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AI Search Index

What AI assistants actually cite

Updated daily. The same prompts run against five assistants every day, so a change on one is visible against the other four.

295,213 citations
29,014 source domains
30,596 answers
Rolling 90 days

The latest change in how an assistant sources answers

youtube.com fell from 5.3% to 2.7% of Perplexity citations, while the other assistants held.

First seen Jul 28, 2026. Still standing on the latest check.

youtube.com's share of citations, by assistant

Share of all cited sources, 7-day rolling average

0.0%7.0%14%21%28%Jun 17Aug 1Sep 1421%11%0.3%0.0%0.0%

Claude stops where we no longer see enough daily activity to report a share. The line ends rather than continuing at zero, which would claim a measurement we do not have.

How each assistant answers

ChatGPT
4.5
sources per answer
Cites something
98%
Uses what it reads
44%
Searched the web
99%
Perplexity
9.4
sources per answer
Cites something
100%
Uses what it reads
66%
Searched the web
100%
Gemini
11.8
sources per answer
Cites something
97%
Uses what it reads
94%
Searched the web
97%
Claude
12.7
sources per answer
Cites something
87%
Uses what it reads
94%
Searched the web
89%
Google AI Mode
14.3
sources per answer
Cites something
97%
Uses what it reads
96%
Searched the web
100%

Rates over every answer in the range. ChatGPT did not say whether it searched on 0.8% of answers; Perplexity did not say whether it searched on 0.1% of answers; Gemini said it did not search on 2.5% of answers; Gemini did not say whether it searched on 0.2% of answers; Claude did not say whether it searched on 11% of answers.

How old the pages are
ChatGPT
107 days
median age of a cited page

Only ChatGPT reports when a cited page was published; 38% of its citations carry a date.

What it searched for behind the question
ChatGPT
1.9
searches per answer

reports its searches on 2.7% of answers, 12% use a site: filter

Gemini
2.0
searches per answer

reports its searches on 20% of answers, 0.0% use a site: filter

Only ChatGPT and Gemini report the searches they ran.

What kinds of sources get cited

ChatGPT

Editorial
6.3%
Community
5.2%
Reference
12.5%
Institutional
16.9%
Company website
43.0%
Other source
16.0%

Perplexity

Editorial
9.1%
Community
13.0%
Reference
5.5%
Institutional
7.6%
Company website
41.5%
Other source
23.3%

Gemini

Editorial
6.2%
Community
20.8%
Reference
2.4%
Institutional
8.2%
Company website
43.4%
Other source
18.9%

Google AI Mode

Editorial
5.9%
Community
30.0%
Reference
3.3%
Institutional
7.5%
Company website
46.8%
Other source
6.6%

Measured over the past 7 days, with every share averaged across the websites we track, so a change in what is being measured cannot move a number. The same kinds sit in the same order on every card, so a row compares across assistants. Claude did not have enough activity this week to break down.

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