Airefs analysed 308,734 citations and 51,120 unique cited URLs, from 6 January to 8 October 2026. The citations come from 209,794 ChatGPT citations and 98,940 Google AI Overviews citations.
The citations come from brands in these industries:
| Industry | Share of citations |
|---|---|
| Tech, SaaS and AI software | 78.1% |
| Marketing and ecommerce agencies | 11.9% |
| Business services, consulting and jobs | 3.6% |
| Real estate and proptech | 1.5% |
| Health and wellness | 1.4% |
| Education and training | 1.3% |
| Energy, construction and finance | 0.9% |
| Design, architecture, video and events | 0.9% |
| Consumer products (baby) | 0.4% |
What share of AI search citations point to third-party websites?
98.6% of ChatGPT citations point to third-party websites, not the brand’s own site. 98.2% of Google AI Overviews citations point to third-party websites (Airefs, October 2026).
The brand’s own website receives 1.4% of ChatGPT citations and 1.8% of Google AI Overviews citations for the average brand (Airefs, October 2026).
| Who owns the cited page | ChatGPT (average brand) | ChatGPT (median brand) | AI Overviews (average brand) | AI Overviews (median brand) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The brand's own site | 1.4% | 0.3% | 1.8% | 0.0% |
| Tracked competitors' sites | 8.1% | 4.5% | 6.6% | 3.1% |
| Everyone else (publishers, blogs, reviews, forums) | 90.5% | n/a | 91.6% | n/a |
| All third-party (not the brand) | 98.6% | n/a | 98.2% | n/a |
How often does ChatGPT cite a brand’s own website?
The brand’s own site earns 1.4% of ChatGPT citations for the average brand and 0.3% for the median brand (Airefs, October 2026).
94% of brands got under 5% of their ChatGPT citations from their own site. No brand reached 20% of ChatGPT citations from its own site. The highest own-site share on ChatGPT was 11.8% (Arkahub) (Airefs, October 2026).
How often does Google AI Overviews cite a brand’s own website?
The brand’s own site earns 1.8% of Google AI Overviews citations for the average brand. The highest own-site share on Google AI Overviews was 21.7% (Scale.jobs) (Airefs, October 2026).
How many brands are never cited by ChatGPT?
44% of brands were never cited by ChatGPT in any 2026 run (Airefs, October 2026).
How many brands are never cited by Google AI Overviews?
60% of brands were never cited by Google AI Overviews (Airefs, October 2026).
How much more are competitors’ websites cited than your own?
Competitors’ websites are cited about 6x more than the brand’s own site on ChatGPT. Tracked competitors’ sites receive 8.1% of ChatGPT citations, against 1.4% for the brand’s own site (Airefs, October 2026).
Competitors out-cited the brand’s own site for 88% of brands on ChatGPT. Tracked competitors’ sites receive 6.6% of Google AI Overviews citations, against 1.8% for the brand’s own site (Airefs, October 2026).
What share of AI citations go to sites that are neither the brand nor a competitor?
About 90% of citations go to sites that are neither the brand nor a tracked competitor. The exact shares are 90.5% on ChatGPT and 91.6% on Google AI Overviews (Airefs, October 2026).
What are the most cited domains in ChatGPT?
Reddit is the most-cited domain in ChatGPT, at 2.9% of a brand’s citations. Wikipedia is second at 1.5%. No single domain reaches 3% of a brand’s ChatGPT citations (Airefs, October 2026).
| Domain | Share of ChatGPT citations | % of brands cited for |
|---|---|---|
| reddit.com | 2.9% | 84% |
| en.wikipedia.org | 1.5% | 66% |
| shopify.com | 0.7% | 16% |
| techradar.com | 0.6% | 38% |
| linkedin.com | 0.6% | 59% |
| clutch.co | 0.5% | 28% |
What are the most cited domains in Google AI Overviews?
YouTube is the most-cited domain in Google AI Overviews, at 4.7% of a brand’s citations. Reddit is second at 3.4% (Airefs, October 2026).
| Domain | Share of AI Overviews citations | % of brands cited for |
|---|---|---|
| youtube.com | 4.7% | 87% |
| reddit.com | 3.4% | 90% |
| linkedin.com | 1.2% | 80% |
| facebook.com | 0.5% | 40% |
| clutch.co | 0.5% | 30% |
Which domains are cited for the most brands?
Reddit is the domain cited for the most brands on both engines (Airefs, October 2026).
| Domain | ChatGPT (% of brands) | AI Overviews (% of brands) |
|---|---|---|
| reddit.com | 84% | 90% |
| linkedin.com | 59% | 80% |
| en.wikipedia.org | 66% | 17% |
| youtube.com | 41% | 87% |
| medium.com | 44% | 60% |
| facebook.com | 34% | 40% |
| g2.com | 38% | 23% |
| gartner.com | 38% | 27% |
| techradar.com | 38% | 13% |
| upwork.com | 34% | 37% |
| forbes.com | 31% | 33% |
| zapier.com | 22% | 40% |
| instagram.com | 22% | 40% |
How many different domains does AI search cite?
The median brand’s ChatGPT answers cited 233 different domains. The median brand’s Google AI Overviews cited 111 different domains (Airefs, October 2026).
91% of the 14,225 distinct domains cited by ChatGPT appear for only one brand. Only 0.6% of those ChatGPT domains were cited for 5 or more brands. 89% of the 7,155 domains cited by Google AI Overviews appear for only one brand, and only 0.6% were cited for 5 or more brands (Airefs, October 2026).
How concentrated are AI citations in the top domains?
The top 10 domains take 26% of a brand’s ChatGPT citations for the median brand. The top 10 domains take 36% of a brand’s Google AI Overviews citations for the median brand (Airefs, October 2026).
How often are the same URLs cited repeatedly?
40% of an average brand’s URLs cited by ChatGPT are cited in two or more answers, and they account for 72% of its citations. In Google AI Overviews, 25% of URLs are cited more than once, and they account for 49% of citations. About 4.5% of ChatGPT URLs and 2.5% of Google AI Overviews URLs are cited ten or more times (Airefs, October 2026).
How stable are AI citations between runs?
Consecutive runs of the same prompt on the same model share only 24% of their cited URLs in ChatGPT and 35% in Google AI Overviews. At domain level, the overlap is 31% in ChatGPT and 41% in Google AI Overviews. This comes from a small sample of run pairs, so treat it as indicative (Airefs, October 2026).
Which content formats does AI search cite most?
Articles are the most-cited format for 47% of brands on ChatGPT. Articles are the most-cited format for 67% of brands on Google AI Overviews (Airefs, October 2026).
| Format | ChatGPT | AI Overviews |
|---|---|---|
| Article (blog posts, listicles, guides) | 40.3% | 48.3% |
| Brand (company and product pages) | 14.2% | 6.9% |
| Discussion (Reddit, Quora, forums) | 3.3% | 3.9% |
| Video | 0.2% | 4.3% |
| Wiki | 1.6% | 0.0% |
| Ratings, help docs, tools and other small types | 1.2% | 0.8% |
| Other (unclassified pages) | 39.2% | 35.8% |
What page types does AI search cite?
Blog and article pages are 38% of ChatGPT citations and 48% of Google AI Overviews citations (Airefs, October 2026).
| Page type | ChatGPT (% of citations) | AI Overviews (% of citations) |
|---|---|---|
| Blog or article | 38% | 48% |
| Homepage | 14% | 7% |
| Product, features or services | 6% | 5% |
| Comparison or alternatives | 4% | 5% |
| Docs and help center | 3% | 1% |
| Pricing | 0.3% | 0.2% |
How often does AI search cite brand homepages?
Homepages are 14% of the average brand’s ChatGPT citations and 7% of its Google AI Overviews citations. 98% of ChatGPT citations tagged “Brand” are homepages, and the figure is 97% on Google AI Overviews (Airefs, October 2026).
Competitors’ homepages were cited for 75% of brands on ChatGPT. The brand’s own homepage was cited for only 34% of brands on ChatGPT (Airefs, October 2026).
Competitors’ homepages were cited for 63% of brands on Google AI Overviews, against 27% for the brand’s own homepage. 25% of ChatGPT citations to competitor sites land on a homepage, rising to 39% on Google AI Overviews (Airefs, October 2026).
How often does AI search cite pricing pages?
Pricing pages are 0.3% of ChatGPT citations and 0.2% of Google AI Overviews citations (Airefs, October 2026).
How often does AI search cite documentation and help centers?
Help-center and documentation pages are 2.8% of the average brand’s ChatGPT citations. They are 0.7% of Google AI Overviews citations (Airefs, October 2026).
Help-center and documentation pages were cited for 72% of brands on ChatGPT. They were cited for 57% of brands on Google AI Overviews (Airefs, October 2026).
84% of cited docs on ChatGPT belong to third-party tools, 16% to competitors and 0.3% to the brand itself. 92% of cited docs on Google AI Overviews belong to third-party tools (Airefs, October 2026).
The most-cited doc hosts include help.shopify.com, intercom.com, learn.microsoft.com, help.klaviyo.com, support.zendesk.com, learn.g2.com and support.pipedrive.com (Airefs, October 2026).
How many cited articles are listicles?
68% of cited articles on ChatGPT are listicles, and 73% on Google AI Overviews. Article types were classified from page titles (Airefs, October 2026).
Which article types does AI search cite?
Listicles are the most-cited article type, followed by comparisons at 12% of ChatGPT articles and 8% of Google AI Overviews articles. The categories are classified from page titles and overlap (Airefs, October 2026).
| Article type | ChatGPT | AI Overviews |
|---|---|---|
| Listicle | 68% | 73% |
| Comparison | 12% | 8% |
| Guide | 8% | 8% |
| Review | 5% | 3% |
| How-to | 2% | 4% |
| Explainer | 2% | 3% |
| Case study | about 0% | about 0% |
Do cited articles carry a year in the title?
60% of cited articles on ChatGPT carry a year in the title for the median brand. The same figure is 58% on Google AI Overviews (Airefs, October 2026).
How old are the pages AI search cites?
About 34% of ChatGPT URLs and 36% of Google AI Overviews URLs show a publication date in their snippet. Among those, the median cited page is about 4 months old in ChatGPT and 5.5 months old in Google AI Overviews. 82% of dated ChatGPT pages and 76% of dated Google AI Overviews pages are under a year old. 5% and 4% are three or more years old (Airefs, October 2026).
Which top-level domains does AI search cite?
.com is 65% of ChatGPT citations and 69% of Google AI Overviews citations. Country domains mostly reflect where the tracked brands operate (Airefs, October 2026).
| Top-level domain | ChatGPT | AI Overviews |
|---|---|---|
| .com | 65% | 69% |
| .io | 4.5% | 3.6% |
| .ai | 4.3% | 5.4% |
| .org | 4.2% | 2.2% |
| .fr | 3.4% | n/a |
| .co.uk | 2.9% | 2.7% |
| .co | n/a | 2.5% |
Does AI search cite PDFs?
PDFs are 0.6% of cited URLs in ChatGPT and 0.4% in Google AI Overviews. By citations, PDFs are 0.4% in ChatGPT and 0.3% in Google AI Overviews. 63% of brands have at least one PDF cited in ChatGPT and 30% in Google AI Overviews (Airefs, October 2026).
What share of AI citations go to ordinary company and publisher websites?
84% of ChatGPT citations go to company websites and their blogs rather than platforms like Reddit, G2 or YouTube. The same figure is 79% on Google AI Overviews (Airefs, October 2026).
Do Google AI Overviews cite user-generated platforms more than ChatGPT?
Forums, social networks, video and blogging platforms make up 11.5% of Google AI Overviews citations and 4.6% of ChatGPT citations. Google AI Overviews cite user-generated platforms 2.5x more than ChatGPT (Airefs, October 2026).
How often does AI search cite Reddit?
Reddit is cited for 84% of brands on ChatGPT and 90% of brands on Google AI Overviews. No other site comes close to Reddit’s reach across brands (Airefs, October 2026).
Reddit averages only about 3% of a brand’s citations on each engine, with 2.9% on ChatGPT and 3.4% on Google AI Overviews (Airefs, October 2026).
Reddit is 91% of ChatGPT’s discussion citations and 70% of Google AI Overviews’ discussion citations (Airefs, October 2026).
What types of Reddit threads does AI search cite?
At least 99% of cited Reddit URLs are individual threads. About 40% of cited Reddit threads are phrased as questions (Airefs, October 2026).
31% of ChatGPT’s Reddit citations go to recommendation threads (best option, alternatives, comparison or reviews) for the median brand. The same figure is 58% on Google AI Overviews (Airefs, October 2026).
Our Reddit marketing guide for AI search covers how to act on these threads.
Which subreddits does AI search cite most?
ChatGPT cited 605 different subreddits, and 85% of them were cited for only one brand. Google AI Overviews cited 223 different subreddits, and 79% of them were cited for only one brand (Airefs, October 2026).
| Subreddit | ChatGPT (% of brands) | AI Overviews (% of brands) |
|---|---|---|
| r/SaaS | 31% | 27% |
| r/Entrepreneur | 19% | 20% |
| r/digitalmarketing | 19% | 13% |
| r/b2bmarketing | 19% | 10% |
| r/AI_Agents | 13% | 20% |
| r/automation | 13% | 10% |
| r/marketingautomation | 13% | 10% |
| r/ecommerce | 13% | 10% |
| r/SideProject | 13% | 3% |
| r/agency | 3% | 17% |
How often does AI search cite Quora?
Quora is cited for 27% of brands on Google AI Overviews, but it is only 0.1% of a brand’s citations. ChatGPT almost never cites Quora. Quora is under 3% of discussion citations (Airefs, October 2026).
Which forums other than Reddit and Quora does AI search cite?
Product Hunt is cited for 6% of brands on ChatGPT and 10% on Google AI Overviews. Hacker News is cited for 10% of brands on Google AI Overviews (Airefs, October 2026).
| Domain | ChatGPT (% of brands) | AI Overviews (% of brands) |
|---|---|---|
| producthunt.com | 6% | 10% |
| indiehackers.com | 6% | n/a |
| news.ycombinator.com | n/a | 10% |
How often does AI search cite LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is cited for 59% of brands on ChatGPT and 80% of brands on Google AI Overviews. LinkedIn is 0.6% of a brand’s ChatGPT citations and 1.2% of its Google AI Overviews citations (Airefs, October 2026).
What types of LinkedIn content does AI search cite?
61% of LinkedIn citations on ChatGPT are long-form articles (LinkedIn Pulse). 19% are posts, 8% are company pages and under 1% are personal profiles (Airefs, October 2026).
51% of LinkedIn citations on Google AI Overviews are posts and 39% are articles (Airefs, October 2026).
How often does AI search cite YouTube?
YouTube is cited for 87% of brands on Google AI Overviews and 41% of brands on ChatGPT. YouTube averages 4.7% of a brand’s Google AI Overviews citations and 0.2% of its ChatGPT citations (Airefs, October 2026).
What types of YouTube content does AI search cite?
At least 93% of YouTube citations are individual videos. Shorts are 4% of YouTube citations on Google AI Overviews, and channel pages are under 2% (Airefs, October 2026).
Which podcast platforms does AI search cite?
Apple Podcasts is cited for 6% of brands on ChatGPT and 7% on Google AI Overviews. Spotify is cited for 7% of brands on Google AI Overviews (Airefs, October 2026).
| Domain | ChatGPT (% of brands) | AI Overviews (% of brands) |
|---|---|---|
| podcasts.apple.com | 6% | 7% |
| open.spotify.com | n/a | 7% |
Which social networks other than LinkedIn does AI search cite?
Social networks appear in Google AI Overviews for 93% of brands. Facebook is cited for 34% of brands on ChatGPT and 40% on Google AI Overviews. Instagram is cited for 22% of brands on ChatGPT and 40% on Google AI Overviews (Airefs, October 2026).
| Domain | ChatGPT (% of brands) | AI Overviews (% of brands) |
|---|---|---|
| facebook.com | 34% | 40% |
| instagram.com | 22% | 40% |
| tiktok.com | n/a | 7% |
Which review and comparison sites does AI search cite?
Review and comparison sites such as G2, Capterra and Clutch appear for 88% of brands on ChatGPT and 77% of brands on Google AI Overviews. They average only 1.9% of citations on each engine (Airefs, October 2026).
G2 and Gartner are each cited for 38% of brands on ChatGPT. Clutch is cited for 28% of brands on ChatGPT and 30% on Google AI Overviews (Airefs, October 2026).
Software review sites (G2, Capterra, TrustRadius, Slashdot) lean toward ChatGPT. Agency directories (Clutch, DesignRush, Sortlist) appear on both engines (Airefs, October 2026).
| Domain | ChatGPT (% of brands) | AI Overviews (% of brands) |
|---|---|---|
| g2.com | 38% | 23% |
| gartner.com (Peer Insights) | 38% | 27% |
| capterra.com | 31% | 7% |
| clutch.co | 28% | 30% |
| designrush.com | 25% | 20% |
| slashdot.org | 25% | 7% |
| sourceforge.net | 25% | 10% |
| trustpilot.com | 22% | 7% |
| trustradius.com | 22% | 3% |
| sortlist.com | 19% | 17% |
Does AI search cite ranked directory lists or company profiles?
Directories and review sites are 2.6% of ChatGPT citations and 2.2% of Google AI Overviews citations (Airefs, October 2026).
88% of ChatGPT’s directory citations go to category or ranked-list pages. Only 4% go to a single company’s profile (Airefs, October 2026).
96% of Google AI Overviews’ directory citations go to list pages and 2% go to profiles (Airefs, October 2026).
Which business directories and listing sites does AI search cite?
Built In is cited for 19% of brands on ChatGPT and 27% of brands on Google AI Overviews (Airefs, October 2026).
| Domain | ChatGPT (% of brands) | AI Overviews (% of brands) |
|---|---|---|
| builtin.com | 19% | 27% |
| f6s.com | 13% | n/a |
| cbinsights.com | 13% | 10% |
| pipeline.zoominfo.com | n/a | 13% |
Which news and media sites does AI search cite?
News sites are cited for 72% of brands on ChatGPT, but they average only 2.2% of citations (Airefs, October 2026).
TechRadar is cited for 38% of brands on ChatGPT, Business Insider for 34% and Forbes for 31%. Forbes is cited for 33% of brands on Google AI Overviews (Airefs, October 2026).
| Domain | ChatGPT (% of brands) | AI Overviews (% of brands) |
|---|---|---|
| techradar.com | 38% | 13% |
| businessinsider.com | 34% | n/a |
| forbes.com | 31% | 33% |
| reuters.com | 28% | n/a |
| wsj.com | 28% | n/a |
| techtarget.com | n/a | 13% |
| finance.yahoo.com | n/a | 13% |
How often does AI search cite Wikipedia?
Wikipedia is cited for 66% of brands on ChatGPT and 17% of brands on Google AI Overviews. Wikipedia is 1.5% of a brand’s ChatGPT citations (Airefs, October 2026).
Which freelance marketplaces does AI search cite?
Upwork is cited for 34% of brands on ChatGPT and 37% of brands on Google AI Overviews (Airefs, October 2026).
| Domain | ChatGPT (% of brands) | AI Overviews (% of brands) |
|---|---|---|
| upwork.com | 34% | 37% |
| fiverr.com | n/a | 17% |
| toptal.com | n/a | 17% |
Which app stores does AI search cite?
The Apple App Store is cited for 28% of brands on ChatGPT and 17% of brands on Google AI Overviews. Google Play is cited for 19% of brands on ChatGPT (Airefs, October 2026).
| Domain | ChatGPT (% of brands) | AI Overviews (% of brands) |
|---|---|---|
| apps.apple.com | 28% | 17% |
| play.google.com | 19% | n/a |
How often does AI search cite GitHub?
GitHub is cited for 28% of brands on ChatGPT (Airefs, October 2026).
Which blogging platforms does AI search cite?
Medium is the most-cited blogging platform, cited for 44% of brands on ChatGPT and 57% of brands on Google AI Overviews (Airefs, October 2026).
| Domain | ChatGPT (% of brands) | AI Overviews (% of brands) |
|---|---|---|
| medium.com | 44% | 57% |
| dev.to | 19% | 13% |
| vocal.media | 16% | n/a |
Which academic and research sources does AI search cite?
arXiv is cited for 31% of brands on ChatGPT. Coursera is cited for 16% of brands on ChatGPT and 17% on Google AI Overviews (Airefs, October 2026).
| Domain | ChatGPT (% of brands) | AI Overviews (% of brands) |
|---|---|---|
| arxiv.org | 31% | n/a |
| coursera.org | 16% | 17% |
| sciencedirect.com | n/a | 13% |
Which government sources does AI search cite?
The National Institutes of Health (nih.gov) is cited for 16% of brands on ChatGPT. The SEC (sec.gov) is cited for 13% of brands on ChatGPT (Airefs, October 2026).
| Domain | ChatGPT (% of brands) | AI Overviews (% of brands) |
|---|---|---|
| nih.gov | 16% | n/a |
| sec.gov | 13% | n/a |
Which blogs and articles on other sites does AI search cite?
Zapier is cited for 22% of brands on ChatGPT and 37% of brands on Google AI Overviews. ZipDo and the HubSpot blog are each cited for 25% of brands on ChatGPT (Airefs, October 2026).
| Domain | ChatGPT (% of brands) | AI Overviews (% of brands) |
|---|---|---|
| zapier.com | 22% | 37% |
| zipdo.co | 25% | n/a |
| blog.hubspot.com | 25% | n/a |
| jotform.com | 22% | n/a |
| lindy.ai | n/a | 20% |
| clickup.com | n/a | 20% |
| monday.com | n/a | 20% |
Which company and product sites does AI search cite?
HubSpot is cited for 16% of brands on ChatGPT and 13% of brands on Google AI Overviews. Salesforce is cited for 13% of brands on ChatGPT and 17% on Google AI Overviews (Airefs, October 2026).
| Domain | ChatGPT (% of brands) | AI Overviews (% of brands) |
|---|---|---|
| hubspot.com | 16% | 13% |
| ibm.com | 13% | n/a |
| salesforce.com | 13% | 17% |
| zendesk.com | 13% | n/a |
| google.com | n/a | 17% |
Do press releases get cited by AI search?
Press releases make up 0.1% of citations on both engines. PR Newswire is cited for 25% of brands on ChatGPT and 17% of brands on Google AI Overviews (Airefs, October 2026).
| Domain | ChatGPT (% of brands) | AI Overviews (% of brands) |
|---|---|---|
| prnewswire.com | 25% | 17% |
| globenewswire.com | 16% | n/a |
How often does AI search cite Amazon?
Amazon is 0.1% of ChatGPT citations and is cited for 22% of brands. On Google AI Overviews, Amazon is 0.2% of citations and is cited for 10% of brands (Airefs, October 2026).
How often does AI search cite Trustpilot?
Trustpilot is 0.1% of ChatGPT citations and is cited for 22% of brands. On Google AI Overviews, Trustpilot is cited for 7% of brands (Airefs, October 2026).
Does AI search cite Yelp, Google Maps or Tripadvisor?
Yelp, Google Maps and Tripadvisor are not cited in ChatGPT. Yelp is cited for 3% of brands on Google AI Overviews. The tracked brands are mostly B2B and services, so consumer and local results are limited (Airefs, October 2026).
How different are ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews citations?
The median brand shares only 11% of its cited domains between ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews. Just 15% of all 18,607 cited domains appear on both engines (Airefs, October 2026).
Only 36% of the domains Google AI Overviews cites for a brand are also cited by ChatGPT for that brand (median brand) (Airefs, October 2026).
| Measure | ChatGPT | AI Overviews |
|---|---|---|
| Distinct domains cited per brand (median) | 233 | 111 |
| Cited URLs that appear only once (median) | 60% | 76% |
| Articles share of citations | 40.3% | 48.3% |
| YouTube share of citations | 0.2% | 4.7% |
| Brands with any YouTube citation | 41% | 87% |
| Wikipedia share of citations | 1.5% | 0.0% |
| Brands with any Wikipedia citation | 66% | 17% |
| Reddit share of citations | 2.9% | 3.4% |
| LinkedIn share of citations | 0.6% | 1.2% |
| Review and comparison sites share | 1.9% | 1.9% |
Google AI Overviews lean on video and social platforms (YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook). ChatGPT leans on Wikipedia, news publishers (TechRadar, Business Insider, Forbes) and software review sites (G2, Capterra) (Airefs, October 2026).
How many sources does AI search cite per answer?
ChatGPT averages about 16 citations per answer, with a median of 14. Google AI Overviews average about 8 to 9 citations per answer (Airefs, October 2026).
The number of citations per ChatGPT answer varies a lot by model (Airefs, October 2026).
| Model | Citations per answer |
|---|---|
| gpt-4o-mini | 7.3 |
| gpt-5-5 | 14.0 |
| gpt-5-2 | 21.5 |
| gpt-5-6 | 29.3 |
How often do AI answers include citations?
95.5% of ChatGPT answers include at least one citation. The 4.5% without are answers where web search was not triggered. 91% of Google AI Overviews include at least one citation (Airefs, October 2026).
How often are brands mentioned in ChatGPT answers?
The median brand was mentioned in 2.5% of its ChatGPT answers, and the average brand in 9.7%. The figures cover 291 tracked runs and 12,215 ChatGPT answers from 6 January to 8 October 2026 (Airefs, October 2026).
47% of brands were never mentioned in any ChatGPT answer. 78% of brands were mentioned in under 10% of their answers. 6% of brands were mentioned in half or more of their answers (Mailchimp and Dutch Standard Events) (Airefs, October 2026).
How often are brands mentioned in Google AI Overviews?
58% of brands were never mentioned in any Google AI Overview tracked since May 2026 (Airefs, October 2026).
How often do brands rank in ChatGPT’s top 3 answers?
Brands ranked in ChatGPT’s top 3 in only 2.4% of 12,215 tracked answers (Airefs, October 2026).
How often do brands rank #1 in ChatGPT answers?
Brands ranked #1 in 0.9% of the 12,215 tracked answers (Airefs, October 2026).
How often is a brand mentioned in an AI answer without being cited?
In ChatGPT, 55% of answers that mention a brand never cite its site. 63% of answers that cite a brand’s site never name the brand. Only 4.4% of ChatGPT answers have both a mention and a citation, and 82.5% have neither (Airefs, October 2026).
In Google AI Overviews the two overlap more: 8.5% of answers have both a mention and a citation, and 89% have neither (Airefs, October 2026).
What do these citation statistics mean for your content?
AI cites the specific piece of content, not the profile or the homepage of the platform (Airefs, October 2026). The actions below follow directly from the figures above.
- 98.6% of ChatGPT citations go to third-party sites, so earning mentions on other sites matters more than publishing on your own (Airefs, October 2026). Our AI search engine optimization guide covers the full approach.
- 91% of cited ChatGPT domains appear for only one brand, so track the sources AI cites for your own category rather than following generic “get on G2 and Reddit” advice (Airefs, October 2026).
- 68% of cited ChatGPT articles are listicles and 60% carry a year, so ranked “best X for Y (2026)” lists are the dominant cited article format (Airefs, October 2026).
- 88% of directory citations on ChatGPT are ranked-list pages, so your position in “Best CRO agencies in Amsterdam” matters more than having a profile (Airefs, October 2026).
- 61% of LinkedIn citations on ChatGPT are long-form articles, so publish LinkedIn articles rather than only short posts (Airefs, October 2026).
- 82% of dated ChatGPT pages cited are under a year old, so refresh key pages regularly (Airefs, October 2026).
- 55% of ChatGPT answers that mention a brand never cite its site, so track mentions and citations separately (Airefs, October 2026).
- 11% of cited domains overlap between engines, so optimise and measure ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews separately (Airefs, October 2026). See how to rank in ChatGPT and how to rank in Google AI Overviews.
Check that AI retrieval bots can reach your pages. OpenAI documents which crawlers fetch pages for ChatGPT search in its bots documentation, and Google explains how pages appear in AI Overviews in its AI features guide. Our list of AI search crawlers and user agents shows which bots to allow.
FAQ
How many AI citations does the Airefs 2026 dataset cover?
The dataset covers 308,734 citations and 51,120 unique cited URLs, from 6 January to 8 October 2026. Of those citations, 209,794 are from ChatGPT and 98,940 are from Google AI Overviews (Airefs, October 2026).
What percentage of AI search citations go to the brand’s own website?
The brand’s own website gets 1.4% of ChatGPT citations and 1.8% of Google AI Overviews citations for the average brand. The median brand gets 0.3% on ChatGPT (Airefs, October 2026).
Which website does AI search cite the most?
Reddit is cited for the most brands: 84% of brands on ChatGPT and 90% of brands on Google AI Overviews. It averages only about 3% of a brand’s citations on each engine (Airefs, October 2026).
What are the most cited websites in ChatGPT?
Reddit is the most-cited domain in ChatGPT at 2.9% of a brand’s citations, followed by Wikipedia at 1.5%, Shopify at 0.7%, TechRadar at 0.6%, LinkedIn at 0.6% and Clutch at 0.5%. No single domain reaches 3% (Airefs, October 2026).
How often is Reddit cited in ChatGPT?
Reddit is cited for 84% of brands in ChatGPT, and it makes up 2.9% of a brand’s citations on average (Airefs, October 2026).
Does ChatGPT cite the same websites as Google AI Overviews?
No. The median brand shares only 11% of its cited domains between the two engines. Only 15% of all 18,607 cited domains appear on both engines (Airefs, October 2026).
How many sources does ChatGPT cite per answer?
ChatGPT averages about 16 citations per answer, with a median of 14. The number varies by model, from 7.3 for gpt-4o-mini to 29.3 for gpt-5-6 (Airefs, October 2026).
Are most cited articles listicles?
Yes. 68% of cited articles on ChatGPT and 73% on Google AI Overviews are listicles (Airefs, October 2026).
Should I put the current year in my article titles?
60% of articles cited by ChatGPT carry a year in the title for the median brand (Airefs, October 2026). The data shows a correlation with citation, not proof that adding a year causes citation.
How old are the pages AI search cites?
Among cited pages with a visible date, the median page is about 4 months old in ChatGPT and 5.5 months old in Google AI Overviews. 82% of dated ChatGPT pages are under a year old (Airefs, October 2026).
How often are brands mentioned in ChatGPT answers?
The median brand was mentioned in 2.5% of its ChatGPT answers, and 47% of brands were never mentioned (Airefs, October 2026). Most of these brands are startups working on AI visibility, so the figures do not describe category leaders.
Sources and further reading
- Airefs (October 2026), original dataset: all runs 6 January to 8 October 2026. Track your own citations with Airefs Sources.
- OpenAI, Overview of OpenAI crawlers.
- Google Search Central, AI features and your website.
- Google Search Central, Introduction to robots.txt.
- Aggarwal et al., GEO: Generative Engine Optimization (arXiv, 2023).
- Liu et al., Evaluating Verifiability in Generative Search Engines (arXiv, 2023).
- Related Airefs statistics: ChatGPT statistics and Google AI Overviews statistics.