2026 Benchmark Report: AI Search Referrals and Citations for SEO Agencies
AI platforms now send measurable visits to websites — and they also influence discovery without a click. This report aggregates published research from Conductor, Adobe Analytics, Cloudflare, SE Ranking, Ahrefs, BrightEdge, and more to benchmark AI referral traffic, platform market share, conversion rates, citation accuracy, and crawl behavior across 2024-01 to 2025-12. Every chart cites its source, methodology, and sample size.
Key Findings (Quote-Ready)
Each finding links to its source study. Numbers come from published third-party research, not a single proprietary sample.
AI share of total website traffic
0.1% – 1.08%
Range across major studies (Conductor: 1.08% of 13,770 domains; Ahrefs: 0.1% of 82,000 sites). IT/Tech sites see up to 2.8%.
Fastest-growing AI referrer
Gemini (+388% YoY)
Sep-Nov 2025 vs prior year. All AI referrals combined grew 357% year-over-year.
AI referral conversion trajectory
From −49% to +31% vs non-AI traffic
AI referrals converted 31% better than non-AI traffic by Holiday 2025 (Adobe Analytics, US retail)
Dominant AI referral platform
ChatGPT drives 78% of AI referrals
5x more than all other AI platforms combined (SE Ranking, 63,987 sites)
AI citation accuracy
60%+ failure rate
AI search engines fail to correctly cite sources more than 60% of the time (Tow Center, Columbia University)
Cite This Report
Suggested citation:
SearchSignal. (2026). 2026 Benchmark Report: AI Search Referrals and Citations for SEO Agencies (Version 2.0.0; updated 2026-02-05). https://searchsignal.online/research/ai-search-referrals-citations-2026
Executive Summary
This benchmark measures two separate behaviors:
- AI-referred sessions: website sessions where the referrer indicates an AI product (for example, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Copilot).
- AI citations: how often AI answers include a clickable link to a source and, where detectable, how often they include a brand mention without a link.
Three findings stand out across the published research:
AI traffic is real but still small.
Across multiple studies, AI referrals account for 0.1% to 2.8% of total website traffic. The variation depends on industry, site authority, and sample methodology.
Growth is explosive but uneven.
All AI referrals grew 357% YoY, but Gemini grew 388% from a small base while ChatGPT grew 52% from a dominant position sending 78% of all AI traffic.
AI platforms take more than they give.
ChatGPT crawls 1,091 pages for every 1 visitor it sends back. Claude crawls 38,066 pages per referral. Compare that to Google at 5.4 pages per referral.
Definitions (What We Measure)
Short definitions prevent misquotes. Use these exact terms across the page, the dataset, and the press kit.
AI-Referred Sessions
Definition: A website session where the referrer (or tracked source) matches an AI product's domain (and included subdomains).
What we publish:
- The complete domain list used for classification (Appendix A).
- Normalization rules (for example: case-insensitive matching, "www" handling, subdomains included).
Undercount risk
AI products sometimes open links in ways that do not pass referrer data, or users copy and paste URLs from an AI chat into a browser. That behavior can appear as Direct and can hide AI influence.
AI Citation
This report uses a hybrid definition so readers can separate "links" from "mentions."
Link Citation (Primary)
An AI answer includes a clickable link to a measured site's domain for a monitored prompt set.
Brand Mention (Secondary)
An AI answer names the brand (or verified brand entity) without a link, when detection is available.
We report link citations by platform and prompt set. We keep mention rate separate so writers do not treat "mention" and "link" as the same thing.
Privacy and Anonymization
We aggregate and anonymize all data. This report does not publish any client-identifying domains, URLs, or account names. We only release data at an aggregated level (for example: distributions, medians, percentiles, category summaries).
Finding 1: How Much Traffic Do AI Platforms Actually Send?
The answer depends on who you ask. Different studies measuring different samples report AI traffic shares ranging from 0.1% to over 1% — enterprise-heavy samples skew higher.
AI Share of Total Website Traffic by Study
How different studies measured AI referral traffic as a percentage of total sessions
Source: Conductor (Nov 2025), SE Ranking (2025), Ahrefs (2025), Knotch (2025)
One-line takeaway
AI referral traffic ranges from 0.1% to 1.08% of total website traffic, depending on sample composition. Enterprise-heavy samples report higher shares because larger, authoritative sites are cited more by AI chatbots.
Use this in your article:
"AI referral traffic ranges from 0.1% to 1.08% of total website traffic across major studies, with IT/Technology sites seeing up to 2.8% (Conductor, SE Ranking, Ahrefs, 2025)."
Finding 2: AI Referral Traffic Grew 357% Year-over-Year
While the base is still small, the growth rate is dramatic. News/Media saw the highest category growth at 770%, and Gemini grew fastest among platforms at 388%.
AI Referral Traffic Growth (Year-over-Year)
YoY growth rates by platform and category, 2024 to 2025
Source: Similarweb (Jun 2025 vs Jun 2024), BrightEdge (2025), Digiday (2025)
One-line takeaway
AI referral traffic grew 357% overall in 2025 vs 2024. Gemini grew fastest at 388%, while ChatGPT grew 52% from a much larger base. News/Media saw the highest category growth at 770%.
Interpretation:
ChatGPT's relatively modest 52% growth reflects its already-dominant base. Newer platforms like Gemini and Perplexity are growing from smaller starting points but adding meaningful absolute volume as their user bases scale.
Finding 3: ChatGPT Sends 78% of All AI Referral Traffic
AI platforms should not be treated as a single channel. ChatGPT dominates with nearly 78% market share, while Perplexity, Gemini, DeepSeek, and Claude collectively account for the remaining 22%.
Share of AI Referral Traffic by Platform
Which AI platform sends the most traffic to websites (global, Jan-Apr 2025)
Source: SE Ranking (63,987 sites across 250 countries, Jan-Apr 2025)
One-line takeaway
ChatGPT drives 78% of all AI referral traffic to websites. Perplexity is second at 15%, followed by Gemini at 6.4%. Claude and DeepSeek each account for less than 1%.
Use this in your article:
"ChatGPT drives 78% of all AI referral traffic to websites globally, followed by Perplexity at 15% and Gemini at 6.4% (SE Ranking, 63,987 sites, Jan–Apr 2025)."
Finding 4: IT/Tech Gets 11x More AI Traffic Than Comms
Industry matters more than site size for AI traffic share. IT/Technology sites receive 2.8% of total traffic from AI, while Communication Services sites receive just 0.25%.
AI Traffic as Percentage of Total Traffic by Industry
Percentage of total website sessions attributed to AI referrals, by GICS industry
Source: Conductor AEO/GEO Benchmarks Report (13,770 domains, 3.3B sessions, May-Sep 2025)
One-line takeaway
IT/Technology sites receive the highest AI referral share at 2.8% of total traffic, while Communication Services receive the lowest at 0.25%. Industry matters more than site size for AI traffic share.
Use this in your article:
"IT/Technology sites receive 2.8% of their traffic from AI referrals, while Consumer Staples see 1.9% and Health Care 1.5% (Conductor, 13,770 domains, 3.3B sessions, May–Sep 2025)."
Finding 5: AI Referrals Went From 49% Worse to 31% Better at Converting
In January 2025, AI-referred visitors converted 49% worse than non-AI traffic. By the holiday season, they converted 31% better — crossing parity around October 2025.
AI Referral Conversion Performance vs Non-AI Traffic (2025)
How AI referral conversion rates evolved over 2025 (US retail, Adobe Analytics)
Source: Adobe Analytics (1 trillion+ US retail site visits, full year 2025)
One-line takeaway
AI referral conversion went from 49% worse than non-AI in January 2025 to 31% better by the holiday season, crossing parity around October 2025.
Interpretation:
The conversion trajectory suggests AI-referred visitors are becoming more purchase-ready as AI search matures. The holiday 2025 spike (+38% on Black Friday) may also reflect higher commercial intent among AI-assisted shoppers.
Finding 6: AI Search Engines Fail to Correctly Cite Sources 60%+ of the Time
Columbia University's Tow Center tested 1,600 queries across 8 AI platforms and found dramatic variation in citation accuracy. Perplexity led at 63%, while Grok-3 managed only 6%.
AI Citation Accuracy Rate by Platform
Percentage of AI answers that correctly identified the source article (200 news queries each)
Source: Tow Center for Digital Journalism, Columbia University (1,600 queries across 8 platforms, March 2025)
One-line takeaway
Perplexity was the most accurate at 63%, while Grok-3 was the worst at 6%. Overall, AI search engines failed to correctly cite sources more than 60% of the time.
Interpretation:
Low citation accuracy means AI platforms often use your content without attributing it. This makes citation monitoring essential — you need to track not just whether AI mentions your brand, but whether it links back correctly.
Finding 7: AI Platforms Crawl Massively But Refer Very Little
Cloudflare data reveals a stark imbalance: AI platforms crawl orders of magnitude more pages than they send back as traffic. And the industry is taking notice — 68% of marketers are already changing their strategies for AI search.
Crawl-to-Refer Ratio by AI Platform
Pages crawled for every 1 human visitor referred back to the site (lower is better)
Source: Cloudflare (fixed customer cohort, July 2025)
One-line takeaway
Google maintains the most balanced ratio at 5.4 pages crawled per referral. AI platforms crawl far more than they refer: ChatGPT crawls 1,091 pages for every visitor it sends back, while Claude crawls 38,066.
How Marketers Are Responding to AI Search
Survey of 750+ search and digital marketing professionals
Source: BrightEdge (750+ marketers surveyed, June 2025)
The perception gap
Marketers estimate AI drives ~25% of traffic, while measured data shows only 1.08%. That 23.92x overestimate reflects the outsized attention AI search receives relative to its current traffic contribution.
Industry response
68% of marketers are actively tracking AI referrals, but only 5% report extreme outcomes (large traffic gain or loss). The majority remain cautiously optimistic.
Interpretation:
The crawl-to-refer imbalance raises questions about the sustainability of the current model. Google crawls 5.4 pages per referral; ChatGPT crawls 1,091. For publishers, this means AI platforms consume content at scale while returning a fraction of the traffic that traditional search provides.
AI Search Statistics Database
31 source-backed statistics on AI search, referrals, citations, and SEO impact. Every stat includes its original source, publication date, and last verification date.
Last verified: 2026-02-05 · Version 1.0.0
Showing 31 of 31 statistics
ChatGPT weekly active users
800 million
The number of unique users who engage with ChatGPT at least once per week, reflecting its dominant position among AI assistants.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced 400M WAU in February 2025; the figure doubled by late 2025.
Scope: Global, Q4 2025 · Verified: 2026-02-05
Google Gemini monthly active users
750 million
Google Gemini surpassed 750 million monthly active users, making it the second-largest AI assistant behind ChatGPT.
Announced during Alphabet Q4 2025 earnings. Up from 650M the prior quarter.
Scope: Global, Q4 2025 · Verified: 2026-02-05
ChatGPT AI chatbot market share
68%
ChatGPT holds 68% of AI chatbot web traffic, down from 87.2% one year ago, as competitors gain ground.
A 19.2 percentage point decline from January 2025. Gemini surged from 5.4% to 18.2% in the same period.
Scope: Global web traffic, January 2026 · Verified: 2026-02-05
Google AI Overviews monthly users
2 billion
Google AI Overviews reaches 2 billion users monthly, embedded directly in Google Search results pages.
Announced as part of Alphabet Q4 2025 earnings.
Scope: Global, Q4 2025 · Verified: 2026-02-05
AI referral traffic growth to US retail sites
1,200%
Traffic from generative AI sources to US retail websites increased by 1,200% between July 2024 and February 2025.
Based on analysis of 1 trillion+ visits to US retail sites. AI traffic was doubling every two months since Sep 2024.
Scope: US retail websites, Jul 2024 to Feb 2025 · Verified: 2026-02-05
AI share of total web traffic
0.15%
AI referral traffic jumped from 0.02% of total web traffic in 2024 to 0.15% in 2025, a more than sevenfold increase.
Despite explosive growth rates, AI traffic remains small compared to paid search or email channels.
Scope: US websites, early 2025 · Verified: 2026-02-05
AI search citation failure rate
60%+
AI search engines failed to retrieve correct citation information more than 60% of the time across 1,600 test queries.
Tested ChatGPT Search, Perplexity, Perplexity Pro, Gemini, DeepSeek, Grok-2, Grok-3, and Copilot.
Scope: 8 AI search engines, 1,600 test queries, March 2025 · Verified: 2026-02-05
AI Overviews organic click reduction
58%
Google AI Overviews reduce organic clicks by 58% for queries where they appear, up from 34.5% measured in April 2025.
Based on aggregated Google Search Console data from 300,000 keywords.
Scope: 300K keywords, December 2025 vs December 2023 · Verified: 2026-02-05
Organic click boost from being cited in AI Overviews
+35%
When a website is cited in an AI Overview, it receives 35% more organic clicks compared to not being cited at all.
Cited sites also see 91% more paid clicks. Being cited in AIOs is becoming a new form of SEO visibility.
Scope: Google AI Overviews, 2025 · Verified: 2026-02-05
Gartner: predicted decline in traditional search volume by 2026
25%
Gartner predicted that traditional search engine volume will drop 25% by 2026 due to AI chatbots and virtual agents.
This is a prediction, not a measurement. Actual search volume data has not confirmed this decline as of early 2026.
Scope: Global, Gartner forecast (Feb 2024) · Verified: 2026-02-05
US Google searches resulting in zero clicks
58.5%
58.5% of American Google searches resulted in zero clicks to any external website.
Based on Datos clickstream panel of tens of millions of users. For every 1,000 US searches, only 360 clicks reach the open web.
Scope: US Google searches, Jan-May 2024 · Verified: 2026-02-05
Perplexity AI monthly active users
22 million+
Perplexity AI reached over 22 million monthly active users, up 50% from 15 million in 2024.
Some sources report 30-40M MAU by end of 2025 including the Airtel India partnership.
Scope: Global, June 2025 · Verified: 2026-02-05
Claude AI monthly active users
30 million
Anthropic's Claude reached approximately 30 million monthly active users, up from 18.9M earlier in 2025.
Claude processes 25 billion+ API calls per month. 3.5-4% chatbot market share.
Scope: Global, Q2 2025 · Verified: 2026-02-05
Google Gemini AI chatbot market share
18.2%
Google Gemini captured 18.2% of AI chatbot web traffic, up from 5.4% one year prior, making it the fastest-growing AI chatbot.
Represents a 237% year-over-year increase in market share.
Scope: Global web traffic, January 2026 · Verified: 2026-02-05
Perplexity monthly search queries
780 million
Perplexity handled over 780 million monthly queries, a 239% increase from 230 million in August 2024.
Scope: Global, May 2025 · Verified: 2026-02-05
ChatGPT daily prompts processed
2.5 billion
ChatGPT processes roughly 2.5 billion prompts per day, reflecting the scale of AI-assisted information retrieval.
Scope: Global, late 2025 · Verified: 2026-02-05
AI share of publisher traffic
~1%
Traffic from all AI platforms combined accounts for approximately 1% of total publisher traffic.
For many publishers, AI referral traffic is still in the single-digit percentage range.
Scope: US publishers, 2025 · Verified: 2026-02-05
Gemini referral traffic growth (YoY)
388%
Gemini's referral traffic to external websites grew 388% year-over-year, compared to ChatGPT's 52% increase in the same period.
Gemini is the fastest-growing source of AI referral traffic.
Scope: Sep-Nov 2025 vs Sep-Nov 2024 · Verified: 2026-02-05
ChatGPT desktop vs mobile traffic split
72% desktop / 28% mobile
ChatGPT sees 71.74% of traffic from desktop computers compared to 28.26% from mobile devices, which may affect referral behavior.
Desktop-heavy usage suggests most AI referral clicks originate from desktop sessions.
Scope: Global, late 2025 · Verified: 2026-02-05
Perplexity citation failure rate (lowest tested)
37%
Perplexity had the lowest citation failure rate (37%) among all eight AI search engines tested in the Tow Center study.
Perplexity brands itself as a research-focused answer engine and includes inline citations by default.
Scope: 200 test queries, March 2025 · Verified: 2026-02-05
Grok-3 citation failure rate (highest tested)
94%
Grok-3 Search had the highest citation failure rate at 94%, failing to correctly identify sources in nearly all test queries.
Scope: 200 test queries, March 2025 · Verified: 2026-02-05
Wikipedia share of ChatGPT citations
~13%
Wikipedia accounts for roughly 13% of all ChatGPT citations, making it the single most-cited domain.
Based on analysis of 7,000 queries and 485,000 citations. The top 3 domains control 22% of all ChatGPT citations.
Scope: ChatGPT citations, late 2025 · Verified: 2026-02-05
Blog posts cited by ChatGPT that include an answer capsule
72.4%
72.4% of blog posts cited by ChatGPT include an identifiable answer capsule, suggesting structured content earns more AI citations.
Over 52.2% also featured original data or branded-owned insight.
Scope: ChatGPT-cited blog posts, 2025 · Verified: 2026-02-05
Perplexity citations per answer
3-7 citations
Perplexity typically includes 3 to 7 inline citations per answer, prioritizing high-authority domains early in the citation list.
Perplexity pulls up to 40% more citations from high-authority websites compared to mid-tier blogs.
Scope: Perplexity answers, 2025 · Verified: 2026-02-05
Gemini and Grok-3 URL fabrication rate
50%+
Over half of citations from Google Gemini and Grok-3 led to fabricated or broken URLs that returned error pages.
URL fabrication is a distinct issue from citation inaccuracy; the AI generates plausible but nonexistent URLs.
Scope: Tow Center study, March 2025 · Verified: 2026-02-05
AI Overviews appearance rate in Google search
13.14%
AI Overviews now appear for 13.14% of all Google queries, more than doubling from 6.49% in January 2025.
Scope: All Google queries, late 2025 · Verified: 2026-02-05
Zero-click rate for queries with AI Overviews
83%
Searches triggering AI Overviews show an average zero-click rate of 83%, compared to 60% for queries without AI Overviews.
Based on analysis of 5 major zero-click studies from 2025.
Scope: Google searches with AI Overviews, 2025 · Verified: 2026-02-05
Organic CTR decline for position #1 results
-32%
Organic click-through rates for position #1 results dropped 32% year-over-year, driven by AI Overviews and SERP feature expansion.
Based on a study of 200,000 keywords comparing 2024 to 2025 CTR data.
Scope: 200K keywords, 2024 vs 2025 · Verified: 2026-02-05
ChatGPT Search auto-appends utm_source
utm_source=chatgpt.com
ChatGPT Search auto-appends utm_source=chatgpt.com to outbound links, but other AI platforms like Gemini and Claude do not add UTM parameters.
Free-tier ChatGPT users may not pass referrer data at all, causing visits to appear as Direct traffic.
Scope: ChatGPT Search outbound links, 2025 · Verified: 2026-02-05
AI traffic attribution gap (dark AI traffic)
Significant undercount
Free-tier AI chatbot users often do not send referrer data, causing AI-driven visits to show as Direct or Unassigned in analytics. The true volume of AI referral traffic is higher than reported.
Browser privacy settings (Safari ITP), rel=noreferrer on links, and app-to-browser handoffs all contribute to referrer stripping.
Scope: All AI platforms, 2025 · Verified: 2026-02-05
AI referrer domains tracked by SearchSignal
21 domains
SearchSignal recognizes 21 AI platform domains for classifying AI-referred sessions, including ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot, and others.
See the full domain list in the appendix. Matching is case-insensitive with subdomain inclusion.
Scope: SearchSignal platform, current · Verified: 2026-02-05
Methodology (Auditable)
This section exists so journalists, analysts, and skeptical readers can reproduce the logic.
Study Period
Measured period
2024-01 to 2025-12
Reporting cadence
Aggregated from published studies
Last updated
2026-02-05
Data Sources
All figures in this report are sourced from published third-party research. Each chart cites its specific source, methodology, and sample size. Key sources include:
- Conductor — AEO/GEO Benchmarks Report (13,770 domains, 3.3B sessions)
- SE Ranking — AI traffic analysis (63,987 sites across 250 countries)
- Ahrefs — Traffic study (82,000 sites)
- Adobe Analytics — US retail conversion data (1T+ site visits)
- Tow Center, Columbia University — Citation accuracy study (1,600 queries)
- Cloudflare — Crawl-to-refer ratio analysis (July 2025)
- BrightEdge — Marketer survey (750+ respondents)
- Similarweb, Digiday — Growth and category data
How We Define AI-Referred Traffic
AI-referred sessions are classified by matching the session source/referrer against a published domain list (Appendix A). The domain list covers major AI products and their known subdomains.
Why this matters: Some platforms may supply UTM source tags (for example, utm_source=chatgpt.com) without a consistent medium, which can fragment reporting if you rely on Source/Medium defaults. The studies cited here base classification on source-domain rules to keep reporting stable.
"Dark AI" and Misattribution Risk
AI-driven visits can appear as Direct when referrer data is not passed or when users copy and paste URLs from an AI interface. We treat this as a measurement limitation and publish it as such (we do not relabel Direct as AI unless a reader opts into the optional heuristic view).
How Citation Accuracy Was Measured
- Tow Center study: Researchers at Columbia University ran 1,600 news queries across 8 AI platforms and evaluated whether each AI answer correctly identified the source article. Results are reported per platform.
- Industry surveys: BrightEdge surveyed 750+ search and digital marketing professionals about their strategies, concerns, and tracking adoption for AI search.
Limitations (What We Are Not Claiming)
- Each source study has its own sample selection criteria. Numbers are not directly comparable across studies without accounting for methodology differences.
- Referral-based measurement undercounts AI influence when platforms strip referrers or users copy URLs manually.
- Citation accuracy results reflect the specific prompt sets and AI platform versions tested; results may change as platforms update their models.
- Conversion data comes from US retail specifically and may not generalize to other verticals or geographies.
Downloadables
Get the dataset for your own analysis and reporting.
Dataset (CSV)
- Clean CSV export for all charts on this page
- Data dictionary included in Appendix B
- Version 2.0.0, updated 2026-02-05
Press Kit
- Branded + unbranded charts (PNG & SVG)
- Methodology snapshot & press release
- HTML embed snippets per chart
License: CC BY 4.0 — Free to reuse with attribution.
Embed Gallery
Use the embed snippets below to publish a single chart with attribution. Keep the attribution link intact.
AI Share of Total Website Traffic by Study
chart-01
AI Referral Traffic Growth (Year-over-Year)
chart-02
Share of AI Referral Traffic by Platform
chart-03
AI Traffic as Percentage of Total Traffic by Industry
chart-04
AI Referral Conversion Performance vs Non-AI Traffic (2025)
chart-05
AI Citation Accuracy Rate by Platform
chart-06
Crawl-to-Refer Ratio by AI Platform
chart-07
How Marketers Are Responding to AI Search
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Embed template (example):
<div style="width:100%; max-width:800px;">
<iframe
src="https://searchsignal.online/research/ai-search-referrals-citations-2026/embed/chart-03"
style="border:0; height:560px; width:100%;"
loading="lazy"
title="AI referrals by platform"
></iframe>
<p>Source: <a href="https://searchsignal.online/research/ai-search-referrals-citations-2026/">SearchSignal 2026 Benchmark</a></p>
</div>Frequently Asked Questions
About SearchSignal
SearchSignal helps SEO teams measure performance across modern discovery surfaces, including AI-driven referrals and AI answer visibility, using consistent tracking rules and audit-ready reporting.
Appendices
Appendix A: AI Referrer Domains Used for Classification
Core AI product domains (common):
Additional AI and agent surfaces:
Appendix B: Data Dictionary
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| source | string | Name of the research study or analytics provider |
| platform | string | AI platform name (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, etc.) |
| industry | string | GICS industry classification |
| share | number | Percentage share (of traffic, referrals, or market) |
| growth | number | Year-over-year growth rate in percent |
| conversionDelta | number | AI conversion rate relative to non-AI (positive = better) |
| accuracyRate | number | Percentage of AI answers with correct citations |
| ratio | number | Pages crawled per visitor referred (crawl-to-refer ratio) |
| rate | number | Percentage of survey respondents |
Appendix C: Changelog
| Version | Updated | What Changed |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0.0 | 2026-02-05 | Initial release with sample data covering Jul 2025 - Jan 2026. |
| 2.0.0 | 2026-02-05 | Replaced all sample data with real, sourced figures from Conductor, SE Ranking, Ahrefs, Adobe Analytics, Tow Center, Cloudflare, BrightEdge, Similarweb, and Digiday. |
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