Published by Eli. Updated 15 October 2026, the day the stored answers were read.
ELI RESEARCH · STATISTICS
AI search statistics: what Eli measured in 30 days
Numbers from AI answers Eli stored from 16 September to 15 October 2026. Each figure says what it counts, which assistant answered and when. Other people's numbers are in their own section, with a link to each source.
01 / ELI'S OWN FIGURES
What Eli counted.
Each card gives the assistant, the sample and the window. A source counts once per answer.
- ChatGPT · 366 answers to 172 questions · 25 September to 15 October 202682%
Reddit was listed as a source in 299 of 366 ChatGPT answers, through 505 different threads in 190 communities. The sources are the list the API returned with each answer after the web search Eli requires, so this is not a share of the links ChatGPT shows in its answers.
- ChatGPT · 366 answers to 172 questions · 25 September to 15 October 202663%
At least one comparison or alternatives page was listed as a source in 230 of 366 answers.
- ChatGPT and Gemini · 431 answers, 366 from ChatGPT and 65 from Gemini · 16 September to 15 October 202635 of 44
35 of the 44 comparison and alternatives pages listed most often (80%) were published by a company that sells in this category itself, judged from each publisher's homepage.
- ChatGPT · 366 answers to 172 questions · 25 September to 15 October 202623%
G2 was listed as a source in 86 of 366 answers, mostly its "competitors and alternatives" pages.
- ChatGPT · 163 answers to 58 alternatives questions · 25 September to 15 October 202685%
When the question asked for alternatives to a named product, a comparison or alternatives page was listed in 138 of 163 answers and Reddit in 148.
- ChatGPT · 366 answers to 172 questions · 25 September to 15 October 202646%
A page from the website of one of the eleven most-named products was listed in 169 of 366 answers.
- ChatGPT · 366 answers to 172 questions · 25 September to 15 October 202636%
The most-named product, Profound, was named in 130 of 366 answers. Eli was named in 7 (2%).
- ChatGPT · 366 answers to 172 questions · 25 September to 15 October 20261,702
The 366 answers listed sources on 1,702 different domains.
- Gemini · 65 answers to 49 questions · 16 September to 14 October 202648%
In 31 of 65 Gemini answers, some sources were Google redirect links that do not show which site they lead to.
02 / MOST-LISTED DOMAINS
The domains listed as a source in the most answers.
ChatGPT (gpt-5.6-luna), 366 answers to 172 questions, 25 September to 15 October 2026. One answer can list many domains. visitnebraska.com is one tourism PDF that came back in answers about software; it is shown as observed.
| Domain | Answers listing it (of 366) | Share |
|---|---|---|
| reddit.com | 299 | 82% |
| arxiv.org | 134 | 37% |
| g2.com | 86 | 23% |
| en.wikipedia.org | 54 | 15% |
| hubspot.com | 51 | 14% |
| semrush.com | 47 | 13% |
| promptwatch.com | 43 | 12% |
| openai.com | 41 | 11% |
| youtube.com | 38 | 10% |
| developers.google.com | 36 | 10% |
| visitnebraska.com | 31 | 8% |
| brandaxis.ai | 29 | 8% |
| airops.com | 28 | 8% |
| ahrefs.com | 28 | 8% |
03 / WHO WAS NAMED
The products named in the same answers.
Named means the product is in the answer's text, also when the question itself named it. It is not a ranking and not a recommendation. Eli is in the list because it sells in this category.
| Product | Answers naming it (of 366) | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Profound | 130 | 36% |
| Semrush | 125 | 34% |
| Peec AI | 114 | 31% |
| Otterly.AI | 103 | 28% |
| Scrunch | 75 | 20% |
| Ahrefs, including Brand Radar | 69 | 19% |
| Writesonic | 52 | 14% |
| AirOps | 47 | 13% |
| HubSpot | 43 | 12% |
| AthenaHQ | 40 | 11% |
| Promptwatch | 32 | 9% |
| Eli | 7 | 2% |
04 / OTHER PEOPLE'S RESEARCH
Figures Eli did not measure.
These numbers come from other companies' studies, most of them vendors. They are given as each source reports them. Eli has not checked their data. Some answer what Eli's own figures cannot, such as how often ChatGPT chooses to search.
- 14.4% of ChatGPT responses ran a web search. Of its search queries, 22.9% contained "2026" and 13.1% contained "official". 6.8% were site: lookups, and 75.9% of the sites those lookups named most were brands' own sites.
Sample: 66.6 million ChatGPT responses. Source: Ahrefs: How ChatGPT does query fan-out, October 2026. - "Best X" lists were 43.8% of the page types ChatGPT cited.
Sample: 26,283 source URLs from 750 prompts. Source: Ahrefs: Do self-promotional "best" lists boost ChatGPT visibility?, 2025. - In each industry, 30 domains took 67% of ChatGPT's citations.
Sample: ChatGPT citations per industry (Growth Memo). Source: Search Engine Land, reporting Growth Memo: 30 domains capture 67% of ChatGPT citations, 2026. - Earned media was 84% of citations across ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. Journalism alone was 27%.
Sample: Generative Pulse, three editions since July 2025. Source: Muck Rack, via AI Magazine: Generative Pulse: earned media drives 84% of AI citations, 2026. - Data-rich sites earned 4.31 times more citations per URL than directory listings.
Sample: 17.2 million citations (Yext, Q4 2025). Source: Radiant Elephant, citing Yext: Original research earns 4.31x more AI citations per URL, 2026.
05 / METHOD
How Eli measured it.
- Questions. Eli's own test questions about its own category, AI search and AI visibility software, in English and Dutch. They are not buyer demand: no search volume is behind them. Questions that name Eli or hireeli.io were left out.
- Assistants. ChatGPT: gpt-5.6-luna through the OpenAI Responses API with web search. Gemini: gemini-2.5-flash through the Gemini API with Google Search grounding. Answers through an API estimate what the apps show. They are not the same.
- Sample sizes. ChatGPT: 366 answers to 172 questions, 25 September to 15 October 2026. Gemini: 65 answers to 49 questions, 16 September to 14 October 2026. Some questions were asked on more than one day. Each answer counts once.
- Searching. Eli's ChatGPT requests require a web search, so these figures cannot say how often ChatGPT chooses to search. Eli stores the searches ChatGPT ran; this release does not count them.
- Counting. A source is a page in the list the API returned with the answer. For ChatGPT that is the pages its web search returned and the links in the answer; for Gemini, the pages of its Google Search grounding. It is not limited to the links an answer shows, so a share here is not a citation rate. A domain or source type counts once per answer. Eli keeps up to 20 sources per ChatGPT answer and up to 10 per Gemini answer, so every count is a floor. A comparison or alternatives page is found by its address (alternative, best, vs, compare, top), so that count is a floor too. Shares are rounded to whole percents.
- Updated 15 October 2026. That is the day the stored answers were read. The full release, with its source-type rules, is the AI Search Citation Benchmark.
06 / OPEN DATA
Open data.
The counts on this page are not a download yet. Each measured category of the AI Visibility Index has a CSV file on its page. Eli's buyer-question sample is on the open data page.
FAQ
Questions about these figures.
Can I quote these numbers?
Yes. Name Eli, link this page and give the sample and window with the number, for example "299 of 366 ChatGPT answers, 25 September to 15 October 2026".
Is this what people see in the ChatGPT app?
Not exactly. Eli asks through the API. That estimates what the app shows, but the app can answer differently per person and per day.
Why is Eli in the table of named products?
Eli sells in this category, so it is counted like every other product. It was named in 7 of 366 answers.
When does this page change?
When Eli reads a new set of stored answers. Each figure keeps the window it was measured in. The date at the top is the day the answers were read.
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Check my websiteAbout Eli · facts checked 18 October 2026
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