics for AI traffic<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191121-7.png\" alt=\" Filter analytics for AI traffic\n\" width=\"892\" height=\"950\" \/><\/p>\n<p> Start by isolating traffic coming from AI assistants. In GA4, this can be done using a regular expression filter in the Session Source dimension, targeting patterns like .*gpt.*|.*chatgpt.*|.*perplexity.*|.*claude.*|.*gemini.*|.*copilot.*. If you are using Ahrefs\u2019 Web Analytics, the process is even simpler; just select the built-in \u201cAI search\u201d channel filter to instantly see AI referrals.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b> Export referral URLs and check their status codes<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/word-image-191121-8.png\" alt=\"Generate an Apps Script to return http status\" width=\"2040\" height=\"1514\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Once you have pulled your AI traffic data, the next step is to verify whether those URLs actually exist. You can use an Apps Script in Google Sheets to fetch HTTP status codes for each URL, or run a site crawl with your preferred SEO tool. This will reveal which pages return a 200 (valid), 301 (redirected), or 404 (dead) status.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b> Prioritize URLs with meaningful traffic<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Not every hallucinated link needs urgent attention. Focus on URLs that both return a 404 error and receive a noticeable volume of visitors \u2014 for example, anything with more than 10 visits per month. This helps you concentrate on the broken links that actually impact user experience and site metrics.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b> Redirect hallucinated pages where possible<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If the hallucinated URL resembles a real topic (say, \/blog\/keywords\/), you can redirect it with a 301 to the closest relevant resource on your site. This ensures that even mistaken referrals send users to helpful content, recovering some of the lost value.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b> Optimize your 404 page for stranded visitors<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In cases where a redirect is not possible, don\u2019t waste the traffic. Update your 404 page to include links to popular guides, categories, or newsletter sign-ups. This transforms a dead end into a discovery point, allowing you to re-engage visitors who landed there through AI-generated errors.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"should-seos-and-marketers-worry\"><\/span><b>Should SEOs and Marketers Worry?<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Right now, the honest answer is: not much, but don\u2019t ignore it.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Short-term:<\/b> The impact is minimal. AI referrals are still niche compared to Google.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Medium-term:<\/b> Worth monitoring. With AI assistants already integrated into Bing, Google and upcoming Apple search products, traffic could scale quickly.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Long-term:<\/b> Potentially critical. If AI search becomes mainstream, link hallucinations could damage brand trust and visibility if left unaddressed.\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Ahrefs itself is already adding a \u201challucinated URL filter\u201d to its analytics, signaling growing demand from webmasters to track this.<\/p>\n<p><b>What Does This Mean for SEO?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s the real takeaway: AI search does not behave like Google.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Google<\/b>: Shows ranked, verified URLs pulled from its index.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>AI<\/b>: Generates conversational answers and may fabricate URLs to appear complete.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Visibility \u2260 rankings anymore.<\/b> Being cited in AI results requires both brand authority and predictable URL structures.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Site hygiene matters.<\/b> Dead pages, poor redirects, or weak brand presence can amplify hallucinations.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Prepare for audience filtering.<\/b> As AI integrates guardrails (such as parental controls), what users see may differ based on age or context, shaping when and how your content is surfaced.\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AI hallucinations are no longer just about facts or made-up citations. A new study from Ahrefs explored a different and equally important question: how often do AI assistants hallucinate links and send users to non-existent pages? The results are striking. After analyzing 16 million unique URLs cited by ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Copilot, Gemini and Mistral, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ai"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ahrefs Study: AI Assistants Hallucinate Links 3X More<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ahrefs study finds AI assistants send users to broken links nearly 3X more often than Google. What it means for SEOs and traffic.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ahrefs Study: AI Assistants Hallucinate Links 3X More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ahrefs study finds AI assistants send users to broken links nearly 3X more often than Google. What it means for SEOs and traffic.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Stan Ventures\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/StanVentures\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-03T05:56:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-29T07:14:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/hallucinated-urls-2.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dileep Thekkethil\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@dthekkethil\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@stanventures\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dileep Thekkethil\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stanventures.com\\\/news\\\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stanventures.com\\\/news\\\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dileep Thekkethil\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stanventures.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/87d00ff18daf9650e7c925ae4bf86efb\"},\"headline\":\"New Study Reveals AI Assistants Hallucinate Links Nearly 3X More Than Google Search\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-03T05:56:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-29T07:14:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stanventures.com\\\/news\\\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1142,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stanventures.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stanventures.com\\\/news\\\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/hallucinated-urls-2.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"AI\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stanventures.com\\\/news\\\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stanventures.com\\\/news\\\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stanventures.com\\\/news\\\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ahrefs Study: AI Assistants Hallucinate Links 3X More\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stanventures.com\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stanventures.com\\\/news\\\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stanventures.com\\\/news\\\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/hallucinated-urls-2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-03T05:56:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-29T07:14:21+00:00\",\"description\":\"Ahrefs study finds AI assistants send users to broken links nearly 3X more often than Google. What it means for SEOs and traffic.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stanventures.com\\\/news\\\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stanventures.com\\\/news\\\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stanventures.com\\\/news\\\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/hallucinated-urls-2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/hallucinated-urls-2.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stanventures.com\\\/news\\\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stanventures.com\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New Study Reveals AI Assistants Hallucinate Links Nearly 3X More Than Google Search\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stanventures.com\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stanventures.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Stan Ventures\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stanventures.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stanventures.com\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stanventures.com\\\/news\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Stan Ventures\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stanventures.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stanventures.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stanventures.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/06\\\/Stan-Ventures.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stanventures.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/06\\\/Stan-Ventures.webp\",\"width\":2001,\"height\":801,\"caption\":\"Stan Ventures\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stanventures.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/StanVentures\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/stanventures\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stanventures.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/87d00ff18daf9650e7c925ae4bf86efb\",\"name\":\"Dileep Thekkethil\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/911bd385b9da54d4a69f19f536a6419e576244371bd6e7d96f06c583dd402fa9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/911bd385b9da54d4a69f19f536a6419e576244371bd6e7d96f06c583dd402fa9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/911bd385b9da54d4a69f19f536a6419e576244371bd6e7d96f06c583dd402fa9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dileep Thekkethil\"},\"description\":\"Dileep Thekkethil is the Director of Marketing at Stan Ventures, where he applies over 15 years of SEO and digital marketing expertise to drive growth and authority. A former journalist with six years of experience, he combines strategic storytelling with technical know-how to help brands navigate the shift toward AI-driven search and generative engines. Dileep is a strong advocate for Google\u2019s EEAT standards, regularly sharing real-world use cases and scenarios to demystify complex marketing trends. He is an avid gardener of tropical fruits, a motor enthusiast, and a dedicated caretaker of his pair of cockatiels.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/stanventures.com\\\/news\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/dileep-pradeep-3705aa53\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/dthekkethil\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stanventures.com\\\/news\\\/author\\\/admin_7mxgn8tx\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ahrefs Study: AI Assistants Hallucinate Links 3X More","description":"Ahrefs study finds AI assistants send users to broken links nearly 3X more often than Google. What it means for SEOs and traffic.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ahrefs Study: AI Assistants Hallucinate Links 3X More","og_description":"Ahrefs study finds AI assistants send users to broken links nearly 3X more often than Google. What it means for SEOs and traffic.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\/","og_site_name":"Stan Ventures","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/StanVentures\/","article_published_time":"2025-09-03T05:56:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-10-29T07:14:21+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/hallucinated-urls-2.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Dileep Thekkethil","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@dthekkethil","twitter_site":"@stanventures","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dileep Thekkethil","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\/"},"author":{"name":"Dileep Thekkethil","@id":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/87d00ff18daf9650e7c925ae4bf86efb"},"headline":"New Study Reveals AI Assistants Hallucinate Links Nearly 3X More Than Google Search","datePublished":"2025-09-03T05:56:51+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-29T07:14:21+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\/"},"wordCount":1142,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/hallucinated-urls-2.jpg","articleSection":["AI"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\/","url":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\/","name":"Ahrefs Study: AI Assistants Hallucinate Links 3X More","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/hallucinated-urls-2.jpg","datePublished":"2025-09-03T05:56:51+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-29T07:14:21+00:00","description":"Ahrefs study finds AI assistants send users to broken links nearly 3X more often than Google. What it means for SEOs and traffic.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/hallucinated-urls-2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/hallucinated-urls-2.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/new-study-reveals-ai-assistants-hallucinate-links-nearly-3x-more-than-google-search-4234\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New Study Reveals AI Assistants Hallucinate Links Nearly 3X More Than Google Search"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/","name":"Stan Ventures","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/#organization","name":"Stan Ventures","url":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Stan-Ventures.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Stan-Ventures.webp","width":2001,"height":801,"caption":"Stan Ventures"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/StanVentures\/","https:\/\/x.com\/stanventures"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/87d00ff18daf9650e7c925ae4bf86efb","name":"Dileep Thekkethil","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/911bd385b9da54d4a69f19f536a6419e576244371bd6e7d96f06c583dd402fa9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/911bd385b9da54d4a69f19f536a6419e576244371bd6e7d96f06c583dd402fa9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/911bd385b9da54d4a69f19f536a6419e576244371bd6e7d96f06c583dd402fa9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dileep Thekkethil"},"description":"Dileep Thekkethil is the Director of Marketing at Stan Ventures, where he applies over 15 years of SEO and digital marketing expertise to drive growth and authority. A former journalist with six years of experience, he combines strategic storytelling with technical know-how to help brands navigate the shift toward AI-driven search and generative engines. Dileep is a strong advocate for Google\u2019s EEAT standards, regularly sharing real-world use cases and scenarios to demystify complex marketing trends. He is an avid gardener of tropical fruits, a motor enthusiast, and a dedicated caretaker of his pair of cockatiels.","sameAs":["https:\/\/stanventures.com\/news","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/dileep-pradeep-3705aa53\/","https:\/\/x.com\/dthekkethil"],"url":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/author\/admin_7mxgn8tx\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4234"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4236,"href":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4234\/revisions\/4236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stanventures.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}