Key findings
What we found
- Google AI Overviews cited YouTube in 70 of 99 answers and Reddit in 43. ChatGPT cited neither in any answer.
- On Google, YouTube showed up in 23 of 24 “how to use [tool]” answers.
- On Google, Reddit was cited in 30 of 50 buying-intent answers (“best [tool]” and “X vs Y”), compared with 13 of 49 informational ones.
- When a search named a product, 98% of ChatGPT’s citations went to that product’s own site. On Google, it was 23%.
- 85% of ChatGPT’s how-to citations went to documentation and help centers, compared with 18% on Google.
Google AI Overviews vs. ChatGPT, side by side
| Finding | Google AI Overviews | ChatGPT |
|---|---|---|
| YouTube in the answer Answers citing at least one YouTube video | 70 of 99 (71%) | 0 of 99 (0%) |
| Reddit in the answer Answers citing at least one Reddit thread | 43 of 99 (43%) | 0 of 99 (0%) |
| YouTube share Share of all citations that are YouTube videos | 26% (209 of 791) | 0% (0 of 403) |
| Reddit share Share of all citations that are Reddit threads | 6% (46 of 791) | 0% (0 of 403) |
| Reddit on buying-intent searches Answers citing at least one Reddit thread on "best [tool]" and "X vs Y" searches "Buying-intent" = "best [tool]" and "X vs Y" searches | 30 of 50 (60%) | 0 of 50 (0%) |
| How-to: YouTube How-to answers citing YouTube | 23 of 24 | 0 of 24 |
| How-to: docs Share of how-to citations from docs & help centers | 18% | 85% |
| Product's own site Share of citations pointing to the searched product's own site (X vs Y and How-to searches) | 23% (94 of 409) | 98% (203 of 208) |
| X vs Y: product's own site Share of X vs Y citations pointing to one of the two compared products' own sites | 14% | 95% |
| Citations per answer Average number of cited sources per answer | 8.0 | 4.1 |
| Listicles on 'best' searches Share of website citations on 'best [tool]' searches that are listicles Directional: page formats are auto-tagged (about 9 in 10 correct in a hand-check) | 76% (101 of 133) | 38% (42 of 111) |
Full dataset
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How we ran it
Method and limitations
- 100 software keywords, 25 per search type, checked for real US search volume, across 10 software categories.
- Google AI Overviews and logged-out ChatGPT (web search on) were pulled through DataForSEO on October 4, 2026, with US, English, and desktop settings.
- Only sources cited in the answer itself are counted, with duplicates removed.
- One keyword (“how to use dbt”) is excluded: Google answered it about dialectical behavior therapy instead of the dbt data tool.
- “Buying-intent” means “best [tool]” and “X vs Y” searches.
- This is a single-day snapshot of US results. AI answers change over time, and the data shows what gets cited, not why.