id,section,figure,finding,publisher,study,published,data_period,sample_or_method,source_type,url,compiled_by
t0,Clicks,8% vs 15%,"Google users who saw an AI summary clicked a traditional search result link in 8% of visits, versus 15% of visits when no AI summary appeared.",Pew Research Center,Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results,July 2025,"March 1-31, 2025 browsing","900 U.S. adults (KnowledgePanel Digital) with tracked browsing; 68,879 unique Google searches",primary,https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2025/07/22/google-users-are-less-likely-to-click-on-links-when-an-ai-summary-appears/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
t1,Clicks,1%,Users clicked a link inside the AI summary itself in just 1% of visits to pages with such a summary.,Pew Research Center,Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results,July 2025,March 2025,"900 U.S. adults; 12,593 searches that produced an AI summary",primary,https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2025/07/22/google-users-are-less-likely-to-click-on-links-when-an-ai-summary-appears/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
t2,Reach,18%,Some 18% of all Google searches in Pew's study generated an AI summary.,Pew Research Center,Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears in the results,July 2025,March 2025,"68,879 unique Google searches by 900 U.S. adults",primary,https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2025/07/22/google-users-are-less-likely-to-click-on-links-when-an-ai-summary-appears/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
t3,Clicks,58%,"Ahrefs found AI Overviews reduce the organic click-through rate for position-one content by 58% (December 2025 vs December 2023), up from the 34.5% reduction it reported in April 2025.",Ahrefs,Update: AI Overviews Reduce Clicks by 58%,February 2026,December 2023 vs December 2025,"300,000 keywords (150k with AI Overview, 150k informational without); aggregated Google Search Console desktop CTR",primary,https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-overviews-reduce-clicks-update/?pp=env,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
t4,Clicks,34.5%,Ahrefs' original study found position-1 CTR was 34.5% lower when an AI Overview was present (superseded by its 2026 update).,Ahrefs,AI Overviews Reduce Clicks by 34.5%,April 2025,March 2024 vs March 2025,"300,000 keywords; Google Search Console desktop CTR",primary,https://ahrefs.com/de/blog/ai-overviews-reduce-clicks/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
t5,Clicks,61%,"Organic CTR for queries with an AI Overview fell 61%, from 1.76% in June 2024 to 0.61% in September 2025 (queries without an AIO fell 41%, from 2.72% to 1.62%).",Seer Interactive,AIO Impact on Google CTR: September 2025 Update,November 2025,June 2024 - September 2025,"3,119 search terms, 42 client organizations, 25.1M organic and 1.1M paid impressions",primary,https://www.seerinteractive.com/insights/aio-impact-on-google-ctr-september-2025-update,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
t6,Clicks,35%,"Brands cited in an AI Overview earned 35% more organic clicks (0.70% vs 0.52% CTR) and 91% more paid clicks (7.89% vs 4.14%) than brands not cited, Q3 2025 averages.",Seer Interactive,AIO Impact on Google CTR: September 2025 Update,November 2025,Q3 2025,"3,119 search terms, 42 organizations",primary,https://www.seerinteractive.com/insights/aio-impact-on-google-ctr-september-2025-update,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
t7,Clicks,-15.49%,"Across keywords that triggered AI Overviews, average CTR fell 15.49% (19.98% for non-branded keywords), while branded keywords that triggered an AIO saw CTR rise 18.68%.",Amsive,Google AI Overviews study,April 2025,Not stated,~700K keywords across 10 websites in 5 industries; core analysis on 10K AIO-triggering keywords,primary,https://www.amsive.com/insights/research/google-ai-overviews-study/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
t8,Clicks,49% / ~30%,"One year after AI Overviews launched, total Google search impressions rose over 49% while click-throughs fell nearly 30% since May 2024.",BrightEdge,"One Year Into Google AI Overviews, BrightEdge Data Reveals Google Search Usage Increases by 49%",May 2025,May 2024 - May 2025,Not described in press release,primary,https://brightedge.com/news/press-releases/one-year-google-ai-overviews-brightedge-data-reveals-google-search-usage,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
t9,Reach,11%+,BrightEdge reported AI Overviews appeared in over 11% of Google queries one year after launch.,BrightEdge,"One Year Into Google AI Overviews, BrightEdge Data Reveals Google Search Usage Increases by 49%",May 2025,May 2025,Not described in press release,primary,https://brightedge.com/news/press-releases/one-year-google-ai-overviews-brightedge-data-reveals-google-search-usage,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
t10,Reach,25.11%,"25.11% of Google searches analysed triggered an AI Overview, ranging from 48.75% in Health Care to 4.48% in Real Estate.",Conductor,The 2026 AEO / GEO Benchmarks Report,2026 (page last updated July 2026),"U.S., Sept 15 - Oct 12, 2025",~21.9M unique Google searches,primary,https://conductor.com/academy/aeo-geo-benchmarks-report/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
t11,Reach,40%+,"Similarweb says AI Overviews now appear on over 40% of U.S. searches, up from roughly a third a year earlier.",Similarweb,Is AI Replacing Search? What the 2026 Numbers Reveal (2026 Generative AI Landscape),2026,No exact date given,Similarweb panel data,primary,https://aisearch.similarweb.com/blog/is-ai-replacing-search/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
t12,Clicks,58.5%,"58.5% of U.S. Google searches (and 59.7% in the EU) ended without a click; only 360 of every 1,000 U.S. searches sent a click to the open web (374 in the EU).",SparkToro / Datos,2024 Zero-Click Search Study,July 2024,September 2022 - May 2024,Datos (Semrush) US and EU clickstream panel,reported by third party,https://searchengineland.com/google-search-zero-click-study-2024-443869,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
t13,Clicks,68.01%,"SparkToro data shows 68.01% of U.S. Google searches ended without a click in January-April 2026, up from 60.45% in 2024.",SparkToro (reported by TechWyse),"In 2026, less than one-third of Google searches still send a click",June 2026,January - April 2026,"Similarweb desktop and mobile web clickstream panel; assumed 2/3 mobile, 1/3 desktop",reported by third party,https://www.techwyse.com/news/reports-data/google-zero-click-searches-68-percent-2026,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
t14,Clicks,56% to 69%,The share of news-related Google searches ending with no click to a news site grew from 56% when AI Overviews launched (May 2024) to nearly 69% by May 2025.,Similarweb (reported by Digiday),In Graphic Detail: AI platforms are driving more traffic - but not enough to offset 'zero-click' search,July 2025,May 2024 - May 2025,Similarweb panel,reported by third party,https://digiday.com/media/in-graphic-detail-ai-platforms-are-driving-more-traffic-but-not-enough-to-offset-zero-click-search/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
t15,Clicks,92-94%,"92-94% of Google AI Mode searches were zero-click, with only 6-8% of sessions leading to an external domain visit.",Semrush,Google AI Mode SEO impact study,July 2025,"May 1 - July 5, 2025",~69M U.S. desktop Google Search sessions (clickstream),primary,https://www.semrush.com/blog/google-ai-mode-seo-impact/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
t16,Reach,80%,"About 80% of consumers rely on zero-click results in at least 40% of their searches, reducing organic web traffic by an estimated 15% to 25%.",Bain & Company,"Goodbye Clicks, Hello AI: Zero-Click Search Redefines Marketing",February 2025,December 2024 survey,"Bain-Dynata Generative AI Consumer Survey, n=1,117",primary,https://www.bain.com/es/insights/goodbye-clicks-hello-ai-zero-click-search-redefines-marketing/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
t17,Traffic,693.4%,Traffic from generative AI tools to U.S. retail sites rose 693.4% year over year during the 2025 holiday season.,Adobe (Adobe Analytics),Adobe: Holiday Shopping Season Drove a Record $257.8 Billion Online,January 2026,"Nov 1 - Dec 31, 2025",Adobe Analytics; over 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail sites,primary,https://news.adobe.com/news/2026/01/adobe-holiday-shopping-season,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
t18,Traffic,31%,"During the 2025 holiday season, AI referrals to U.S. retail sites converted 31% more than other traffic sources, and AI shoppers spent 45% more time on site.",Adobe Digital Insights,"AI traffic surges across industries, retail sees biggest gains",January 2026,Nov-Dec 2025,"Adobe Analytics, over 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail sites",primary,https://business.adobe.com/blog/ai-driven-traffic-surges-across-industries,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
t19,Traffic,54%,"By May 2026, AI-referred visitors to U.S. retail sites converted 54% higher than non-AI visitors; a year earlier they converted at nearly half the non-AI rate.",Adobe Digital Insights,Q3 AI Traffic Trends Report,June 2026,May 2026 (series Oct 2024 - May 2026),"Over 1 trillion U.S. retail site visits, 100M+ SKUs; survey of 5,000+ U.S. respondents (March 2026)",primary,https://business.adobe.com/resources/sdk/.q3-ai-traffic-trends-report/q3-2026-ai-sourced-traffic-insights.pdf,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
t20,Traffic,53%,"In May 2026, AI visits to U.S. retail sites generated 53% more revenue per visit than non-AI visits; a year earlier non-AI visits were worth 128% more.",Adobe Digital Insights,Q3 AI Traffic Trends Report,June 2026,May 2026,"Adobe Analytics, U.S. retail sites",primary,https://business.adobe.com/resources/sdk/.q3-ai-traffic-trends-report/q3-2026-ai-sourced-traffic-insights.pdf,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
t21,Traffic,1.08%,"AI referral traffic made up 1.08% of total website traffic across 10 industries (2.80% in IT, 0.25% in Communication Services), with ChatGPT driving 87.4% of AI referrals.",Conductor,The 2026 AEO / GEO Benchmarks Report,2026 (page last updated July 2026),"U.S., May - September 2025","1,215 enterprise domains; 3.3B+ sessions incl. 35.7M AI sessions",primary,https://conductor.com/academy/aeo-geo-benchmarks-report/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
t22,Traffic,770.7M,"AI platforms sent an average of 770.7 million referral visits a month worldwide, up 117.4% year over year.",Similarweb,AI Referral Traffic by Industry: 2026 Data (2026 Generative AI Landscape),2026,June 2025 - May 2026,"Similarweb referrer data, desktop and mobile web; referrer-less visits excluded (floor)",primary,https://aisearch.similarweb.com/blog/ai-referral-traffic-by-industry/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
t23,Traffic,9.5B,"Generative AI platforms averaged 9.5 billion web visits a month worldwide, up 70% year over year.",Similarweb,Is AI Replacing Search? What the 2026 Numbers Reveal (2026 Generative AI Landscape),2026,June 2025 - May 2026 monthly average,"Similarweb panel; excludes API, desktop apps and in-app AI",primary,https://aisearch.similarweb.com/blog/is-ai-replacing-search/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
t24,Reach,95%,"About 95% of ChatGPT users also used Google, an overlap essentially flat between September 2025 and May 2026.",Similarweb,Is AI Replacing Search? What the 2026 Numbers Reveal,2026,September 2025 and May 2026,"Audience overlap, Similarweb panel",primary,https://aisearch.similarweb.com/blog/is-ai-replacing-search/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
t25,Reach,900M,OpenAI said ChatGPT reached 900 million weekly active users and 50 million paying subscribers.,OpenAI (reported by TechCrunch),ChatGPT reaches 900M weekly active users,February 2026,February 2026,Company-reported,reported by third party,https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/27/chatgpt-reaches-900m-weekly-active-users,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
t26,Reach,1B+,"Google said AI Mode has surpassed 1 billion monthly active users since its global expansion, and the Gemini app has 950 million monthly active users.",Google / Alphabet,Q2 2026 earnings call: Remarks from our CEO,July 2026,Q2 2026,Company-reported,primary,https://blog.google/company-news/inside-google/message-ceo/alphabet-earnings-q2-2026/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
t27,Reach,2B+,Sundar Pichai said AI Overviews has over 2 billion monthly users across more than 200 countries and territories and 40 languages.,Google / Alphabet (reported by Digiday),Google's AI Overviews reach over 2 billion monthly users,July 2025,Q2 2025,Company-reported,reported by third party,https://www.digiday.com/media/googles-ai-overviews-reach-over-2-billion-monthly-users/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
t28,Reach,49%,"49% of U.S. adults say they ever use AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, Gemini or Copilot, and 42% say they use chatbots to search for information.",Pew Research Center,"Americans and AI 2026: Chatbots, smart devices and views on impact",June 2026,"Feb 17-23, 2026","5,119 U.S. adults, American Trends Panel",primary,https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2026/06/17/americans-and-ai-2026-chatbots-smart-devices-and-views-on-impact.md,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
t30,Traffic,25%,"Gartner predicted that by 2026 traditional search engine volume will drop 25%, with search marketing losing share to AI chatbots and other virtual agents.",Gartner,Gartner Predicts Search Engine Volume Will Drop 25% by 2026,February 2024,Forecast to 2026,Analyst prediction (Alan Antin),primary,https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2024-02-19-gartner-predicts-search-engine-volume-will-drop-25-percent-by-2026-due-to-ai-chatbots-and-other-virtual-agents,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
t31,Traffic,51%,"51% of B2B software buyers now start their research with an AI chatbot more often than with Google, up from 29% in G2's 2025 report; 71% use AI chatbots at some point in research.",G2,The Answer Economy: How AI Search Is Rewiring B2B Software Buying,April 2026,March 2026 survey,"1,076 B2B software buyers and decision-makers",primary,https://company.g2.com/news/g2-research-the-answer-economy,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
t32,Traffic,69%,69% of B2B software buyers chose a different vendor than initially planned because it was part of a chatbot's recommendation.,G2,The Answer Economy: How AI Search Is Rewiring B2B Software Buying,April 2026,March 2026 survey,"1,076 B2B software buyers",primary,https://company.g2.com/news/g2-research-the-answer-economy,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
t33,Traffic,94%,"94% of business buyers use AI in their buying process, up from 89% a year earlier, and twice as many named genAI or conversational search as their most important information source as any other source.",Forrester,"B2B Buyers Make Zero-Click Buying Number One (Buyers' Journey Survey, 2025)",January 2026,2025 survey,"Forrester Buyers' Journey Survey, 2025 (sample not stated)",primary,https://www.forrester.com/blogs/b2b_buyers_make_zero_click_buying_number_one/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
t34,Traffic,45%,45% of B2B buyers have used AI to support a software buying decision (51% of enterprise buyers).,TrustRadius (reported by MarTech),From Buzzword to Backbone: How AI is Powering and Redefining B2B Search and Buying,October 2025,Not stated,TrustRadius buyer community (size not stated),reported by third party,https://martech.org/gen-z-leads-surge-in-daily-ai-use-as-b2b-buying-enters-the-generative-era/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c0,Content,Up to 40%,"GEO methods can boost a source's visibility in generative engine responses by up to 40%, per the paper's abstract.","Aggarwal et al. (Princeton, IIT Delhi et al.), KDD '24",GEO: Generative Engine Optimization,August 2024,,"GEO-bench: 10,000 queries from diverse domains and sources",primary,https://arxiv.org/html/2311.09735v3,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c1,Content,27.2 vs 19.3,"Quotation Addition scored highest overall (27.2 vs a 19.3 baseline), followed by Statistics Addition (25.2), Fluency Optimization (24.7) and Cite Sources (24.6); the paper says the best methods improve on baseline by 41% (position-adjusted word count) and 28% (subjective impression).","Aggarwal et al., KDD '24",GEO: Generative Engine Optimization (Table 1),August 2024,,"GEO-bench, 10,000 queries; lab generative engine",primary,https://arxiv.org/html/2311.09735v3,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c2,Content,17.7 < 19.3,"Keyword stuffing, a traditional SEO tactic, did not perform well and scored below the unoptimized baseline (17.7 vs 19.3 overall).","Aggarwal et al., KDD '24",GEO: Generative Engine Optimization,August 2024,,"GEO-bench, 10,000 queries",primary,https://arxiv.org/html/2311.09735v3,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c3,Content,Up to 37%,"On Perplexity.ai, a real-world generative engine, the authors report visibility improvements of up to 37%.","Aggarwal et al., KDD '24",GEO: Generative Engine Optimization,August 2024,,Perplexity.ai evaluation,primary,https://arxiv.org/html/2311.09735v3,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c4,Sources,37.9%,37.9% of URLs cited in Google AI Overviews also appeared in the top 10 SERP blocks (37.1% counting only blue links); 31.0% did not rank in the top 100 at all.,Ahrefs,Update: 38% of AI Overview Citations Pull From The Top 10,March 2026,Post-Gemini 3 (from Jan 2026); exact dates not given,"863K keyword SERPs, ~4M AI Overview URLs",primary,https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-overview-citations-top-10/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c5,Sources,76% → 38%,"Ahrefs' July 2025 study found about 76% of AI Overview-cited pages ranked in the top 10; its March 2026 update found about 38%, which the author attributes to greater reliance on query fan-out sub-searches. These conflict across time.",Ahrefs,Update: 38% of AI Overview Citations Pull From The Top 10,March 2026,July 2025 vs early 2026,1.9M citations (2025) vs ~4M URLs (2026),primary,https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-overview-citations-top-10/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c6,Sources,54.5%,"Overlap between AI Overview citations and organic rankings rose from 32.3% in May 2024 to 54.5% in September 2025, ranging from 75.3% in healthcare to 19.2% in restaurants.",BrightEdge,AI Overview Citations Now 54% from Organic Rankings,September 2025,May 2024 – Sept 2025,"9 industries, BrightEdge Generative Parser",primary,https://www.brightedge.com/resources/weekly-ai-search-insights/rank-overlap-after-16-months-of-aio,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c7,Sources,90% / 6%,"90% of keywords had at least one AI Overview citation overlapping the organic top 10, but only 6% had 100% top-10 overlap (down from 19% in May 2025).",seoClarity,AIO rankings overlap research,October 2025,"Queries triggering AIO on Oct 12, 2025","362,000 US desktop queries; 5.1M citations",primary,https://www.seoclarity.net/research/aio-rankings-overlap,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c8,Sources,57%,57% of AI Overview citations went to pages that do not rank in Google's organic top 10.,Conductor,AI Overviews vs. Organic Rankings,September 2026,"June 15 – Aug 15, 2026","167,867,680 AI Overview citations, US",primary,https://www.conductor.com/academy/aio-vs-organic-rankings/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c9,Sources,12%,"Only about 12% (11.9%) of URLs cited by ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot and Perplexity ranked in Google's top 10 for the original prompt; Perplexity was highest at 28.6%, ChatGPT in-text citations 8.0%.",Ahrefs,Only 12% of AI Cited URLs Rank in Google's Top 10 for the Original Prompt,August 2025,ChatGPT data early July 2025,"15,000 long-tail queries",primary,https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-search-overlap/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c10,Sources,13.7%,"Only 13.7% of cited URLs appeared in both Google AI Mode and AI Overviews for the same query, though the answers had 86% average semantic similarity.",Ahrefs,AI Overviews vs AI Mode (730K responses studied),December 2025,"September 2025, US",730K query pairs (540K for citation analysis),primary,https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-overviews-vs-ai-mode,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c11,Mentions and citations,ρ = 0.664,"Branded web mentions had the strongest correlation with AI Overview brand visibility (Spearman 0.664), ahead of branded anchors (0.527), branded search volume (0.392), Domain Rating (0.326) and backlinks (0.218).",Ahrefs,An Analysis of AI Overview Brand Visibility Factors (75K Brands Studied),May 2025,,"75,000 brands (DR>40), Ahrefs Brand Radar",primary,https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-overview-brand-correlation/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c12,Mentions and citations,169 vs 14,"Brands in the top quartile for web mentions averaged 169 AI Overview mentions vs 14 for the next quartile; brands in the bottom 50% were essentially invisible (0–3). Correlation, not causation.",Ahrefs,An Analysis of AI Overview Brand Visibility Factors (75K Brands Studied),May 2025,,"75,000 brands",primary,https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-overview-brand-correlation/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c13,Mentions and citations,8.4 vs 1.7,"Domains with over 350,000 referring domains averaged 8.4 ChatGPT citations vs 1.6–1.8 for those under 2,500; domains present on multiple review platforms averaged 4.6–6.3 vs 1.8 for absent ones.",SE Ranking,How to optimize for ChatGPT: LLMs.txt doesn't matter but brand mentions on Quora and Reddit do,November 2025,,"129,000 domains, 216,524 pages, 20 niches",primary,https://seranking.com/blog/how-to-optimize-for-chatgpt/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c14,Sources,47.9%,Wikipedia accounted for 47.9% of ChatGPT's top-10 cited sources (7.8% of all ChatGPT citations); Reddit led Perplexity (46.7% of top-10 share) and Google AI Overviews (21.0%).,Profound,AI Platform Citation Patterns,June 2025 (updated Aug 2025),Aug 2024 – June 2025,680 million citations,primary,https://www.tryprofound.com/blog/ai-platform-citation-patterns,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c15,Sources,18.8%,"In Google AI Overviews, YouTube was the second-most-cited domain (18.8% of top-10 share), followed by Quora (14.3%) and LinkedIn (13.0%).",Profound,AI Platform Citation Patterns,June 2025 (updated Aug 2025),Aug 2024 – June 2025,680 million citations,primary,https://www.tryprofound.com/blog/ai-platform-citation-patterns,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c16,Sources,~60% → ~10%,"Reddit was cited in close to 60% of ChatGPT responses in early August 2025, falling to around 10% by mid-September; Wikipedia fell from roughly 55% to under 20%.",Semrush,The Most-Cited Domains in AI: A 3-Month Study,November 2025,"July 14 – Oct 12, 2025","230,000+ prompts; 100M+ citations; ChatGPT, AI Mode, Perplexity",primary,https://www.semrush.com/blog/most-cited-domains-ai/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c17,Sources,~15%,"Google AI Mode's top-cited domains were LinkedIn, YouTube, Reddit, Google and Google Blog, showing a clear preference for Google-owned domains; LinkedIn appeared in nearly 15% of AI Mode responses.",Semrush,The Most-Cited Domains in AI: A 3-Month Study,November 2025,"July 14 – Oct 12, 2025","230,000+ prompts",primary,https://www.semrush.com/blog/most-cited-domains-ai/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c18,Sources,5.6%,YouTube URLs made up 5.6% of all AI Overview citations and 18.2% of cited pages that did not rank in the top 100.,Ahrefs,Update: 38% of AI Overview Citations Pull From The Top 10,March 2026,,~4M AI Overview URLs,primary,https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-overview-citations-top-10/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c19,Sources,13% / 9% / 4%,"Reddit was cited in about 13% of ChatGPT search answers, 9% of Google AI Mode answers and 4% of Perplexity answers (body-text figures; key takeaways say 12.6% and 3.5%).",Semrush,We Analyzed 248K Reddit Posts: What Drives Visibility in AI Search,November 2025,Data refreshed Oct 2025,"217,000 prompts; 248,000 Reddit URLs",primary,https://www.semrush.com/blog/reddit-ai-search-visibility-study/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c20,Content,25.7% fresher,"AI assistants cited URLs averaging 1,064 days old vs 1,432 days for organic SERP results (25.7% fresher); ChatGPT preferred the newest content, while Google AI Overviews was the only platform citing older content than organic results.",Ahrefs,"New Study: AI Assistants Prefer to Cite ""Fresher"" Content (17 Million Citations Analyzed)",July 2025,,~17M cited URLs across 7 platforms,primary,https://ahrefs.com/blog/do-ai-assistants-prefer-to-cite-fresh-content/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c21,Content,6.0 vs 3.6,Content updated within the past three months averaged 6.0 ChatGPT citations vs 3.6 for outdated content.,SE Ranking,How to optimize for ChatGPT,November 2025,,"129,000 domains, 216,524 pages",primary,https://seranking.com/blog/how-to-optimize-for-chatgpt/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c22,Content,~900 days,"Reddit posts cited by AI search averaged about 900 days old with a median of about 80 words; about 80% had fewer than 20 upvotes, and Q&A threads were more than half of Reddit citations.",Semrush,We Analyzed 248K Reddit Posts: What Drives Visibility in AI Search,November 2025,,"248,000 cited Reddit URLs",primary,https://www.semrush.com/blog/reddit-ai-search-visibility-study/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c23,Content,21.9%,"Listicles were the most-cited content type (21.9% of citations), followed by articles (16.7%) and product pages (13.7%), together 52% of citations across ChatGPT, AI Mode and Perplexity.",Wix Studio AI Search Lab (via Search Engine Land),Content types most cited by LLMs,March 2026,,"75,000 AI answers; 1M+ citations",reported by third party,https://searchengineland.com/ai-citations-favor-listicles-articles-product-pages-study-472364,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c24,Content,5.1 vs 3.2,"Articles over 2,900 words averaged 5.1 ChatGPT citations vs 3.2 for those under 800 words; sections of 120–180 words averaged 4.6 vs 2.7 for sections under 50 words.",SE Ranking,How to optimize for ChatGPT,November 2025,,"216,524 pages",primary,https://seranking.com/blog/how-to-optimize-for-chatgpt/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c25,Content,3.8 vs 4.1,"In raw averages, pages with FAQ sections averaged 3.8 ChatGPT citations vs 4.1 without, and question-style headings 3.4 vs 4.3; the study's own takeaways claim FAQs help, so the evidence conflicts.",SE Ranking,How to optimize for ChatGPT,November 2025,,"216,524 pages",primary,https://seranking.com/blog/how-to-optimize-for-chatgpt/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c26,Sources,86%,"86% of AI citations came from sources brands manage or strongly influence: websites 44%, listings 42%; reviews and social 8%; news, forums and other 6%, with Reddit and forums 2%.",Yext,"AI Doesn't Rank, It Cites. And 86% of Its Sources Are Brand-Managed",October 2025,Not stated,"6.8M citations from 1.6M+ responses (Gemini, OpenAI, Perplexity); location-focused queries",primary,https://www.yext.com/blog/ai-citations-86-percent-of-sources-are-brand-managed,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c27,Stability,<1 in 100,"The odds of ChatGPT, Claude or Google's AI returning the same brand recommendation list twice were under 1 in 100, and the same list in the same order about 1 in 1,000.",SparkToro / Gumshoe.ai (via Search Engine Land),AIs are highly inconsistent when recommending brands or products,January 2026,,"600 volunteers, 12 prompts, ~3,000 runs",reported by third party,https://searchengineland.com/ai-recommendation-lists-rarely-repeat-study-468076,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c28,Stability,9.2%,"Across three same-day runs of the same queries, Google AI Mode answers shared on average only 9.2% of exact URLs and 14.7% of domains; 21.2% of keywords had no URL overlap at all.",SE Ranking,"AI Mode research: Volatility, source patterns, and differences from AIO and organic results",August 2025,"June 20, 2025","10,000 US keywords (9,451 with answers in all runs)",primary,https://seranking.com/blog/ai-mode-research/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c29,Technical,48% / 24%,"By end of 2023, 48% of the most widely used news websites across ten countries blocked OpenAI's crawlers and 24% blocked Google-Extended (US: 79% blocked OpenAI).",Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism,How many news websites block AI crawlers?,February 2024,2023,Top 15 news sites in each of 10 countries,primary,https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/how-many-news-websites-block-ai-crawlers,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c30,Technical,7.8%,"Only about 37% of the top 10,000 domains had a robots.txt file, and GPTBot was disallowed in 7.8% of top domains' robots.txt files (Google-Extended 5.6%, ClaudeBot under 5%).",Cloudflare,Control content use for AI training with Cloudflare's managed robots.txt,July 2025,As of publication,"Top 10,000 domains (Cloudflare Radar)",primary,https://blog.cloudflare.com/control-content-use-for-ai-training/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c31,Technical,"38,065:1","In July 2025 Anthropic's crawlers made about 38,066 crawls per referred visit, OpenAI's 1,091 and Perplexity's 195.",Cloudflare,"The crawl-to-click gap: Cloudflare data on AI bots, training, and referrals",August 2025,January – July 2025,Cloudflare network traffic,primary,https://blog.cloudflare.com/crawlers-click-ai-bots-training/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c32,Technical,~80%,"Training accounted for about 80% of AI crawling over the 12 months to July 2025 (79% in July 2025, up from 72% a year earlier).",Cloudflare,"The crawl-to-click gap: Cloudflare data on AI bots, training, and referrals",August 2025,July 2024 – July 2025,Cloudflare network traffic,primary,https://blog.cloudflare.com/crawlers-click-ai-bots-training/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c33,Technical,28% / 97%,"About 28% of 137,210 domains published an llms.txt file, but 97% of those files received no requests in May 2026; GPTBot was the most frequent AI requester.",Ahrefs,We Analyzed 137K Sites: 97% of llms.txt Files Never Get Read,June 2026,May 2026,"137,210 Ahrefs Web Analytics domains",primary,https://ahrefs.com/blog/llmstxt-study/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c34,Technical,11.72%,"In Common Crawl's July 2026 crawl, 11.72% of sampled /llms.txt URLs returned a text body; 68.27% of files were templated, with Wix alone 41.34% of the corpus. Adoption estimates vary widely (Sistrix under 0.005%, Web Almanac 2025 ~2%).",Common Crawl,A content analysis of llms.txt files from the July 2026 crawl archive,August 2026,July 2026 crawl (CC-MAIN-2026-30),"~5.17M sampled /llms.txt URLs; 584,107 files analyzed",primary,https://commoncrawl.org/blog/a-content-analysis-of-llms-txt-files-from-the-july-2026-crawl-archive,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c35,Technical,Not used,"Google says you don't need machine-readable files, AI text files, markup or Markdown to appear in Google Search, and that ""Google Search itself doesn't use them.""",Google Search Central,Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search,July 2026 (last updated),,Official guidance,primary,https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/ai-optimization-guide,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c36,Technical,Negligible,"Including llms.txt showed negligible impact on ChatGPT citation likelihood, and removing it as a feature improved the model's predictive accuracy.",SE Ranking,How to optimize for ChatGPT,November 2025,,"129,000 domains; XGBoost/SHAP model",primary,https://seranking.com/blog/how-to-optimize-for-chatgpt/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c37,Technical,+2.2% (n.s.),"Pages that added JSON-LD schema saw no major citation uplift: ChatGPT +2.2% and AI Mode +2.4% (indistinguishable from zero), AI Overviews -4.6% (cause unclear).",Ahrefs,"We Tracked 1,885 Pages Adding Schema. AI Citations Barely Moved.",May 2026,Schema added Aug 2025 – Mar 2026; 30-day pre/post windows,"1,885 treated vs 4,000 control pages; difference-in-differences",primary,https://ahrefs.com/blog/schema-ai-citations/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c38,Technical,No special schema,Google says structured data isn't required for generative AI search and there's no special schema.org markup to add; structured data should match the visible text on the page.,Google Search Central,Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search; AI features and your website,July 2026 / December 2025 (last updated),,Official guidance,primary,https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c39,Technical,No extra requirements,"""There are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary""; Google says both features may use query fan-out across subtopics.",Google Search Central,AI features and your website,December 2025 (last updated),,Official guidance,primary,https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
c40,Technical,"""Still SEO""","Google says optimizing for generative AI search ""is optimizing for the search experience, and thus still SEO,"" with no need to chunk content into tiny pieces or write a specific way for AI.",Google Search Central,Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search,July 2026 (last updated),,Official guidance,primary,https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/ai-optimization-guide,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
s1,Mentions and citations,fewer than half,"Across 22 categories and four platforms, fewer than half of the top 100 mentioned brands also appeared in the matching top 100 cited domains, in every month measured (UK 36.7 to 45.3 of 100, US 41.4 to 47.4).",Semrush,AI Visibility Index: UK and US,October 2026,"January to July 2026, seven monthly measurements",2.5M UK and 25M US prompts per month per platform; AI Overviews from 4.35M to 54.6M keywords a month,primary,https://ppc.land/asda-ranks-606th-in-chatgpt-citations-as-tesco-sits-25th-semrush-finds/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
s2,Mentions and citations,28.7 to 32.3,ChatGPT had the lowest overlap between its mention list and its source list: 28.7 to 32.3 shared domains out of 100 in the UK and 32.8 to 35.8 in the US.,Semrush,AI Visibility Index: UK and US,October 2026,"January to July 2026, seven monthly measurements",2.5M UK and 25M US prompts per month per platform; AI Overviews from 4.35M to 54.6M keywords a month,primary,https://ppc.land/asda-ranks-606th-in-chatgpt-citations-as-tesco-sits-25th-semrush-finds/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
s3,Mentions and citations,8 to 13,Each month 3 to 9 UK domains and 8 to 13 US domains sat inside all four top 100 mention lists while staying outside all four top 500 citation lists. The reverse position held 0 domains in the UK and 0 to 1 in the US.,Semrush,AI Visibility Index: UK and US,October 2026,"January to July 2026, seven monthly measurements",2.5M UK and 25M US prompts per month per platform; AI Overviews from 4.35M to 54.6M keywords a month,primary,https://ppc.land/asda-ranks-606th-in-chatgpt-citations-as-tesco-sits-25th-semrush-finds/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
s4,Mentions and citations,25th vs 606th,"In July, Tesco ranked 25th among ChatGPT’s cited UK domains and Asda 606th, although both ranked in the top 25 for mentions. On Gemini the two sat much closer, at 29th and 60th.",Semrush,AI Visibility Index: UK and US,October 2026,"January to July 2026, seven monthly measurements",2.5M UK and 25M US prompts per month per platform; AI Overviews from 4.35M to 54.6M keywords a month,primary,https://ppc.land/asda-ranks-606th-in-chatgpt-citations-as-tesco-sits-25th-semrush-finds/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
s5,Sources,12.5 to 22,"ChatGPT included 12.5 to 22 source entries per answer in the UK each month, the most of the four platforms; Gemini included the fewest, 1.6 to 4.4.",Semrush,AI Visibility Index: UK and US,October 2026,"January to July 2026, seven monthly measurements",2.5M UK and 25M US prompts per month per platform; AI Overviews from 4.35M to 54.6M keywords a month,primary,https://ppc.land/asda-ranks-606th-in-chatgpt-citations-as-tesco-sits-25th-semrush-finds/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
s6,Sources,3.53 to 5.42,"Gemini named 3.53 to 5.42 distinct brands per UK answer on monthly average, more than ChatGPT at 2.75 to 4.18, in every month in both markets.",Semrush,AI Visibility Index: UK and US,October 2026,"January to July 2026, seven monthly measurements",2.5M UK and 25M US prompts per month per platform; AI Overviews from 4.35M to 54.6M keywords a month,primary,https://ppc.land/asda-ranks-606th-in-chatgpt-citations-as-tesco-sits-25th-semrush-finds/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
s7,Sources,29.5% vs 19.6%,"News and information sites carried 29.5% of ChatGPT’s top 100 citation weight in the UK on the seven month mean, against 19.6% in the US.",Semrush,AI Visibility Index: UK and US,October 2026,"January to July 2026, seven monthly measurements",2.5M UK and 25M US prompts per month per platform; AI Overviews from 4.35M to 54.6M keywords a month,primary,https://ppc.land/asda-ranks-606th-in-chatgpt-citations-as-tesco-sits-25th-semrush-finds/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
s8,Sources,19.4% / 24.9%,"Video streaming sites, mostly YouTube, held the largest share of Google AI Overviews citation weight: 19.4% in the UK and 24.9% in the US. Medical reference sites held 13.4% to 18.9% in the UK.",Semrush,AI Visibility Index: UK and US,October 2026,"January to July 2026, seven monthly measurements",2.5M UK and 25M US prompts per month per platform; AI Overviews from 4.35M to 54.6M keywords a month,primary,https://ppc.land/asda-ranks-606th-in-chatgpt-citations-as-tesco-sits-25th-semrush-finds/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
s9,Sources,23.2% to 35.8%,"Google AI Mode’s ten leading source domains carried 23.2% to 35.8% of its UK citation weight and 27.9% to 39.2% in the US, more than ChatGPT’s top ten (12.8% to 15.4% UK) in every month.",Semrush,AI Visibility Index: UK and US,October 2026,"January to July 2026, seven monthly measurements",2.5M UK and 25M US prompts per month per platform; AI Overviews from 4.35M to 54.6M keywords a month,primary,https://ppc.land/asda-ranks-606th-in-chatgpt-citations-as-tesco-sits-25th-semrush-finds/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
s10,Sources,42.1 of 100,"ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews were the least overlapping pair of source lists in every month, sharing 42.1 of their 100 leading domains in the UK and 43.6 in the US on the seven month mean.",Semrush,AI Visibility Index: UK and US,October 2026,"January to July 2026, seven monthly measurements",2.5M UK and 25M US prompts per month per platform; AI Overviews from 4.35M to 54.6M keywords a month,primary,https://ppc.land/asda-ranks-606th-in-chatgpt-citations-as-tesco-sits-25th-semrush-finds/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"
s11,Mentions and citations,2 brands,"Only Apple and YouTube stayed inside the top 100 for both mentions and citations on all four platforms in every month in both markets, with no rank gap above 25 places.",Semrush,AI Visibility Index: UK and US,October 2026,"January to July 2026, seven monthly measurements",2.5M UK and 25M US prompts per month per platform; AI Overviews from 4.35M to 54.6M keywords a month,primary,https://ppc.land/asda-ranks-606th-in-chatgpt-citations-as-tesco-sits-25th-semrush-finds/,"GrowingAI, thegrowingai.com/research/ai-search-statistics/"