{"id":12759,"date":"2026-10-01T07:34:37","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T05:34:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/voctos.net\/ai-assistant-usage-gulf-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T13:48:39","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T11:48:39","slug":"ai-assistant-usage-gulf-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/voctos.net\/ar\/ai-assistant-usage-gulf-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Gemini \u0623\u0642\u0631\u0628 \u0645\u0645\u0627 \u062a\u0638\u0646: \u0643\u064a\u0641 \u064a\u0633\u062a\u062e\u062f\u0645 \u0627\u0644\u062e\u0644\u064a\u062c \u0645\u0633\u0627\u0639\u062f\u0627\u062a \u0627\u0644\u0630\u0643\u0627\u0621 \u0627\u0644\u0627\u0635\u0637\u0646\u0627\u0639\u064a \u0641\u064a 2026 (\u0628\u064a\u0627\u0646\u0627\u062a StatCounter \u0648Similarweb)"},"content":{"rendered":"

ChatGPT still leads AI assistant referrals in all seven markets we checked. In September 2026 it sent between 72% and 83% of all AI chatbot clicks to websites in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain, according to StatCounter Global Stats<\/a>. Gemini is the real story. Its share rose from 1.2% to 2.3% in August 2025 to between 13.3% and 21.4% in September 2026, above the worldwide 10.9% in every one of the seven.<\/p>\n

We pulled the StatCounter monthly series and the Similarweb country rankings on 1 October 2026. This piece explains what that data proves and what it does not, and which launches put Gemini in front of Arab users. It also shows why a ChatGPT-only plan for AI visibility now misses a growing share of the answers your buyers read.<\/p>\n

What does StatCounter’s AI chatbot data actually measure?<\/h2>\n

StatCounter counts referrals: visits that land on websites running its tracker after a click inside ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, Claude or DeepSeek. It does not count prompts, users or time spent inside an assistant. An answer that never sends a click leaves no trace in this data, however many people read it.<\/p>\n

The panel behind it is large. StatCounter’s 2 April 2026 press release<\/a> describes its base as over 3 billion monthly page views across more than 1 million websites. Grok is excluded because it does not pass referral data in its header, so X’s assistant is invisible here.<\/p>\n

Two more limits matter for Gulf marketers. The Gemini line refers to Google’s Gemini assistant; AI Overviews and AI Mode run inside Google Search and have no line of their own. Google’s Search Central documentation<\/a> confirms that traffic from AI features is reported inside overall search traffic in Search Console.<\/p>\n

In Saudi Arabia in September 2026, AI chatbots sent 0.41% of tracked referral visits, per StatCounter’s search vs social vs AI chatbot table<\/a>. Search sent 82.45% and social 17.14% in the same month. Read the chatbot shares as “who sends the clicks”, which is the view closest to what a site owner sees in analytics.<\/p>\n

Gemini’s share grew six to eleven times in thirteen months<\/h2>\n

Between August 2025 and September 2026, Gemini’s share of AI chatbot referrals grew 6.4 times in Bahrain and 11.5 times in Qatar, against 5.0 times worldwide. Egypt now has the highest share of the seven at 21.39%. ChatGPT lost ground in every market but still holds between 72.16% (Egypt) and 82.94% (Kuwait).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Market<\/th>\nChatGPT<\/th>\nGemini<\/th>\nPerplexity<\/th>\nCopilot<\/th>\nClaude<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Saudi Arabia<\/td>\n75.00%<\/td>\n16.54%<\/td>\n4.25%<\/td>\n3.17%<\/td>\n1.04%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
UAE<\/td>\n80.99%<\/td>\n13.25%<\/td>\n2.25%<\/td>\n2.26%<\/td>\n1.23%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Egypt<\/td>\n72.16%<\/td>\n21.39%<\/td>\n3.97%<\/td>\n1.64%<\/td>\n0.82%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Qatar<\/td>\n77.93%<\/td>\n13.60%<\/td>\n3.90%<\/td>\n3.90%<\/td>\n0.67%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kuwait<\/td>\n82.94%<\/td>\n13.45%<\/td>\n2.21%<\/td>\n1.23%<\/td>\n0.16%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Oman<\/td>\n79.95%<\/td>\n15.00%<\/td>\n2.53%<\/td>\n2.17%<\/td>\n0.36%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bahrain<\/td>\n80.93%<\/td>\n14.71%<\/td>\n0.54%<\/td>\n3.27%<\/td>\n0.54%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Worldwide<\/td>\n80.48%<\/td>\n10.91%<\/td>\n5.85%<\/td>\n1.79%<\/td>\n0.95%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

AI chatbot referral share, all platforms, September 2026 (data through 29 September). Source: StatCounter Global Stats country pages, pulled 1 October 2026. DeepSeek is under 0.05% in every row and is omitted.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Market<\/th>\nGemini, Aug 2025<\/th>\nGemini, Aug 2026<\/th>\nGemini, Sep 2026<\/th>\nGrowth, Aug 2025 to Sep 2026<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Saudi Arabia<\/td>\n2.27%<\/td>\n15.33%<\/td>\n16.54%<\/td>\n7.3x<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
UAE<\/td>\n1.73%<\/td>\n10.01%<\/td>\n13.25%<\/td>\n7.7x<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Egypt<\/td>\n2.17%<\/td>\n18.07%<\/td>\n21.39%<\/td>\n9.9x<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Qatar<\/td>\n1.18%<\/td>\n13.02%<\/td>\n13.60%<\/td>\n11.5x<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kuwait<\/td>\n1.69%<\/td>\n18.02%<\/td>\n13.45%<\/td>\n8.0x<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Oman<\/td>\n1.61%<\/td>\n11.40%<\/td>\n15.00%<\/td>\n9.3x<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bahrain<\/td>\n2.30%<\/td>\n13.78%<\/td>\n14.71%<\/td>\n6.4x<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Worldwide<\/td>\n2.19%<\/td>\n10.93%<\/td>\n10.91%<\/td>\n5.0x<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Gemini’s share of AI chatbot referrals, StatCounter monthly series, all platforms, pulled 1 October 2026.<\/em><\/p>\n

The UAE is the edge case: in August 2026 its Gemini share was 10.01%, under the worldwide 10.93%. That made it the only one of the seven below the global line, until September lifted it to 13.25%. One month is not a trend, so we treat the UAE as sitting at the global average rather than above it.<\/p>\n

Monthly figures also swing hard: Kuwait’s Gemini share peaked at 22.93% in July 2026 and fell to 13.45% by September. Claude’s share dropped in all seven markets in September, from 2.70% to 1.04% in Saudi Arabia alone. We read three-month direction, not single months.<\/p>\n

Where AI assistants rank among the Gulf’s most visited websites<\/h2>\n

Similarweb’s August 2026 rankings put chatgpt.com in the top seven websites in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Qatar and Kuwait, and third in the UAE. gemini.google.com sits between 11th and 16th. claude.ai ranges from 18th in the UAE to outside the top 50 in Egypt, and perplexity.ai is outside the top 50 in all five.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Market<\/th>\nchatgpt.com<\/th>\ngemini.google.com<\/th>\nclaude.ai<\/th>\nperplexity.ai<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Saudi Arabia<\/td>\n#7<\/td>\n#13<\/td>\n#39<\/td>\nNot in top 50<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
UAE<\/td>\n#3<\/td>\n#11<\/td>\n#18<\/td>\nNot in top 50<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Egypt<\/td>\n#7<\/td>\n#16<\/td>\nNot in top 50<\/td>\nNot in top 50<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Qatar<\/td>\n#6<\/td>\n#15<\/td>\n#22<\/td>\nNot in top 50<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kuwait<\/td>\n#7<\/td>\n#13<\/td>\n#36<\/td>\nNot in top 50<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Source: Similarweb top websites by country<\/a>, August 2026, last updated 1 September 2026. Oman and Bahrain have no public country ranking page.<\/em><\/p>\n

Saudi government data points the same way. The CST Saudi Internet 2025 report<\/a> names ChatGPT the most downloaded app of any kind in the Kingdom in 2025. Google Gemini ranks eighth among all apps and second among AI apps. Our companion piece on the CST Saudi Internet Report 2025 and what it means for marketers<\/a> covers the rest of that report.<\/p>\n

For the user view, the Saudi Center for Opinion Polling<\/a> published results in September 2026 from 814 Saudi citizens aged 18 and over. Among those who use AI tools, 87% use ChatGPT and 54% use Gemini. Gemini is a strong second, not a rounding error.<\/p>\n

Why is Gemini growing faster in Arab markets than worldwide?<\/h2>\n

We put most of it down to distribution. Google released the Gemini app in Arabic in 2024, then added AI Overviews in Arabic and across MENA in 2025, AI Mode in English and then Arabic, and Personal Intelligence for Arab users in April 2026. Each launch put Gemini inside products Gulf users already open every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Date<\/th>\nLaunch<\/th>\nWhat changed for users<\/th>\nSource<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
29 May 2024<\/td>\nGemini app and Gemini Advanced in Arabic<\/td>\nArabic Gemini on Android, plus a Gemini toggle in the Google app on iOS<\/td>\nGoogle MENA blog<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
20 May 2025<\/td>\nAI Overviews in MENA, and in Arabic globally<\/td>\nGemini-written answers at the top of Google results, on mobile and desktop<\/td>\nGoogle MENA blog<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
21 Aug 2025<\/td>\nAI Mode in English across MENA<\/td>\nA conversational search tab built on a custom Gemini 2.5 model<\/td>\nGoogle MENA blog<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
25 Aug 2025<\/td>\nHUMAIN Chat, built on ALLaM 34B, launched in Saudi Arabia<\/td>\nAn Arabic-first Saudi alternative on web, iOS and Android<\/td>\nSaudi Press Agency<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
8 Oct 2025<\/td>\nAI Mode in Modern Standard Arabic, among 38 new languages<\/td>\nThe same AI Mode experience for Arabic queries<\/td>\nGoogle MENA blog<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
14 Apr 2026<\/td>\nPersonal Intelligence in the Gemini app, Arab world (all countries except Syria)<\/td>\nOpt-in answers drawing on Gmail, Photos, YouTube and Search; paid tiers first, free users to follow<\/td>\nThe National<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The timing lines up with the referral data. Saudi Gemini share nearly doubled from 4.14% in November 2025 to 8.11% in December, then hit 17.08% in April 2026, the month Personal Intelligence reached Arab users. StatCounter cannot prove cause, and the worldwide share also jumped that winter, from 4.74% in December to 7.20% in January. These seven markets still climbed faster than the global curve: 6.4 to 11.5 times, against 5.0 times worldwide.<\/p>\n

HUMAIN Chat is not in StatCounter’s tracked list, so its referral share is unknown. The CST report ranks the HUMAIN app tenth among the most downloaded AI apps in Saudi Arabia in 2025.<\/p>\n

Do Google’s AI surfaces cite the same sources as ChatGPT?<\/h2>\n

No, and they barely match each other. Ahrefs compared AI Overviews and AI Mode answers for the same queries and found that only 13.7% of cited URLs overlapped. Profound’s 680 million citation sample shows ChatGPT leaning on Wikipedia while AI Overviews spread citations more widely. A plan tuned only for ChatGPT is chasing a different source pool.<\/p>\n

The Ahrefs study<\/a> (published 15 December 2025) used September 2025 US data and 540,000 query pairs. The two Google surfaces agreed on meaning 86% of the time but chose different sources. AI Mode also named 2.5 times more people and brands than AI Overviews.<\/p>\n

Profound’s analysis<\/a> covered August 2024 to June 2025. Wikipedia took 7.8% of all ChatGPT citations and 47.9% of its top-ten source share. Reddit led for Google AI Overviews at 2.2% and for Perplexity at 6.6%. Both studies use mostly English, US-centred data. We have not found a published study of the same size for Arabic queries; our review of Arabic AI citation research<\/a> lists what remains unmeasured.<\/p>\n

For a Gulf brand that means at least two citation pools to win: Google’s (AI Overviews, AI Mode and the Gemini app) and OpenAI’s. Our AI Overviews optimization guide<\/a> and guide to Google AI Mode<\/a> cover the Google side. The guide to ranking in ChatGPT answers<\/a> covers the other.<\/p>\n

Google surfaces dominated one Saudi brand’s AI citations<\/h2>\n

In July 2026, Delta Medical Labs, a Saudi medical laboratory VOCTOS has worked with since March 2026, had 5,570 pages cited by AI engines. AI Overviews accounted for 3,600 and AI Mode for 1,800, so Google Search surfaces held 96.9%. ChatGPT accounted for 130 citations (2.3%) and the Gemini app for 40 (0.7%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
AI surface<\/th>\nPages cited, July 2026<\/th>\nShare of total<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Google AI Overviews<\/td>\n3,600<\/td>\n64.6%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Google AI Mode<\/td>\n1,800<\/td>\n32.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
ChatGPT<\/td>\n130<\/td>\n2.3%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Gemini app<\/td>\n40<\/td>\n0.7%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total<\/strong><\/td>\n5,570<\/strong><\/td>\n100%<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Source: Delta Medical Labs case study<\/a>, VOCTOS, July 2026 breakdown.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read this with care. It is one brand in one category, Arabic-language health search in Saudi Arabia. The counts show where citations were observed, not a controlled test with equal prompts on every platform, and a citation is not a click.<\/p>\n

The pattern still fits the referral data once you separate the model from the app. Gemini the chatbot is small in Delta’s numbers, but Google’s own launch posts say AI Overviews use Gemini and AI Mode runs on a custom Gemini 2.5 model. For this Saudi brand, Gemini-powered Search features produced 96.9% of observed AI citations.<\/p>\n

Want this split for your own site?<\/strong> Show me which AI surfaces cite my brand today, in Arabic and English<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Our read<\/h2>\n

Measure Google’s AI surfaces first, ChatGPT second and the Gemini app third. Search still sends 82% to 91% of tracked referral visits across these seven markets while AI chatbots send under 0.5%, and Gemini’s growth rides on Google’s distribution. Start where the traffic and the citations already sit, then widen.<\/p>\n

That ranking is about measurement order, not about dropping anyone. ChatGPT still sends three of every four chatbot clicks in Saudi Arabia, so ignoring it would be a mistake. What we disagree with is the GEO plan that starts and ends with ChatGPT prompts. For the Saudi brand above, that plan would have tracked 2.3% of its AI citations.<\/p>\n

In practice, three steps cover it:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Track AI Overviews and AI Mode citations monthly<\/strong> for your top 50 buyer questions, in Arabic and in English, per market. Track each language on its own line, because a citation in English answers tells you nothing about Arabic ones.<\/li>\n
  2. Split AI referrers in analytics.<\/strong> Group chatgpt.com, gemini.google.com, perplexity.ai, copilot.microsoft.com and claude.ai as their own referral sources, so Gemini’s rise shows as its own line.<\/li>\n
  3. Re-check by market each quarter.<\/strong> Egypt and Saudi Arabia lead on Gemini share; the UAE sits closest to the global average. One regional number hides that spread.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    FAQ<\/h2>\n

    Is Gemini more popular than ChatGPT in Saudi Arabia now?<\/h3>\n

    No. In September 2026 ChatGPT sent 75.00% of AI chatbot referrals in Saudi Arabia and Gemini sent 16.54%, according to StatCounter. Similarweb ranks chatgpt.com 7th and gemini.google.com 13th among Saudi websites for August 2026. Gemini is the clear second and the fastest grower, up from 2.27% in August 2025.<\/p>\n

    Does StatCounter show how many people use each chatbot?<\/h3>\n

    No. StatCounter counts clicks from chatbots to websites that run its tracker, drawn from over 3 billion monthly page views. Answers that send no click, use that stays inside an app, and all of Grok are not counted. Treat the figures as a measure of which assistant sends traffic, not of user numbers.<\/p>\n

    Why does my analytics show almost no Gemini traffic?<\/h3>\n

    Two reasons. Clicks from AI Overviews and AI Mode are reported as Google search traffic, per Google’s Search Central documentation, so they never appear as Gemini. And chatbots are a thin slice overall: 0.41% of tracked referrals in Saudi Arabia in September 2026, per StatCounter. Group gemini.google.com separately to see its trend.<\/p>\n

    Should we still optimise for ChatGPT if Gemini is growing?<\/h3>\n

    Yes. ChatGPT sent between 72% and 83% of AI chatbot referrals in all seven markets in September 2026, so it remains the largest single source of chatbot clicks. The change is that it is no longer the only one worth tracking. Add Google’s AI surfaces and Gemini to the same monthly report.<\/p>\n

    Is Gemini’s growth the same across the Gulf?<\/h3>\n

    No. In September 2026 Gemini’s referral share ranged from 13.25% in the UAE to 21.39% in Egypt, against 10.91% worldwide, per StatCounter. Qatar grew fastest, 11.5 times since August 2025. Kuwait swung from 22.93% in July to 13.45% in September. Plan per market, not on one regional average.<\/p>\n

    The better question for 2027<\/h2>\n

    “ChatGPT or Gemini?” is the wrong frame for a Gulf brand. The better question is which AI answers your buyers read before they click, in which language and in which market. In this data, Google’s surfaces produce most of those answers and ChatGPT sends most of the chatbot clicks, so you need both in view.<\/p>\n

    If you already track AI Overviews and AI Mode citations by market, add Gemini and ChatGPT referral lines and compare them every quarter. If you do not yet know whether Google’s AI surfaces cite your site at all, fix that baseline first; it is where most AI answers about your category are being written today.<\/p>\n

    Help us set up a Gulf AI-visibility baseline before we move budget<\/a><\/p>\n