AI arrived before Google: ChatGPT is their top traffic source
Vending machines with nationwide coverage in Mexico. Site launched on July 29, 2026 with a priced catalog, llms.txt and structured data from day one: traffic came through AI assistants before it came through Google.
A new website has no authority, but it can have answers
VendingMex was starting from scratch: a new domain, no history on Google and up against vending-machine catalogs that had been indexed for years. Ranking that through classic SEO takes months. But more and more buyers don’t search: they ask an assistant “how much does a vending machine cost?” or “who rents them in Mexico City?”, and the assistant cites the websites it can read and understand. That was where they could get in first.
A priced catalog, llms.txt and explicit permission for AI crawlers
We launched the site ready for machines to read: an llms.txt file that sums up the business and points to the key pages, structured data across the whole catalog, a robots.txt that lets AI assistants’ crawlers straight in, and static HTML that hides nothing behind JavaScript.
The content was written to answer, not to sound good: the 16 machine pages carry the starting price, capacity, payment methods and dimensions; there is one page per way to acquire a machine (purchase, rent-to-own, financing and franchise) with its reference figures in plain sight, and city pages for the places where it operates. An assistant trying to answer “how much does it cost” finds the figure in plain text, with its source.
- A catalog of 16 machines with prices in plain text
- llms.txt, structured data and AI crawlers allowed
- One page per way to acquire a machine and per city
- WhatsApp quotes with the model already filled in
ChatGPT sends more people than Google
Six weeks after launch, the site’s top source of new users is chatgpt.com: 311 users in 30 days, versus 126 direct and 46 from Google organic search. Over four weeks (Aug 17 – Sep 13), the “AI Assistant” channel in Analytics accounts for 378 of the 659 sessions: 57%, four times the 94 from organic search.
Google, meanwhile, was only getting started: as of August 24 it had delivered 45 clicks and 1,421 impressions across the whole quarter, almost all of them in August, with an average position of 17.3. It is the reverse of the usual order (AI first, search engine second) and it is no accident: it is what happens when a website launches readable and citable from day one.
The traffic also comes from the right market: in the week to August 26, 123 users in Mexico (+73.2%), led by Mexico City (37, +146.7%), with Monterrey, Querétaro and Mérida behind. And it lands where the buying decision is made: the machine sales pages (107 views, +189.2%), the catalog (80) and the rental page (49).
New users by first source
Last 30 days, as of September 14 · Google Analytics 4. ChatGPT brings almost 7 times as many users as Google organic search.More data
Sessions by channel
Aug 17 – Sep 13 (28 days) · Google Analytics 4. The AI Assistant channel is 57% of sessions.
Where they land
Views in the week to August 26 · Google Analytics 4.