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Remember when “mobile-first” was the golden rule?
Posted by on September 1, 2025 at 5:52 amHere’s a stat that floored me:
94% of ChatGPT referrals come from desktop. (source: BrightEdge)
Perplexity, Bing, Gemini? All over 90% desktop too.
Think about it. When you’re doing deep research, comparing products, or trying to actually learn something…do you whip out your phone? Or do you sit down at your computer?
Desktop users aren’t scrollers. They’re researchers. They click. They read. They convert.
Mobile AI users? They want a quick answer, then stay in-app.
The implications:
• If you’ve been obsessing over mobile UX, your site might be invisible to AI referrals
• Desktop experience suddenly matters again
• Detailed, long-form content could crush snackable stuff
Mobile-first made sense when Google ruled. But AI search is a desktop-first world.
Are you seeing the same in your referral traffic?
OP: Matt Diggity/LinkedIn
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1 Reply
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Copy pasting from Matt Diggity FB post for karma points? 😂
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I’m scrolling on a desktop right now
I run a mostly b2b ecom business. certainly the desktop clicks are where most of my business comes from yet most of the clicks come from mobile. most paid ads are directed to desktop not mobile
uhm, what is your point again? the site being indexed to google and seo makes the site visible, not the UX
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The thing is, if you design your website for mobile, your desktop experience will probably be great too since it has enough white space, loads fast, doesn’t have CLS.
A major reason to have a mobile-first design philosophy is that it is easier to cater small and large screens.
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My hot take is design for desktop first, mobile second. On mobile majority of stuff just stacks anyway.
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You are thinking about this all wrong. Mobile first doesn’t mean desktop unfriendly.
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“Mobile first” is a design principle that states it’s easier to expand a mobile design than compact a desktop one. It has nothing to do with not building your website for either. It’s an order-of-operations and semantics/organization principle. Nobody told you to launch a website that doesn’t work on desktop.
Also, those AI stats will conform to common usage (majority mobile) before too long.
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You’re assuming that people have desktops.
Mobile first became a rule because most people in the world own a phone but don’t own and can’t pay for a desktop or laptop.
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Good points and I agree with what you’re saying about deep research being done on desktop. Real productivity work being done on desktop. And while there are AI apps that people are downloading and using, the referrals that count come from desktop users on AI platforms. Just like you said. However, mobile first design doesn’t mean mobile only design. A truly responsive website looks great on both.
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It still is the rule.
Half of the world’s internet traffic is on a small or tablet sized screen. That should be enough motivation to start small.
Also, nailing the UX for smaller screens makes styling for larger screens easier. You only have so much space for inputs on a small screen. So once that’s nailed down you can enhance it with more information and widgets on the larger screened version of it. It’s easier to add than it is to decide what to hide.
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I remember when long form content was a thing.
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Desktop isn’t making a comeback because of LLMs. People use AI to learn things on all device types — phones, tablets and desktops.
A lot of the time where I most needed ChatGPT, it was because I was doing some kind of repair project and needed to use it on a phone while I was in the bathroom, kitchen or car where I was doing the work.
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Is there a way to track from what searches people click on chatgpt?
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Content-first.
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I don’t think this means anything’s changed. We all use mobile for certain things, and for other things, we use desktop. I don’t sit at work on my phone. I sit there on my computer, like everybody.
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