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AI Source Map · October 2026

AI search statistics: what ChatGPT and Claude read before they recommend a business

Measured from 3,256 web answers about businesses, software and brands. Each finding links to the Source Map table behind it.

Edition: October 2026

3,256 web answers read 23,142 distinct sites. The most read source site appeared in 71% of answers. At least one of the top 5 sites appeared in 79%.

Key statistics

Every figure is computed from the edition data. Follow the table link to inspect the source ranking.

  1. Across 3,256 web answers, the assistants read 23,142 distinct sites, averaging 14.0 sites per answer.

    #web-answersSee the source table

  2. Web answers (ChatGPT): 2,580 answers read 21,592 distinct sites, averaging 15.9 sites per answer.

    #web-answers-chatgptSee the source table

  3. Web answers (Claude): 676 answers read 2,273 distinct sites, averaging 6.6 sites per answer.

    #web-answers-claudeSee the source table

  4. The most read source site was reddit.com, read in 71% of web answers.

    #top-siteSee the source table

  5. At least one of the 5 most read source sites appeared in 2,565 web answers (79%).

    #top-five-reachSee the source table

  6. Of 22,430 source site reads, 4,169 were also cited in the answer (19%).

    #read-citedSee the source table

  7. The largest gap between read and cited shares belonged to reddit.com: read in 71% of answers, cited in 2.8%.

    #largest-citation-gapSee the source table

  8. Among the 20 most read source sites, the one cited most often when read was michelin.com: read in 3.8% of answers, cited in 3.2%.

    #most-cited-when-readSee the source table

  9. Of the 20 sites ChatGPT read most, 4 were also among the 20 sites Claude read most.

    #assistant-top-twentySee the source table

  10. Read shares for reddit.com: ChatGPT 89%, Claude 0%. This was the largest lead for ChatGPT.

    #chatgpt-read-leadSee the source table

  11. Read shares for revenuebase.ai: Claude 8.3%, ChatGPT 0.2%. This was the largest lead for Claude.

    #claude-read-leadSee the source table

  12. The highest read share for a national source site was 54%: pagesjaunes.fr (France).

    #national-site-peakSee the source table

  13. Reading was most concentrated for this kind of business: E-commerce platforms. Its top source site, shopify.com, was read in 100% of answers.

    #most-concentrated-kindSee the source table

  14. Reading was most spread for this kind of business: Car brands. Its top source site, wikipedia.org, was read in 30% of answers.

    #most-spread-kindSee the source table

How this was measured

Answer
One completed response to a buyer question with web search on. The questions cover local trades, software and consumer brands.
Read and cited
A site is read when at least one of its pages appears in the pages searched or cited by an answer. It is cited when the answer gives one of its pages as a source. Each site counts once per answer.
Threshold
A group needs at least 5 answers to appear in a finding. Source site rankings include sites seen on at least 3 different Index pages.
Scope
Distinct site counts include every valid site read. Read and cited shares, rankings and citation counts use Source Map source sites.

Questions about the numbers

Across 3,256 web answers, the assistants read 23,142 distinct sites, averaging 14.0 sites per answer.

The most read source site was reddit.com, read in 71% of web answers.

At least one of the 5 most read source sites appeared in 2,565 web answers (79%).

Citing this data

Source: AIGROW AI Source Map, October 2026. Link to this page or copy a citation beside any finding.

Download the findings as JSON

https://aigrow.gg/ai-sources/statistics

For journalists: datasets, citations and logos

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Edition October 2026 · data under CC BY 4.0