ChatGPT brand searches surpass YouTube, TikTok, and more in Ahrefs data

Ahrefs’ analysis shows ChatGPT’s branded search demand rising past several major consumer platforms, based on global query data through 2025.

Ahrefs reported on January 19 that global searches for “ChatGPT” now outpace branded searches for several of the web’s biggest platforms.

Using Ahrefs search intelligence, the study tracks global branded searches from January 2022 through October 2025 (including queries like “chatgpt login” and “facebook marketplace”).
In April 2025, ChatGPT’s monthly global branded search volume exceeded YouTube’s—about 29 months after ChatGPT launched, per the analysis.
Across the September 2024 to April 2025 window, ChatGPT also moved ahead of TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook in monthly global search volume.
For Facebook, the dataset merges searches for “Facebook” and “Meta” to represent the brand entity more accurately.
The same dataset shows Google’s branded search volume falling from roughly 1.1B/month in early 2022 to ~713M by August 2025, while ChatGPT rose from near-zero to ~460M; Ahrefs projects a potential crossover around mid-2028 (with trend-continuation caveats).