Gemini vs. ChatGPT: What SMBs Should Do in 2026

ChatGPT still dominates web-based generative AI chatbot traffic—but the gap is shrinking fast.

According to Similarweb’s January 2026 Global AI Tracker, ChatGPT now represents 64.5% of worldwide visits among tracked gen AI chatbot websites, while Google Gemini has climbed to 21.5%. Year-over-year, that’s a big swing: ChatGPT fell from 86% to 64%, and Gemini rose from 5% to 21%.

If you run a small or mid-sized business, this isn’t “AI industry gossip.” It’s a signal about where your customers (and your employees) are actually spending attention—and it affects everything from content marketing workflows to where your brand shows up in AI answers.

This post is part of our “How AI Is Powering Technology and Digital Services in the United States” series, focused on practical changes SMBs can make as AI becomes part of everyday marketing and operations.

The Similarweb numbers—useful, but not the whole story

Answer first: Similarweb’s data is helpful for spotting directional trends (who’s gaining mindshare on the web), but it doesn’t measure the full AI market because it excludes apps, APIs, and embedded assistants.

Similarweb tracks visits at the domain level—people going directly to chatbot sites via a browser. That means the tracker doesn’t capture:

• API usage (where a lot of “real” business usage happens)
• Assistants embedded inside tools (CRMs, helpdesks, ecommerce platforms)
• Mobile app usage
• AI features inside Google products, Microsoft products, or SaaS tools

So yes, the numbers matter. But treat them like a thermometer, not a full medical record.

What the market share shift probably reflects

Answer first: Gemini’s growth likely comes from distribution; ChatGPT’s decline likely reflects normalization and competition—not “people stopped using AI.”

Similarweb noted Gemini visits were up 49% over 12 weeks, while OpenAI’s were down 22% over the same period. It also pointed to seasonality: winter break pulled daily average visits for “all tools” down to late-summer levels.

Here’s my take on what’s happening beneath the surface:

• Google is putting Gemini everywhere (Android, Workspace, and Google surfaces). When a tool is one click away inside software people already use, direct visits tend to rise.
• ChatGPT usage is diversifying into apps, integrations, and workflows that may not show up as direct website traffic.
• Users are consolidating: instead of visiting niche AI tools, they’re sticking with one or two “generalist” assistants for most tasks.

For SMBs, the strategic point is simple: your marketing team can’t assume one AI assistant is “the default” anymore.

Gemini’s rise changes day-to-day content marketing decisions

Answer first: If Gemini is capturing more attention, SMBs should test it as a primary or secondary content assistant—especially if they already pay for Google Workspace.

Most SMBs aren’t choosing an AI tool because of a leaderboard. They’re choosing based on:

• cost predictability
• speed and reliability
• how well it fits the tools they already use
• the quality of outputs for their specific niche

Gemini gaining share suggests something practical: more people are comfortable running their work through Google’s AI experience. For a content marketing team, that can influence internal adoption (“everyone’s already using it”) and external visibility (“customers are encountering it”).

A budget-first way to decide: Gemini vs. ChatGPT

Answer first: Pick the tool that reduces total work hours, not the one with the best demo output.

Use this SMB-friendly decision rule:

1. If your team lives in Google Docs, Sheets, Gmail, and Drive: prioritize Gemini testing first. The advantage isn’t magic writing; it’s workflow friction.
2. If your team needs strong multi-step prompting, structured drafting, or varied tones across channels: keep ChatGPT in the mix.
3. If you need both: standardize on one for “bulk content ops” and keep the other for “high-stakes” tasks (sales pages, positioning, messaging frameworks).

The reality? Most companies get this wrong by trying to pick one tool forever. The better approach is to build a workflow where the tool can change without breaking the process.

A practical two-assistant workflow (that SMBs can run weekly)

Answer first: Use one assistant for research + outlining and another for editing + repurposing, then judge by output quality and time saved.

Try this for one month:

• Step 1: Research brief (30 minutes)
  • Ask Assistant A for: audience pains, competitor angles, FAQs, and a draft outline.
• Step 2: Draft (60–90 minutes)
  • Write the first draft yourself (or have the assistant draft sections), but keep your examples and point of view.
• Step 3: Edit + repurpose (30–45 minutes)
  • Ask Assistant B to: tighten structure, create a LinkedIn post, create a short email, and suggest a CTA.
• Step 4: QA (15 minutes)
  • You verify facts, links, prices, dates, and claims.

Track two numbers:

• time-to-publish (hours)
• performance (impressions, clicks, leads)

If Gemini’s share is growing, you’re more likely to find employees already familiar with it—making adoption faster.

Writing tools are shrinking—SMBs should adapt (not panic)

Answer first: Similarweb’s data shows writing and content generation sites fell 10% over 12 weeks, which suggests SMBs should rely less on niche “AI writing platforms” and more on flexible, assistant-led workflows.

The tracker shows several notable declines among writing tools over the most recent 12-week window:

• Jasper: down 16%
• Writesonic: down 17%
• Rytr: down 9%
• (One tool listed at -100% in the table)

At the same time, one tool (Originality) was up 17%—which is telling. It hints that as “writing” consolidates into general assistants, verification and trust tooling can still grow.

What’s driving the decline in specialized writing tools

Answer first: General assistants are absorbing the “good enough” writing use cases, especially for SMBs that need versatility more than templates.

If you’re a small business, the typical content needs are broad:

• blog posts
• service pages
• email campaigns
• ad copy variations
• FAQs
• sales enablement one-pagers
• customer support macros

Generalist chatbots handle this variety. Specialized writing tools often win on templates—but lose when you want a single place to manage strategy, voice, and repurposing.

My stance: If your writing tool is basically “ChatGPT with a nicer UI,” it’s on borrowed time. SMBs should avoid getting locked into a platform that doesn’t add unique value.

Where writing tools still earn their keep

Answer first: Writing tools still make sense when they provide workflow controls—approval, brand voice enforcement, team libraries, and compliance.

If you’re in a regulated industry (financial services, healthcare, legal), a specialized platform can be worth it if it provides:

• role-based access
• audit trails
• reusable, approved snippets
• terminology controls
• brand voice guardrails

Otherwise, you’ll often get a better ROI by pairing a general assistant with a lightweight editorial process.

“Traditional search is flat” is the real marketing headline

Answer first: Similarweb’s “disrupted sectors” view shows traditional search down only about 1% to 3% year-over-year, meaning search isn’t disappearing—it’s merging with AI discovery.

A lot of SMB marketing advice in 2024–2025 sounded like: “SEO is dead; AI answers will replace Google.” That’s not what this dataset suggests.

If search is roughly flat while AI tool usage shifts, it implies something more realistic:

• customers still use Google and traditional search for many needs
• customers also use assistants for early research, comparisons, and drafting
• the same buyer can use both in the same day

For SMB lead generation, the winning play is AI + SEO together, not one versus the other.

What to do now: AEO (AI Engine Optimization) basics for SMBs

Answer first: If customers use Gemini and ChatGPT to decide who to contact, you need your business info to be easy for assistants to summarize accurately.

Start with these SMB-friendly moves:

1. Tighten your “entity signals” on your site
   • Consistent business name, service area, and offerings across key pages.
2. Publish an FAQ that matches real sales calls
   • Pricing ranges, timelines, what’s included, what’s not, and common objections.
3. Create 2–3 “proof pages”
   • Case studies, before/after examples, and quantified outcomes.
4. Make your contact and location info impossible to miss
   • Especially if you serve local markets in the U.S.

Assistants don’t just “find” brands. They summarize them. Your job is to give them clean source material.

A 30-day plan: Turn these trends into leads

Answer first: In 30 days, an SMB can test Gemini vs. ChatGPT, reduce content production time, and build AI-friendly pages that improve conversions.

Here’s a simple plan your marketing team can run without extra headcount:

Week 1: Tool test and workflow lock-in

• Pick one content campaign (a service page refresh, a webinar promo, or a January email push)
• Produce assets using Gemini and ChatGPT in parallel
• Compare quality, speed, and edit effort

Week 2: Upgrade your “answerable content”

• Publish or refresh an FAQ page
• Add one case study (even if it’s short)
• Add a “How it works” section to your top service page

Week 3: Repurpose for distribution

• Convert the core piece into:
  • 2 LinkedIn posts
  • 1 customer email
  • 5 short Q&A snippets for your sales team

Week 4: Measure and adjust

• Track:
  • leads generated
  • calls booked
  • organic traffic to updated pages
  • time saved in content production

If Gemini’s share keeps rising, you’ll already be prepared—because your workflow isn’t dependent on one provider.

What this means for SMBs going into 2026

Gemini gaining share while ChatGPT declines in Similarweb’s domain-level data is a clear signal: AI attention is spreading across ecosystems, and Google’s distribution advantage is showing up in behavior.

For small businesses, the practical response is not to “switch tools” overnight. It’s to build a content engine that’s:

• tool-flexible (Gemini and ChatGPT can both plug in)
• search-friendly (SEO still drives demand)
• assistant-friendly (AEO helps you get summarized correctly)

The next 12 months will reward the SMBs that treat AI as a daily operating layer, not a one-off writing trick. If your customers are asking Gemini and ChatGPT who to hire, what will they learn about you?