{
  "name": "AI Search Statistics 2026",
  "publisher": "Just Digital",
  "url": "https://justdigital.world/statistics/ai-search",
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "updated": "2026-09-02",
  "verified": "2026-09-02",
  "stats": [
    {
      "id": "aio-2b-users",
      "section": "adoption",
      "headline": "AI Overviews reach over 2 billion monthly users",
      "value": "2B+",
      "unit": "monthly users",
      "detail": "Google says AI Overviews serve \"over 2 billion monthly users across more than 200 countries and territories and 40 languages\" and drive \"over 10% more queries globally for the types of queries that show them\".",
      "org": "Google (Alphabet Q2 2025 earnings)",
      "date": "2025-07-23",
      "sample": "Company disclosure, unaudited",
      "url": "https://blog.google/inside-google/message-ceo/alphabet-earnings-q2-2025/",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "aimode-1b-users",
      "section": "adoption",
      "headline": "AI Mode passed 1 billion monthly active users",
      "value": "1B+",
      "unit": "monthly active users",
      "detail": "\"Since expanding AI Mode globally last October, we've surpassed 1 billion monthly active users.\" Search and Other revenue grew 17% year on year in the same quarter.",
      "org": "Google (Alphabet Q2 2026 earnings)",
      "date": "2026-07-22",
      "sample": "Company disclosure, unaudited",
      "url": "https://blog.google/company-news/inside-google/message-ceo/alphabet-earnings-q2-2026/",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "aimode-100m-2025",
      "section": "adoption",
      "headline": "AI Mode had 100 million monthly users a year earlier",
      "value": "100M+",
      "unit": "monthly active users (US and India)",
      "detail": "July 2025 baseline for the 1 billion figure above. That is roughly a 10x jump in 12 months, helped by a global rollout in October 2025.",
      "org": "Google (Alphabet Q2 2025 earnings)",
      "date": "2025-07-23",
      "sample": "Company disclosure, unaudited",
      "url": "https://blog.google/inside-google/message-ceo/alphabet-earnings-q2-2025/",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "gemini-950m",
      "section": "adoption",
      "headline": "Gemini app has 950 million monthly active users",
      "value": "950M",
      "unit": "monthly active users",
      "detail": "Daily active users tripled in the last year. Google also says it is \"now sending billions of clicks to websites every week through AI features in Search\", a claim no outside party has audited.",
      "org": "Google (Alphabet Q2 2026 earnings)",
      "date": "2026-07-22",
      "sample": "Company disclosure, unaudited",
      "url": "https://blog.google/company-news/inside-google/message-ceo/alphabet-earnings-q2-2026/",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "chatgpt-900m-wau",
      "section": "adoption",
      "headline": "ChatGPT reached 900 million weekly active users",
      "value": "900M",
      "unit": "weekly active users",
      "detail": "Disclosed alongside a $110 billion funding round at a $730 billion pre-money valuation. 50 million paying subscribers. Prior milestones: 400 million (February 2025), 800 million (October 2025).",
      "org": "OpenAI, reported by TechCrunch",
      "date": "2026-02-27",
      "sample": "Company disclosure",
      "url": "https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/27/chatgpt-reaches-900m-weekly-active-users",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "openai-1b-active",
      "section": "adoption",
      "headline": "OpenAI says its models reach more than 1 billion active users",
      "value": "1B+",
      "unit": "active users (all OpenAI models)",
      "detail": "Exact wording: \"Our models now reach more than one billion active users and more than two million businesses.\" Note the phrasing. This is not the same metric as ChatGPT weekly active users, and OpenAI did not state a ChatGPT-only weekly figure.",
      "org": "OpenAI, reported by AFP via BNN Bloomberg",
      "date": "2026-07-31",
      "sample": "Company disclosure",
      "url": "https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business/artificial-intelligence/2026/07/31/openai-says-has-more-than-1-billion-active-users/",
      "verified": "secondary"
    },
    {
      "id": "pew-half-use-chatbots",
      "section": "adoption",
      "headline": "About half of US adults use AI chatbots",
      "value": "49%",
      "unit": "of US adults",
      "detail": "Up from a third in 2024. 24% use a chatbot daily (12% several times a day, 4% almost constantly). 51% say they never use one.",
      "org": "Pew Research Center",
      "date": "2026-06-17",
      "sample": "5,119 US adults, surveyed 17 to 23 February 2026",
      "url": "https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2026/06/17/americans-and-ai-2026-chatbots-smart-devices-and-views-on-impact/",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "pew-tools-used",
      "section": "adoption",
      "headline": "44% of Americans have used ChatGPT, 6% have used Claude",
      "value": "44%",
      "unit": "of US adults have used ChatGPT",
      "detail": "Gemini 24%, Copilot 17%, Meta AI 14%, Grok 8%, Claude 6%. ChatGPT use doubled from 18% in 2023. Adults under 50 are twice as likely to use ChatGPT as those 50 and over (57% vs 28%).",
      "org": "Pew Research Center",
      "date": "2026-06-17",
      "sample": "5,119 US adults, February 2026",
      "url": "https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2026/06/17/americans-and-ai-2026-chatbots-smart-devices-and-views-on-impact/",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "pew-read-summaries",
      "section": "adoption",
      "headline": "60% of Americans read the AI summary at the top of search results",
      "value": "60%",
      "unit": "of US adults",
      "detail": "30% say they do not read them, 10% are unsure. Among chatbot users, 42% use a chatbot to search for information.",
      "org": "Pew Research Center",
      "date": "2026-06-17",
      "sample": "5,119 US adults, February 2026",
      "url": "https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2026/06/17/americans-and-ai-2026-chatbots-smart-devices-and-views-on-impact/",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "bain-default-tool",
      "section": "adoption",
      "headline": "56% still default to a search engine, 16% default to a chatbot",
      "value": "16%",
      "unit": "mostly or always use a chatbot as their default search tool",
      "detail": "76% of baby boomers and 55% of Gen X mostly or always use search engines. For millennials and Gen Z the figure is 42%. Top reasons for picking a chatbot: clarifying complex topics (53%), step-by-step instructions (47%), brainstorming (45%), quick factual answers (45%).",
      "org": "Bain & Company",
      "date": "2026-03-20",
      "sample": "1,500 consumers, Bain Generative AI Consumer Survey, September 2025",
      "url": "https://www.bain.com/insights/why-consumers-choose-an-ai-chatbot-over-a-search-engine-snap-chart/",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "bitkom-half-germany",
      "section": "adoption",
      "headline": "Half of German internet users sometimes use an AI chat instead of a search engine",
      "value": "50%",
      "unit": "of German internet users",
      "detail": "Among 16 to 29 year olds it is two thirds. 58% of Germans aged 16 and over use AI at all; 34% weekly, 15% daily. Among AI users, 71% use ChatGPT, 50% Gemini, 43% Copilot.",
      "org": "Bitkom Research",
      "date": "2026",
      "sample": "About 1,000 people aged 16 and over in Germany, representative",
      "url": "https://www.bitkom.org/Presse/Presseinformation/Internet-Suche-Wandel-Haelfte-nutzt-KI-Chats",
      "verified": "secondary"
    },
    {
      "id": "similarweb-share-may-2026",
      "section": "market-share",
      "headline": "ChatGPT's share of AI chatbot web traffic fell to 53.9%",
      "value": "53.9%",
      "unit": "of gen-AI web visits, May 2026",
      "detail": "Down from 79.0% in May 2025. Gemini rose to 27.9% and Claude to 9.2% over the same 12 months. Gemini's web visits grew about 450% year on year.",
      "org": "Similarweb",
      "date": "2026-07-29",
      "sample": "Similarweb global clickstream panel, June 2025 to May 2026",
      "url": "https://aisearch.similarweb.com/blog/gen-ai-stats/",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "similarweb-visits",
      "section": "market-share",
      "headline": "AI platforms average 9.5 billion web visits a month",
      "value": "9.5B",
      "unit": "monthly visits, global",
      "detail": "Up 70% year on year. 655 million unique visitors (+57%) and 4.4 billion app downloads (+58%) over the June 2025 to May 2026 window.",
      "org": "Similarweb",
      "date": "2026-07-29",
      "sample": "Similarweb global panel, June 2025 to May 2026",
      "url": "https://aisearch.similarweb.com/blog/gen-ai-stats/",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "datos-ai-share",
      "section": "market-share",
      "headline": "AI tools are 1.65% of US desktop search activity",
      "value": "1.65%",
      "unit": "of US desktop search-type events, Q1 2026",
      "detail": "Up from 1.31% in Q1 2025. EU and UK: 1.72% (from 0.98%). Google still handles 94.3% of US desktop search events (March 2026), and searches per Google user rose to 102.5 a month from 95.3 in December 2025.",
      "org": "Datos (a Semrush company), reported by PPC Land",
      "date": "2026-04-28",
      "sample": "Panel of tens of millions of desktop users, March 2025 to March 2026",
      "url": "https://ppc.land/ai-still-under-2-but-growing-datos-q1-2026-state-of-search-report/",
      "verified": "secondary"
    },
    {
      "id": "datos-tool-split",
      "section": "market-share",
      "headline": "ChatGPT is used by 34.8% of US desktop AI users, Claude by 8.5%",
      "value": "34.8%",
      "unit": "of US desktop AI-tool users, March 2026",
      "detail": "Gemini 16.06%, Claude 8.54%. EU and UK: ChatGPT 44.82%, Gemini 18.88%, Claude 9.61%. A panel measure of people, not a traffic-share measure, which is why it differs from the Similarweb figure above.",
      "org": "Datos, reported by PPC Land",
      "date": "2026-04-28",
      "sample": "Desktop panel, March 2026",
      "url": "https://ppc.land/ai-still-under-2-but-growing-datos-q1-2026-state-of-search-report/",
      "verified": "secondary"
    },
    {
      "id": "statcounter-google",
      "section": "market-share",
      "headline": "Google holds 91.3% of global search engine share",
      "value": "91.32%",
      "unit": "of global search referrals, July 2026",
      "detail": "Bing 4.46%, Yahoo 1.24%. StatCounter measures referrals from classic search engines only; chatbots are not in this denominator.",
      "org": "StatCounter Global Stats",
      "date": "2026-07",
      "sample": "StatCounter tracking code on ~1.5 million sites",
      "url": "https://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share",
      "verified": "secondary"
    },
    {
      "id": "safari-decline",
      "section": "market-share",
      "headline": "Apple: Google searches in Safari fell in April 2025 for the first time in 22 years",
      "value": "1st",
      "unit": "decline in 22 years",
      "detail": "Eddy Cue's testimony in the US v. Google trial, attributed to AI. Alphabet stock fell about 7.5% that day. Google replied it \"continue[s] to see overall query growth in Search\", including from Apple devices. Both statements are on the record; neither side published the numbers.",
      "org": "Apple (court testimony), reported by Search Engine Land",
      "date": "2025-05-07",
      "sample": "Testimony, no dataset released",
      "url": "https://searchengineland.com/google-searches-apple-safari-fall-455161",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "similarweb-aimode-share",
      "section": "market-share",
      "headline": "AI Mode is 0.34% of Google searches",
      "value": "0.34%",
      "unit": "of all Google searches, January to April 2026",
      "detail": "AI Mode sends a click to a website on 1.6% to 2.5% of queries, against 17% to 19% for a classic Google search. Datos puts AI Mode at 0.16% of US desktop visits in March 2026, up from 0.06% in December 2025.",
      "org": "Similarweb",
      "date": "2026-06-10",
      "sample": "Similarweb clickstream panel, US",
      "url": "https://aisearch.similarweb.com/blog/zero-click-marketing/",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "sparktoro-68",
      "section": "zero-click",
      "headline": "68% of US Google searches end without a click",
      "value": "68.01%",
      "unit": "of US Google searches, January to April 2026",
      "detail": "Up from 60.45% in 2024, 49% in 2019 and roughly 45% in 2016. A zero-click search here means no click to any website, including Google's own properties. The 7.5 point rise in two years is the fastest in a decade of this series.",
      "org": "SparkToro (Rand Fishkin) on Similarweb clickstream data, reported by Search Engine Land",
      "date": "2026-06-09",
      "sample": "Similarweb US clickstream panel, desktop and mobile",
      "url": "https://searchengineland.com/google-zero-click-searches-2026-study-479717",
      "verified": "secondary"
    },
    {
      "id": "sparktoro-countries",
      "section": "zero-click",
      "headline": "Zero-click: UK 62%, Germany 59%, France 57%",
      "value": "59%",
      "unit": "of German Google searches end without a click",
      "detail": "The UK has the highest rate of the three because AI Overviews and other on-page features launched first in English-speaking markets; EU design rules leave Google less room to experiment.",
      "org": "SparkToro on Similarweb clickstream data",
      "date": "2026",
      "sample": "Similarweb clickstream panels, UK, Germany, France",
      "url": "https://sparktoro.com/blog/zero-click-searches-highest-in-the-uk-lowest-in-germany-and-france-has-the-most-efficient-searchers/",
      "verified": "secondary"
    },
    {
      "id": "datos-zero-click",
      "section": "zero-click",
      "headline": "Datos measures US zero-click at 22.4%, not 68%",
      "value": "22.4%",
      "unit": "of US desktop Google searches, March 2026",
      "detail": "Down from 24.5% in December 2025. EU and UK: 19.6%. Desktop only, and Datos counts a click to a Google property as a click. Same month, same country, different definition, three times smaller. See \"Why the numbers disagree\" below.",
      "org": "Datos, reported by PPC Land",
      "date": "2026-04-28",
      "sample": "Desktop panel, March 2026",
      "url": "https://ppc.land/ai-still-under-2-but-growing-datos-q1-2026-state-of-search-report/",
      "verified": "secondary"
    },
    {
      "id": "ahrefs-58",
      "section": "zero-click",
      "headline": "An AI Overview cuts the top result's click-through rate by 58%",
      "value": "-58%",
      "unit": "CTR for position 1 when an AI Overview shows",
      "detail": "Position 1 CTR fell from 7.3% (December 2023) to 1.6% (December 2025) on keywords with an AI Overview. Position 2: -50.8%, position 3: -46.4%, position 5: -32.6%. The April 2025 version of the same study found -34.5%.",
      "org": "Ahrefs (Ryan Law)",
      "date": "2026-02-04",
      "sample": "300,000 keywords (150,000 with AIO, 150,000 without), Google Search Console desktop CTR",
      "url": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-overviews-reduce-clicks-update",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "seer-ctr-rebound",
      "section": "zero-click",
      "headline": "Organic CTR on AI Overview queries bottomed at 0.61% and recovered to 2.36%",
      "value": "2.36%",
      "unit": "organic CTR on queries with an AI Overview, February 2026",
      "detail": "3.19% in January 2025, 0.61% in September 2025, 2.36% in February 2026. Queries without an AI Overview went from 2.75% to 3.82%. Paid CTR on AI Overview queries rose from 14.64% to 16.21%.",
      "org": "Seer Interactive",
      "date": "2026-04-24",
      "sample": "53 brands, 5.47 million queries, 2.43 billion organic and 296.9 million paid impressions, January 2025 to February 2026",
      "url": "https://www.seerinteractive.com/insights/aio-impact-on-google-ctr-2026-update",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "seer-cited-bonus",
      "section": "zero-click",
      "headline": "Being cited inside the AI Overview earns 120% more clicks per impression",
      "value": "+120%",
      "unit": "organic clicks per impression, cited vs not cited",
      "detail": "Cited brand CTR 2.07%, uncited 0.94%, no AI Overview 3.35% (informational queries). Getting into the box beats ranking under it.",
      "org": "Seer Interactive",
      "date": "2026-04-24",
      "sample": "Same dataset as above",
      "url": "https://www.seerinteractive.com/insights/aio-impact-on-google-ctr-2026-update",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "seer-coverage-intent",
      "section": "zero-click",
      "headline": "AI Overviews show on 36% of informational queries but only 5% of transactional ones",
      "value": "36%",
      "unit": "of informational queries show an AI Overview",
      "detail": "Commercial 8%, transactional 5%. By query shape: comparison queries 95.4%, question queries 85.9%, \"near me\" queries 76.9%, single-word queries 27.3%.",
      "org": "Seer Interactive",
      "date": "2026-04-24",
      "sample": "5.47 million queries, January 2025 to February 2026",
      "url": "https://www.seerinteractive.com/insights/aio-impact-on-google-ctr-2026-update",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "pew-8-vs-15",
      "section": "zero-click",
      "headline": "People click a result on 8% of searches with an AI summary, 15% without",
      "value": "8%",
      "unit": "of visits with an AI summary led to a click on a traditional result",
      "detail": "Only 1% of visits included a click on a link inside the summary. 26% of sessions ended right after an AI summary, against 16% without one. 18% of searches produced a summary in March 2025; the median summary was 67 words.",
      "org": "Pew Research Center",
      "date": "2025-07-22",
      "sample": "900 US adults, 68,879 unique Google searches, March 2025",
      "url": "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/22/google-users-are-less-likely-to-click-on-links-when-an-ai-summary-appears-in-the-results/",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "conductor-aio-coverage",
      "section": "zero-click",
      "headline": "AI Overviews appeared on 25% of 21.9 million searches",
      "value": "25.11%",
      "unit": "of searches generated an AI Overview, autumn 2025",
      "detail": "Healthcare 48.75%, Financials 25.79%, Utilities 25.4%, Consumer Staples 6.82%, Real Estate 4.48%.",
      "org": "Conductor, 2026 AEO/GEO Benchmarks Report",
      "date": "2026-07-06",
      "sample": "21.9 million unique Google searches, 15 September to 12 October 2025",
      "url": "https://www.conductor.com/academy/aeo-geo-benchmarks-report/",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "bain-70-zero-click",
      "section": "zero-click",
      "headline": "70% of users say they get their answer from the AI overview without clicking",
      "value": "70%",
      "unit": "of users report zero-click results with AI overviews",
      "detail": "46% of respondents use search-engine AI overviews. Self-reported behaviour, so it measures what people think they do, not what a clickstream records.",
      "org": "Bain & Company",
      "date": "2026-03-20",
      "sample": "1,500 consumers, September 2025",
      "url": "https://www.bain.com/insights/why-consumers-choose-an-ai-chatbot-over-a-search-engine-snap-chart/",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "conductor-108",
      "section": "referrals",
      "headline": "AI referrals are 1.08% of all website traffic",
      "value": "1.08%",
      "unit": "of website sessions from AI platforms",
      "detail": "ChatGPT sends 87.4% of that AI referral traffic. Information Technology sites get 2.8%, Consumer Staples 1.9%, Utilities 0.35%, Communication Services 0.25%. Growing around 1% month on month.",
      "org": "Conductor, 2026 AEO/GEO Benchmarks Report",
      "date": "2026-07-06",
      "sample": "13,770 enterprise domains, 3.3 billion sessions, 35.7 million AI sessions, May to September 2025",
      "url": "https://www.conductor.com/academy/aeo-geo-benchmarks-report/",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "semrush-44x",
      "section": "referrals",
      "headline": "An AI search visitor is worth 4.4x a traditional organic visitor",
      "value": "4.4x",
      "unit": "value per visit, AI search vs organic search",
      "detail": "Based on conversion rate. Semrush also found ChatGPT cites pages that rank in organic positions 21 and beyond almost 90% of the time.",
      "org": "Semrush",
      "date": "2025-07-21",
      "sample": "500+ digital marketing and SEO topics, converted into search terms and prompts",
      "url": "https://www.semrush.com/blog/ai-search-seo-traffic-study/",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "semrush-2028",
      "section": "referrals",
      "headline": "Projection: AI search visitors overtake traditional search visitors by early 2028",
      "value": "2028",
      "unit": "projected crossover year (marketing and SEO topics)",
      "detail": "A projection, not a measurement. Semrush adds that if Google makes AI Mode the default, it \"could happen much sooner\".",
      "org": "Semrush",
      "date": "2025-07-21",
      "sample": "Trend projection from the same study",
      "url": "https://www.semrush.com/blog/ai-search-seo-traffic-study/",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "adobe-holiday-693",
      "section": "referrals",
      "headline": "AI traffic to US retail sites grew 693% over the 2025 holiday season",
      "value": "+693.4%",
      "unit": "year on year, November to December 2025",
      "detail": "Travel +539%, financial services +266%, tech and software +120%, media and entertainment +92%. AI referrals converted 31% better than other traffic and revenue per visit was up 254%. 47% of surveyed consumers said they trust AI results.",
      "org": "Adobe Analytics (Vivek Pandya)",
      "date": "2026-01-12",
      "sample": "Over 1 trillion visits to US retail sites plus a survey of 1,000+ US consumers",
      "url": "https://business.adobe.com/blog/ai-driven-traffic-surges-across-industries",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "adobe-may-2026",
      "section": "referrals",
      "headline": "AI-referred retail traffic is up 1,324% since October 2024",
      "value": "+1,324%",
      "unit": "growth in AI-referred traffic to US retail sites, October 2024 to May 2026",
      "detail": "+138% year on year in May 2026. AI visitors converted 54% better than non-AI visitors, spent 53% more time on site and viewed 23% more pages. A year earlier AI visitors converted at about half the rate of everyone else.",
      "org": "Adobe Analytics, reported by Digital Commerce 360",
      "date": "2026-06-17",
      "sample": "Over 1 trillion visits to US retail sites",
      "url": "https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2026/06/17/adobe-ai-referred-traffic-to-retail-sites-doubles-in-a-year/",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "similarweb-citation-rate",
      "section": "referrals",
      "headline": "ChatGPT's US citation rate quadrupled to 6.8% in 11 months",
      "value": "6.8%",
      "unit": "of US ChatGPT responses cite a source, May 2026",
      "detail": "1.6% in June 2025. Travel and hospitality 23%, automotive 20%, professional services under 4%. A ChatGPT session averages 15 minutes and 12 pages.",
      "org": "Similarweb",
      "date": "2026-07-29",
      "sample": "Similarweb US panel",
      "url": "https://aisearch.similarweb.com/blog/gen-ai-stats/",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "semrush-visibility-index",
      "section": "referrals",
      "headline": "45% of marketing leaders cannot measure their brand's visibility in AI answers",
      "value": "45%",
      "unit": "of marketing leaders",
      "detail": "Only 9% have tools that track every relevant metric across platforms. ChatGPT cites about 15 sources per answer, Gemini about 3. AI traffic to US travel sites is up 2,215% since October 2024.",
      "org": "Semrush, 2026 AI Visibility Index",
      "date": "2026-06-26",
      "sample": "126 million US AI search prompts, January to April 2026, across ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Mode and AI Overviews",
      "url": "https://www.semrush.com/news/463141-semrush-releases-expanded-2026-ai-visibility-index-analyzing-126-million-ai-search-prompts/",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "hubspot-traffic-down",
      "section": "referrals",
      "headline": "49% of marketers say search traffic has fallen because of AI answers",
      "value": "49%",
      "unit": "of marketers report lower search traffic",
      "detail": "58% say AI referral traffic shows higher intent. 37.7% plan to increase investment in AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude.",
      "org": "HubSpot, 2026 State of Marketing",
      "date": "2026",
      "sample": "1,500+ marketers, global",
      "url": "https://www.hubspot.com/state-of-marketing",
      "verified": "secondary"
    },
    {
      "id": "ahrefs-top-cited-domains",
      "section": "citations",
      "headline": "YouTube is cited in 21% of Google AI Overviews, Reddit in 18.5%",
      "value": "21.1%",
      "unit": "of US AI Overviews cite youtube.com",
      "detail": "Reddit 18.5%, Facebook 10.7%, Google 7.1%, Instagram 5.8%, Quora 5.0%, Wikipedia 4.8%, Amazon 3.5%, TikTok 3.2%. Video and forums beat every publisher.",
      "org": "Ahrefs",
      "date": "2026-07-21",
      "sample": "3 million+ US queries",
      "url": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/most-cited-domains-ai-overviews/",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "ahrefs-top10-38",
      "section": "citations",
      "headline": "Only 38% of AI Overview citations come from the top 10 results, down from 76%",
      "value": "37.9%",
      "unit": "of AIO-cited URLs also rank in the top 10",
      "detail": "31.2% rank between 11 and 100; 31.0% rank beyond 100. In July 2025 about 76% came from the top 10. Ahrefs links the shift to query fan-out after AI Overviews moved to Gemini 3.",
      "org": "Ahrefs (Louise Linehan)",
      "date": "2026-03-02",
      "sample": "863,000 keyword SERPs, 4 million AI Overview URLs",
      "url": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-overview-citations-top-10/",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "ahrefs-12-overlap",
      "section": "citations",
      "headline": "Only 12% of pages cited by AI assistants rank in Google's top 10 for the prompt",
      "value": "12%",
      "unit": "of AI-cited URLs rank in Google's top 10",
      "detail": "ChatGPT 8.0%, Gemini 8.6%, Copilot 8.2%, Perplexity 28.6%. Ranking on Google and being cited by a chatbot are mostly different games.",
      "org": "Ahrefs",
      "date": "2025-08-11",
      "sample": "15,000 long-tail queries across Google, Bing, ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot and Perplexity",
      "url": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-search-overlap/",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "5w-wikipedia-reddit",
      "section": "citations",
      "headline": "Wikipedia and Reddit supply over 25% of ChatGPT's US citations; WSJ, NYT, Bloomberg and FT are not in the top 20",
      "value": "25%+",
      "unit": "of US ChatGPT citations come from Wikipedia (13.15%) and Reddit (11.97%)",
      "detail": "Reuters is #7 (2.27%). Forbes is #18 (1.38%), the only US business publication in the top 20. Reddit's share of ChatGPT citations swung from about 60% to about 10% inside two weeks in September 2025.",
      "org": "5W Public Relations, Citation Source Index",
      "date": "2026-05-11",
      "sample": "About 600,000 citation events (Similarweb, January to February 2026) plus eight other datasets",
      "url": "https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wikipedia-and-reddit-now-drive-over-25-of-chatgpt-citations-in-the-us-new-5w-research-finds--wsj-nyt-and-bloomberg-do-not-appear-in-the-top-20-302768339.html",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "promptwatch-reddit-chatgpt",
      "section": "citations",
      "headline": "Reddit's share of ChatGPT Search citations fell 86% in four days",
      "value": "-86.4%",
      "unit": "Reddit share of ChatGPT Search citations, 3.83% (18 July to 7 August 2026) to 0.52% (14 to 17 August 2026)",
      "detail": "A first step down on 8 August, when ChatGPT Search changed its query fan-out, then the cliff on 14 August. Promptwatch says the timing points to \"a shift in ChatGPT's source selection\" but \"a data-collection issue cannot be ruled out\". OpenAI told Yahoo Tech it \"does not target or set a fixed level of visibility for individual websites\" and that Reddit is still cited.",
      "org": "Promptwatch, reported by Search Engine Land",
      "date": "2026-08-19",
      "sample": "26 billion+ data points captured from the live ChatGPT, AI Overviews and AI Mode interfaces, 7 July to 17 August 2026; responses with at least one citation",
      "url": "https://searchengineland.com/reddit-chatgpt-search-citations-fall-report-485473",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "promptwatch-reddit-google",
      "section": "citations",
      "headline": "Reddit's citation share slid 11% in AI Overviews and 31% in AI Mode over the same six weeks",
      "value": "-30.5%",
      "unit": "Reddit share of Google AI Mode citations, 2.22% (7 to 14 July 2026) to 1.54% (10 to 17 August 2026)",
      "detail": "AI Overviews: 2.37% to 2.10%, an 11.3% relative decline, with no single break point. Google's decline is gradual; ChatGPT's was a cliff. Nobody has published a cause for either.",
      "org": "Promptwatch",
      "date": "2026-08-18",
      "sample": "Same dataset as the ChatGPT figure above",
      "url": "https://promptwatch.com/data/reddit-citations-are-dropping-in-chatgpt",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "conductor-reddit-half",
      "section": "citations",
      "headline": "Reddit's citation share across LLMs halved between October 2025 and January 2026",
      "value": "1.01%",
      "unit": "Reddit share of LLM citations, January 2026, down from 2.02% in October 2025",
      "detail": "2.02% in October, 1.55% in November (-23%), 1.01% by January. At the same time the share of answers where Reddit was the only cited source rose 31%, and 70% of those sole-source answers were commercial or transactional prompts. Reddit is cited less often and more specifically.",
      "org": "Conductor",
      "date": "2026-07-08",
      "sample": "238,212 prompts where Reddit was cited, October 2025 to January 2026; 145,662 classified by intent",
      "url": "https://www.conductor.com/academy/reddit-ai-citation-decline/",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "ahrefs-ai-content-cited",
      "section": "citations",
      "headline": "88% of pages cited in AI Overviews mix AI and human writing",
      "value": "87.8%",
      "unit": "of AIO-cited pages are mixed AI and human content",
      "detail": "3.6% read as pure AI, 8.6% as pure human. Correlation between AI share and citation order: 0.017, effectively zero. Ahrefs' own caveat: AI detectors deal in probabilities.",
      "org": "Ahrefs (Si Quan Ong)",
      "date": "2025-07-14",
      "sample": "1 million SERPs with AI Overviews, 500,000 URLs run through Ahrefs' AI content detector",
      "url": "https://ahrefs.com/blog/ai-overviews-cite-ai-generated-content-more-than-human-writing/",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "chartbeat-google-34",
      "section": "publishers",
      "headline": "Google Search pageviews to publishers fell 34% in 2025",
      "value": "-34%",
      "unit": "Google Search referrals, December 2024 to December 2025",
      "detail": "Google Discover fell 16%. Total network pageviews fell only 5.89% (7.64 billion to 7.19 billion a week on average), which Chartbeat calls normal fluctuation. Internal traffic rose from 38% to 41% of pageviews, dark social from 7% to 10%.",
      "org": "Chartbeat, \"Navigating the New Traffic Landscape\"",
      "date": "2026-02",
      "sample": "Chartbeat network, billions of pageviews a month, data to 9 February 2026",
      "url": "https://lp.chartbeat.com/hubfs/Chartbeat-Report-2026Q1.pdf",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "chartbeat-size-split",
      "section": "publishers",
      "headline": "Small publishers lost 60% of search traffic, large ones 22%",
      "value": "-60%",
      "unit": "Google Search referrals, year on year, publishers with 1,000 to 10,000 daily pageviews",
      "detail": "Medium publishers (10,000 to 100,000 daily pageviews) -47%, large (100,000+) -22%. ChatGPT referrals grew more than 200% year on year but chatbots still send under 1% of pageviews.",
      "org": "Chartbeat",
      "date": "2026-02",
      "sample": "Chartbeat network, billions of pageviews a month",
      "url": "https://lp.chartbeat.com/hubfs/Chartbeat-Report-2026Q1.pdf",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "cloudflare-crawl-refer",
      "section": "publishers",
      "headline": "Anthropic crawled 38,065 pages for every visitor it referred; Google 5.4",
      "value": "38,065:1",
      "unit": "pages crawled per referral, Anthropic, July 2025",
      "detail": "OpenAI 1,091:1, Perplexity 194:1, Microsoft 40.7:1, Google 5.4:1. Anthropic's ratio was 286,930:1 in January 2025. 79% of AI crawler requests were for training, 17% for search, 3.2% for a user action. Ratios move every month; the live figures are on Cloudflare Radar.",
      "org": "Cloudflare",
      "date": "2025-08-29",
      "sample": "Cloudflare network, HTML requests by user agent and referer, January to July 2025",
      "url": "https://blog.cloudflare.com/crawlers-click-ai-bots-training/",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "penske-lawsuit",
      "section": "publishers",
      "headline": "Rolling Stone owner Penske Media sued Google over AI Overviews",
      "value": "2025-09-14",
      "unit": "first major US publisher antitrust suit over AI Overviews",
      "detail": "Google moved to dismiss in January 2026. Judge Amit Mehta, who ruled Google an illegal search monopolist in 2024, said at the hearing the situation \"seems really unfair\". No ruling on the merits yet.",
      "org": "TechCrunch; Search Engine Journal",
      "date": "2025-09-14",
      "sample": "Court filing",
      "url": "https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/14/rolling-stone-owner-penske-media-sues-google-over-ai-summaries",
      "verified": "secondary"
    },
    {
      "id": "epc-complaint",
      "section": "publishers",
      "headline": "European publishers filed an antitrust complaint over AI Overviews and AI Mode",
      "value": "EU",
      "unit": "formal complaint to the European Commission",
      "detail": "The European Publishers Council alleges Google uses journalism without authorisation, without a working opt-out and without payment, while displacing the traffic that funds it. It sits alongside the Commission's own investigation announced 9 December 2025.",
      "org": "European Publishers Council",
      "date": "2026-02-10",
      "sample": "Regulatory filing",
      "url": "https://www.epceurope.eu/post/european-publishers-council-files-formal-antitrust-complaint-against-google-over-ai-overviews-and-ai",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "reddit-q2-2026-search",
      "section": "publishers",
      "headline": "Reddit told investors search referrals were \"choppy\" and logged-out traffic \"volatile\"",
      "value": "$805M",
      "unit": "Reddit Q2 2026 revenue, up 61% year on year, while search referrals wobbled",
      "detail": "Prepared remarks: \"Search referrals were choppy in the quarter, and traffic was more volatile later in the quarter.\" On the Q&A: \"external search is volatile, particularly logged-out web, but that's not where our business lives.\" Reddit reaches \"more than 130 million\" people daily. Q2 2026 is the last quarter Reddit reports logged-in versus logged-out users. The most-cited site in AI answers is the one warning about search traffic.",
      "org": "Reddit, Inc., Q2 2026 earnings call transcript",
      "date": "2026-07-30",
      "sample": "Company disclosure; call transcript",
      "url": "https://s203.q4cdn.com/380862485/files/doc_financials/2026/q2/Reddit-Q2-26-Earnings-Call_Transcript.pdf",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "forrester-94",
      "section": "buyers",
      "headline": "94% of business buyers used AI in their last purchase",
      "value": "94%",
      "unit": "of B2B buyers used AI during the buying process",
      "detail": "GenAI searches are now the starting point for B2B buyers, per Forrester. The typical decision involves 13 internal stakeholders and 9 external influencers. More than 60% of buyers use a trial, rising to 78% on purchases of $10 million or more.",
      "org": "Forrester, The State of Business Buying 2026",
      "date": "2026-01-21",
      "sample": "Forrester Buyers' Journey Survey, about 18,000 business buyers worldwide",
      "url": "https://www.forrester.com/press-newsroom/forrester-2026-the-state-of-business-buying/",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "gartner-45-69",
      "section": "buyers",
      "headline": "45% of B2B buyers used GenAI, and 69% want a sales rep to validate what it said",
      "value": "69%",
      "unit": "of B2B buyers prefer to validate AI-generated insights with a sales rep",
      "detail": "Buyers used an average of seven information sources. 67% prefer a rep-free experience and 70% a fully digital one. 51% say they are more likely to get misleading information from GenAI, 49% say from a sales rep.",
      "org": "Gartner",
      "date": "2026-05-20",
      "sample": "645 B2B buyers, August to September 2025",
      "url": "https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2026-05-20-gartner-survey-finds-sixty-nine-percent-of-b-two-b-buyers-turn-to-sales-reps-to-validate-ai-generated-insights",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "brightlocal-45",
      "section": "buyers",
      "headline": "45% of consumers asked an AI tool for a local business recommendation, up from 6%",
      "value": "45%",
      "unit": "of US consumers used AI for local business recommendations in the past year",
      "detail": "6% a year earlier. 31% do it at least monthly. ChatGPT 31%, Google AI Mode 23% among active users. 63% of users trust the recommendations, 88% still verify them against reviews or sources, and only 18% felt ready to contact the business straight from the AI answer.",
      "org": "BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026",
      "date": "2026-03-10",
      "sample": "1,002 US adults (455 used AI for local recommendations)",
      "url": "https://www.brightlocal.com/research/lcrs-ai-trust/",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "chatgpt-ads-1b",
      "section": "money",
      "headline": "ChatGPT ads hit a $1 billion annualised run rate about 200 days after launch",
      "value": "$1B",
      "unit": "annualised ad revenue run rate",
      "detail": "Ads launched in ChatGPT on 9 February 2026 and reached $100 million annualised in the first six weeks. Live in 40+ countries. Reported target: $2.5 billion in ad revenue this year.",
      "org": "OpenAI, reported by Quartz",
      "date": "2026-08-31",
      "sample": "Company disclosure",
      "url": "https://qz.com/openai-chatgpt-advertising-revenue-billion-083126",
      "verified": "secondary"
    },
    {
      "id": "similarweb-ads-26",
      "section": "money",
      "headline": "26% of ChatGPT responses now contain an ad",
      "value": "26%",
      "unit": "of ChatGPT responses include an ad",
      "detail": "About a third of ads appear in the first response; a meaningful fifth of impressions land 10 or more messages into a session.",
      "org": "Similarweb",
      "date": "2026-07-29",
      "sample": "Similarweb panel",
      "url": "https://aisearch.similarweb.com/blog/gen-ai-stats/",
      "verified": "primary"
    },
    {
      "id": "perplexity-no-ads",
      "section": "money",
      "headline": "Perplexity dropped ads: they were under 0.1% of revenue",
      "value": "<0.1%",
      "unit": "of Perplexity revenue came from ads before it stopped",
      "detail": "A Perplexity executive told the Financial Times \"the challenge with ads is that a user would just start doubting everything\". Subscriptions from about $20 to $200 a month are the model instead.",
      "org": "Perplexity, reported by Search Engine Land (via the Financial Times)",
      "date": "2026-02",
      "sample": "Company statement",
      "url": "https://searchengineland.com/perplexity-stops-testing-advertising-469452",
      "verified": "primary"
    }
  ]
}