research · updated weekly · week of 2026-08-31
Who ChatGPT and Perplexity actually cite
A weekly measurement of which websites answer engines use as sources for this market's questions. One fixed basket, every source recorded, our own domain included on the same terms as everyone else's.
CC BY 4.0 — quote it, chart it, link back.
Most-cited sources, both engines
45 answers across 24 questions, week of 2026-08-31.
| # | Domain | Share of answers | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | semrush.comnew | 33.3%15 answers | — |
| 2 | reddit.comnew | 33.3%15 answers | — |
| 3 | ahrefs.comnew | 28.9%13 answers | — |
| 4 | rankability.comnew | 17.8%8 answers | — |
| 5 | seo.comnew | 17.8%8 answers | — |
| 6 | surferseo.comnew | 17.8%8 answers | — |
| 7 | frase.ionew | 17.8%8 answers | — |
| 8 | linkedin.comnew | 17.8%8 answers | — |
| 9 | tryprofound.comnew | 15.6%7 answers | — |
| 10 | searchengineland.comnew | 13.3%6 answers | — |
| 11 | seranking.comnew | 13.3%6 answers | — |
| 12 | clearscope.ionew | 11.1%5 answers | — |
| 13 | arxiv.orgnew | 11.1%5 answers | — |
| 14 | hubspot.comnew | 11.1%5 answers | — |
| 15 | onelittleweb.comnew | 8.9%4 answers | — |
| 16 | backlinko.comnew | 8.9%4 answers | — |
| 17 | otterly.ainew | 8.9%4 answers | — |
| 18 | get-ryze.ainew | 8.9%4 answers | — |
| 19 | searchatlas.comnew | 8.9%4 answers | — |
| 20 | marketermilk.comnew | 8.9%4 answers | — |
| 21 | trysight.ainew | 8.9%4 answers | — |
| 22 | whatagraph.comnew | 6.7%3 answers | — |
| 23 | freddiechatt.comnew | 6.7%3 answers | — |
| 24 | therankmasters.comnew | 6.7%3 answers | — |
| 25 | seo.ainew | 6.7%3 answers | — |
| 26 | marketmuse.comnew | 6.7%3 answers | — |
| 27 | pikaseo.comnew | 6.7%3 answers | — |
| 28 | moz.comnew | 6.7%3 answers | — |
| 29 | webflow.comnew | 6.7%3 answers | — |
| 30 | medium.comnew | 6.7%3 answers | — |
| 31 | eesel.ainew | 6.7%3 answers | — |
| 32 | nightwatch.ionew | 6.7%3 answers | — |
| 33 | zapier.comnew | 6.7%3 answers | — |
| 34 | rankscale.ainew | 6.7%3 answers | — |
| 35 | slatehq.comnew | 6.7%3 answers | — |
| 36 | designrush.comnew | 4.4%2 answers | — |
| 37 | behindrankings.comnew | 4.4%2 answers | — |
| 38 | fritz.ainew | 4.4%2 answers | — |
| 39 | athenahq.ainew | 4.4%2 answers | — |
| 40 | mangools.comnew | 4.4%2 answers | — |
chatgpt
21 answers · 37 distinct sources
| # | Domain | Share of answers | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | semrush.comnew | 33.3%7 answers | — |
| 2 | ahrefs.comnew | 28.6%6 answers | — |
| 3 | surferseo.comnew | 23.8%5 answers | — |
| 4 | arxiv.orgnew | 23.8%5 answers | — |
| 5 | tryprofound.comnew | 19%4 answers | — |
| 6 | clearscope.ionew | 14.3%3 answers | — |
| 7 | frase.ionew | 14.3%3 answers | — |
| 8 | marketmuse.comnew | 14.3%3 answers | — |
| 9 | otterly.ainew | 14.3%3 answers | — |
| 10 | jasper.ainew | 9.5%2 answers | — |
| 11 | copy.ainew | 9.5%2 answers | — |
| 12 | screamingfrog.co.uknew | 9.5%2 answers | — |
| 13 | peec.ainew | 9.5%2 answers | — |
| 14 | rankscale.ainew | 9.5%2 answers | — |
| 15 | ipullrank.comnew | 4.8%1 answer | — |
perplexity
24 answers · 273 distinct sources
| # | Domain | Share of answers | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | reddit.comnew | 62.5%15 answers | — |
| 2 | rankability.comnew | 33.3%8 answers | — |
| 3 | seo.comnew | 33.3%8 answers | — |
| 4 | semrush.comnew | 33.3%8 answers | — |
| 5 | linkedin.comnew | 33.3%8 answers | — |
| 6 | ahrefs.comnew | 29.2%7 answers | — |
| 7 | searchengineland.comnew | 25%6 answers | — |
| 8 | hubspot.comnew | 20.8%5 answers | — |
| 9 | frase.ionew | 20.8%5 answers | — |
| 10 | seranking.comnew | 20.8%5 answers | — |
| 11 | onelittleweb.comnew | 16.7%4 answers | — |
| 12 | backlinko.comnew | 16.7%4 answers | — |
| 13 | get-ryze.ainew | 16.7%4 answers | — |
| 14 | searchatlas.comnew | 16.7%4 answers | — |
| 15 | marketermilk.comnew | 16.7%4 answers | — |
The basket, in full
Series 1. These 24 questions are asked verbatim, every week.
- 01best AI SEO tools
- 02best AI SEO agency
- 03what is generative engine optimization
- 04what is answer engine optimization
- 05how to get cited by ChatGPT
- 06how to rank in Google AI Overviews
- 07best AI content writing tools for SEO
- 08SEO automation software
- 09how to track AI search visibility
- 10does Google penalise AI generated content
- 11best LLM SEO tools
- 12how to measure brand mentions in ChatGPT
- 13AI SEO tools for agencies
- 14what is llms.txt
- 15should I block GPTBot
- 16how to write content that AI assistants cite
- 17programmatic SEO tools
- 18how to build topical authority
- 19AI content detection accuracy
- 20best alternative to Surfer SEO
- 21how much does AI content cost
- 22E-E-A-T for AI generated content
- 23answer engine optimization services
- 24AI visibility tracking tools
What this shows
Answer engines do not rank pages; they choose sources. Which sources they choose is measurable, and almost nobody measures it — the SEO industry writes about generative engine optimisation while treating the engines themselves as a black box.
This index opens the box a little. One fixed basket of questions, asked every week, with every cited source recorded. It will not tell you why a publisher is trusted. It will tell you, week by week, who is.
Answer engines do not rank pages — they choose sources. This index measures which sources they choose.
What we have learned so far
The two engines barely agree. Perplexity cites many sources per answer and leans on comparison listicles and review sites; ChatGPT's web search cites fewer and leans on established tool vendors. A brand can be highly visible in one and absent from the other, which is why anyone selling you a single "AI visibility score" is flattening something important.
Being cited is not the same as ranking. Domains appear here that do not rank on page one for the same question, and page-one domains are routinely absent. The overlap is real but partial.
Concentration matters more than position. A handful of publishers take a large share of all citations. For a newcomer that is the whole strategic problem, and it is why we publish our own position honestly rather than a flattering one.
Method, in full
- The basket below is fixed and published. Changing it starts a new numbered series rather than splicing two.
- Each question is asked once per engine per week: ChatGPT with web search enabled, and Perplexity's grounded answer.
- Every source URL the engine returns is recorded, reduced to a registrable domain, and de-duplicated within one answer.
- A domain's share is the percentage of answers in which it was cited at least once.
- A probe that errors is stored as an error, never as a zero — "we could not measure" and "nobody was cited" are different claims.
- Our own domain is measured identically and is never excluded or promoted.
questions people ask
How is this measured?
Every Monday we ask a fixed basket of 24 questions — published in full on this page — to ChatGPT with web search and to Perplexity, then record every source each answer cites. A domain scores when it appears at least once in an answer. The basket never changes without starting a new numbered series, so week-to-week movement means something.
Why 'share of answers' rather than share of links?
Because an engine citing one publisher three times in a single answer is one endorsement, not three. Counting links would reward publishers who happen to be quoted repeatedly in a single response and would make the numbers move for reasons that have nothing to do with trust.
Is IT Master's own site excluded?
No. Our domain is measured on exactly the same footing as every other and appears in the table when it is cited, which for most weeks it is not. Excluding ourselves would make the index worthless as evidence, and promoting ourselves would make it a advertisement rather than a measurement.
Why do ChatGPT and Perplexity differ so much?
They retrieve differently. Perplexity cites many sources per answer and leans on listicles and review sites; ChatGPT's web search cites fewer, and leans more on established tool vendors and documentation. Treating 'AI search' as one channel hides that, which is why the index reports each engine separately as well as combined.
Can I use this data?
Yes — it is published under CC BY 4.0. Quote it, chart it, write about it. A link back to this page is the only thing we ask, and it lets readers check the method for themselves.
We publish this because we can measure it
IT Master writes and publishes the pages that earn citations, then runs this probe nightly against your own queries.