Web Sources Index 2.0: YouTube, Wikipedia and Reddit Lead
Measured November 4, 2026 · 5W Public Relations. Measured November 4, 2026.
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YouTube: 35/254 (13.8%; 95% interval 10.1–18.6%). Wikipedia: 25/254 (9.8%; 95% interval 6.8–14.1%). Reddit: 21/254 (8.3%; 95% interval 5.5–12.3%). All three 95% intervals overlap; no sole leader is established. The most-cited untracked site, rtings.com, was cited in 29 answers.
Version 2. This version replaces the first version of this study, first published May 13, 2026. It uses measured counts, so the two versions are not comparable. Version 2 asks 24 questions three times each on ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity (288 answers) and adds Google AI Overviews. Every rate comes with its count and a 95% interval.
What the data shows
- 35/254 (13.8%) YouTube, Wikipedia and Reddit lead this measured set. YouTube: 35/254 (13.8%; 95% interval 10.1–18.6%). Wikipedia: 25/254 (9.8%; 95% interval 6.8–14.1%). Reddit: 21/254 (8.3%; 95% interval 5.5–12.3%). All three 95% intervals overlap; no sole leader is established. The ranking covers tracked sources only. Untracked cited domains include rtings.com (29 answers), tomsguide.com (22 answers), fidelity.com (17 answers), mayoclinic.org (16 answers), techradar.com (16 answers), forbes.com (15 answers), kingarthurbaking.com (14 answers), capterra.com (11 answers), cerave.com (11 answers), zdnet.com (11 answers).
- 18/288 (6.2%) Wikipedia was the first brand named in 18 of 288 answers, more than any other tracked brand. Its average first position was 1. YouTube was named first in 1 of 288.
- 16/72 (22.2%) ChatGPT named Wikipedia in 16 of 72 answers. The other engines named it in 0 to 2 of 72.
- 35/254 (13.8%) YouTube's own domains were cited in 35 of 254 grounded answers, more than any other tracked brand. Wikipedia followed at 25 of 254. 1 of 4 tracked brands had 0 of 254.
- 66/70 (94.3%) Google AI Overviews appeared on 66 of 70 searches (CI 86.2–97.8%). On the other 4, no overview was shown.
- 62/66 (93.9%) YouTube was the brand named most often in AI Overviews, at 62 of 66, followed by Reddit at 26 of 66 (39.4%). In the four-engine set, YouTube was named in 35 of 288 answers (13.8%).
- 29/254 (11.4%) rtings.com was cited in 29 of 254 grounded four-engine answers, with 38 of 2,070 citations (1.8%). tomsguide.com came second with 37 citations in 22 answers (8.7%).
- 0/12 (0.0%) For 'What is the best robot vacuum?', none of the tracked brands was named in any of 12 four-engine answers.
Tracked sources by cited-answer penetration
Ranking of tracked sources by citation penetration across 254 grounded answers; not textual mentions.
| # | Name | Named in | Appearance rate | 95% interval |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | YouTube | 35/254 | 13.8% | 10.1–18.6% |
| 2 | Wikipedia | 25/254 | 9.8% | 6.8–14.1% |
| 3 | 21/254 | 8.3% | 5.5–12.3% |
The full list
Tracked platforms only. Text mention and first-mention data remain separate in the evidence.
| # | Tracked source | Cited answers | Citation penetration | 95% interval | First mention | Own-domain citation | Citation share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | YouTube | 35/254 | 13.8% | 10.1–18.6% | 1 | 13.8% (35/254) | 1.7% |
| 2 | Wikipedia | 25/254 | 9.8% | 6.8–14.1% | 1 | 9.8% (25/254) | 1.6% |
| 3 | 21/254 | 8.3% | 5.5–12.3% | – | 8.3% (21/254) | 1% | |
| 4 | Google.com | 0/254 | 0% | 0–1.5% | – | 0% (0/254) | 0% |
Separately ranked: Publishers
Publisher domains by citation penetration across the same 254 grounded answers. Ranked separately from platforms; the title follows the platform table only.
| # | Publisher | Cited answers | Penetration | 95% interval | Named first |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PCMag | 24/254 | 9.4% | 6.4–13.7% | 13 |
| 2 | The New York Times | 12/254 | 4.7% | 2.7–8.1% | 3 |
| 3 | Consumer Reports | 10/254 | 3.9% | 2.2–7.1% | 3 |
| 4 | CNET | 9/254 | 3.5% | 1.9–6.6% | 4 |
| 5 | Wirecutter | 9/254 | 3.5% | 1.9–6.6% | 0 |
| 6 | Bloomberg | 0/254 | 0.0% | 0.0–1.5% | 0 |
| 7 | Reuters | 0/254 | 0.0% | 0.0–1.5% | 0 |
Top untracked domains beside the tracked ranking
The ranking covers tracked sources only. Untracked cited domains include rtings.com (29 answers), tomsguide.com (22 answers), fidelity.com (17 answers), mayoclinic.org (16 answers), techradar.com (16 answers), forbes.com (15 answers), kingarthurbaking.com (14 answers), capterra.com (11 answers), cerave.com (11 answers), zdnet.com (11 answers).
| Domain | Cited answers | Penetration | Citation share |
|---|---|---|---|
| rtings.com | 29/254 | 11.4% | 1.8% |
| tomsguide.com | 22/254 | 8.7% | 1.8% |
| fidelity.com | 17/254 | 6.7% | 0.9% |
| mayoclinic.org | 16/254 | 6.3% | 1.0% |
| techradar.com | 16/254 | 6.3% | 1.1% |
| forbes.com | 15/254 | 5.9% | 0.7% |
| kingarthurbaking.com | 14/254 | 5.5% | 0.9% |
| capterra.com | 11/254 | 4.3% | 0.5% |
| cerave.com | 11/254 | 4.3% | 0.7% |
| zdnet.com | 11/254 | 4.3% | 0.5% |
| health.clevelandclinic.org | 10/254 | 3.9% | 0.6% |
| lonelyplanet.com | 10/254 | 3.9% | 0.7% |
| nbcnews.com | 10/254 | 3.9% | 0.6% |
| aad.org | 9/254 | 3.5% | 0.5% |
| fender.com | 9/254 | 3.5% | 0.8% |
| travel.usnews.com | 9/254 | 3.5% | 0.4% |
| akc.org | 8/254 | 3.1% | 0.7% |
| aspca.org | 8/254 | 3.1% | 0.7% |
| edmunds.com | 8/254 | 3.1% | 0.4% |
| homedepot.com | 8/254 | 3.1% | 0.5% |
Secondary measure: text mentions
Answers naming each tracked source in text, out of 288 four-engine answers. This is secondary; the main ranking above is citation penetration of grounded answers.
| # | Tracked source | Named answers | Appearance rate | Named first |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wikipedia | 18/288 | 6.3% | 18 |
| 2 | YouTube | 1/288 | 0.3% | 1 |
| 3 | Google.com | 0/288 | 0.0% | 0 |
| 4 | 0/288 | 0.0% | 0 |
The top eight, side by side
| # | Name | Appearance rate | Answers and interval | Other measures |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | YouTube | 13.8% | Cited in 35/254 grounded answers · 95% interval 10.1–18.6% | first-mention position: 1; owned-domain citation (35/254): 13.8%; citation share: 1.7% |
| 2 | Wikipedia | 9.8% | Cited in 25/254 grounded answers · 95% interval 6.8–14.1% | first-mention position: 1; owned-domain citation (25/254): 9.8%; citation share: 1.6% |
| 3 | 8.3% | Cited in 21/254 grounded answers · 95% interval 5.5–12.3% | first-mention position: –; owned-domain citation (21/254): 8.3%; citation share: 1% | |
| 4 | Google.com | 0.0% | Cited in 0/254 grounded answers · 95% interval 0.0–1.5% | first-mention position: –; owned-domain citation (0/254): 0%; citation share: 0% |
Same questions, different answers
Cited-answer penetration for tracked sources, using each engine’s own grounded-answer denominator.
ChatGPT
72 asked · 72 returned · 72 grounded
Claude
72 asked · 72 returned · 38 grounded
Gemini
72 asked · 72 returned · 72 grounded
Perplexity
72 asked · 72 returned · 72 grounded
Which platforms each sector cites
Up to three tracked platforms cited in the most grounded answers per sector (three questions each), as cited answers / grounded answers. Platforms with no citations are left out.
| Sector | Four chat engines: most-cited tracked platforms | Google AI Overviews |
|---|---|---|
| Automotive | Wikipedia (5/21), Reddit (2/21), YouTube (1/21) | YouTube (6/6), Reddit (3/6) |
| B2B software | Wikipedia (2/36), YouTube (1/36) | Reddit (6/7), YouTube (6/7) |
| Beauty | YouTube (2/21), Reddit (1/21) | YouTube (2/6) |
| Consumer electronics | YouTube (8/33), Reddit (5/33), Wikipedia (3/33) | YouTube (7/7), Reddit (4/7), Wikipedia (2/7) |
| Food and cooking | Reddit (3/18), Wikipedia (3/18), YouTube (3/18) | YouTube (4/6), Reddit (2/6) |
| Health information | Wikipedia (1/18), YouTube (1/18) | YouTube (6/6) |
| Hobbies and learning | YouTube (8/44), Reddit (5/44), Wikipedia (4/44) | YouTube (12/12), Reddit (9/12) |
| Home and DIY | YouTube (6/18), Wikipedia (3/18) | YouTube (6/6), Reddit (2/6), Wikipedia (2/6) |
| Personal finance | YouTube (3/21), Reddit (2/21), Wikipedia (2/21) | YouTube (6/6), Reddit (3/6) |
| Travel | Reddit (3/24), Wikipedia (2/24), YouTube (2/24) | YouTube (4/4) |
The fifth engine
AI Overview rankings below use citations to tracked source domains; they are not pooled with text-mention rankings.
66 of 70 successful searches showed an AI Overview. YouTube was cited in 59/66 overviews (89.4%). Reddit was cited in 29/66 overviews (43.9%). Wikipedia was cited in 4/66 overviews (6.1%). Google.com was cited in 0/66 overviews (0.0%).
| Five-engine rank | Name | Five-engine rate | Four-engine rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | YouTube | 89.4% | 1 |
| 2 | 43.9% | 3 | |
| 3 | Wikipedia | 6.1% | 2 |
| 4 | Google.com | 0.0% | 4 |
Who each question surfaces first
Six questions, ranked by cited-domain penetration within each question’s grounded answers.
| Question | Leader | Next | AI Overview |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q01 · 12 grounded answers | YouTube 25.0% | Reddit 16.7%; Google.com 0.0% | AI Overview shown on 1 of 3 successful searches |
| Q02 · 9 grounded answers | YouTube 33.3% | Google.com 0.0%; Reddit 0.0% | AI Overview shown on 3 of 3 successful searches |
| Q03 · 12 grounded answers | YouTube 25.0% | Reddit 8.3%; Google.com 0.0% | AI Overview shown on 3 of 3 successful searches |
| Q04 · 12 grounded answers | YouTube 16.7% | Google.com 0.0%; Reddit 0.0% | AI Overview shown on 3 of 3 successful searches |
| Q05 · 12 grounded answers | Google.com 0.0% | Reddit 0.0%; Wikipedia 0.0% | AI Overview shown on 3 of 3 successful searches |
| Q06 · 12 grounded answers | Wikipedia 16.7% | YouTube 8.3%; Google.com 0.0% | AI Overview shown on 1 of 3 successful searches |
Most-cited domains
The four engines produced 2,070 citations in total. rtings.com was cited most often, with 38 citations (1.8%) across 29 answers. Next came tomsguide.com (37), youtube.com (35), en.wikipedia.org (33), pcmag.com (30), techradar.com (22).
Four AI engines · share of 254 grounded answers
Google AI Overviews · share of 66 overviews
Citation share by source type
Share of all citations by the type of site cited.
| Source type | Four AI engines (of 2,070 citations) | Google AI Overviews (of 559 citations) |
|---|---|---|
| Other / unclassified | 1,005 (48.6%) | 153 (27.4%) |
| Company / brand sites | 275 (13.3%) | 59 (10.6%) |
| Review / comparison publishers | 259 (12.5%) | 21 (3.8%) |
| General news / business press | 176 (8.5%) | 2 (0.4%) |
| Official / government | 84 (4.1%) | 6 (1.1%) |
| Community / social | 75 (3.6%) | 288 (51.5%) |
| Health publishers | 62 (3%) | 9 (1.6%) |
| Reference | 60 (2.9%) | 10 (1.8%) |
| Directories / rankings | 26 (1.3%) | 3 (0.5%) |
| Trade / specialist press | 17 (0.8%) | 1 (0.2%) |
| Institutions / trade bodies | 17 (0.8%) | 7 (1.3%) |
| Research / data providers | 12 (0.6%) | 0 (0%) |
| General news / sports media | 2 (0.1%) | 0 (0%) |
How can web platforms improve their AI visibility?
These steps follow from the measured results above. They describe what the engines cited in this study and are not a guarantee of results.
| Step | What this study measured |
|---|---|
| Put your facts on your own domain. | YouTube's own domains were cited in 13.8% of grounded answers, Wikipedia's in 9.8% and Reddit's in 8.3%. YouTube was named in only 0.3% of answers, yet its own domains were cited in 13.8%. |
| Keep your facts accurate on the sites engines cite. | The most-cited sites other than the tracked names' own were rtings.com (in 11.4% of grounded answers), pcmag.com (9.4%), tomsguide.com (8.7%), fidelity.com (6.7%) and techradar.com (6.3%). Review and comparison publishers supplied 12.5% of citations and general news and business press 8.5%. |
| Check each engine separately. | ChatGPT named Wikipedia in 22.2% of answers against 0.0% on Gemini. Claude named YouTube in 1.4% of answers against 0.0% on ChatGPT. |
| Re-run the same questions every month. | Compare counts and intervals, not ranks. The 24 questions are in the appendix. |
What AI answers
Which tracked sources are cited most often?
YouTube, Wikipedia and Reddit lead this measured set. YouTube: 35/254 (13.8%; 95% interval 10.1–18.6%). Wikipedia: 25/254 (9.8%; 95% interval 6.8–14.1%). Reddit: 21/254 (8.3%; 95% interval 5.5–12.3%). All three 95% intervals overlap; no sole leader is established. The ranking covers tracked sources only. Untracked cited domains include rtings.com (29 answers), tomsguide.com (22 answers), fidelity.com (17 answers), mayoclinic.org (16 answers), techradar.com (16 answers), forbes.com (15 answers), kingarthurbaking.com (14 answers), capterra.com (11 answers), cerave.com (11 answers), zdnet.com (11 answers).
Which brand is named first most often?
Wikipedia was the first brand named in 18 of 288 answers, with an average first position of 1.
How often do Google AI Overviews appear for these questions?
An overview appeared on 66 of 70 searches (94.3%, CI 86.2–97.8%). Within those 66 overviews, YouTube was named most often, in 62 (93.9%).
Which sources do the engines cite?
Across 2,070 four-engine citations, rtings.com was cited most (38 citations, in 29 of 254 grounded answers), followed by tomsguide.com (37 citations).
Do the four engines agree?
Only in part. ChatGPT named Wikipedia in 16 of 72 answers, against 0 to 2 of 72 on the other engines. Claude named YouTube in 1 of 72 answers, against 0 to 0 of 72 on the other engines.
How this study was measured
24 questions × 3 runs each × 4 AI engines = 288 answers + 70 Google searches · 66 AI Overviews
24 questions asked three times on each of ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity, measured November 4, 2026. United States, English; Google retrieval uses desktop results. Models: gpt-5-mini, claude-sonnet-5-5, gemini-3.6-flash only, sonar-pro. Google AI Overviews come from DataForSEO, not inferred chat answers. Appearance counts returned text, including ungrounded answers; citation rates use grounded answers. Longer overlapping names suppress shorter ones; First mention is the earliest eligible name order. Own-domain rates include declared domains and subdomains; shared parent scopes may count for multiple names and cannot be summed as unique citations.
| Engine | Model IDs called | Asked | Returned | Grounded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | gpt-5-mini | 72 | 72 | 72 |
| Claude | claude-sonnet-5-5 | 72 | 72 | 38 |
| Gemini | gemini-3.6-flash | 72 | 72 | 72 |
| Perplexity | sonar-pro | 72 | 72 | 72 |
| Google AI Overviews | DataForSEO Google SERP (live, advanced) | 70 | 66 shown | 66 |
Own-domain citations count a domain plus all its subdomains, with the same rule in every table.
Definitions
- Citation penetration: grounded answers citing tracked source domains ÷ grounded answers, with Wilson 95% intervals. Text mentions remain separate in the evidence.
- First mention: average order in which the tracked name first appears (1 = first).
- Own-domain citation: grounded answers citing the tracked name's domains ÷ grounded answers.
- Citation share: citations to the tracked name's domains ÷ all citations.
Limits
- Only 4 tracked platforms are ranked; results are not an exhaustive market ranking.
- 358 of 360 planned results were returned. 2 AI Overview lookups were excluded after at most three total attempts.
- 70 successful Google searches: 66 overviews shown; 4 without an overview. Failures are excluded, not scored as zero.
- 34 chat answers had no search sources and are left out of the citation figures.
- No Core question names a tracked name.
- Unverified own domains are not available, never zero or guessed. Source types use Company / brand sites only for verified official organisations; other unresolved sites are Other / unclassified.
- Wilson 95% intervals are descriptive; overlapping leading intervals do not establish a sole leader. Measurements do not endorse medical, legal, financial or product claims.
- Common words such as Google, Times, Wire or Consumer were counted only when they clearly referred to a source.
- Google.com is counted as one source website, not every Google product; Google Shopping and unresolved google.com/goto links are never counted.
- Citation percentages in the earlier version used a different base, so they are not compared with these figures.
- The ranking covers tracked sources only. Untracked cited domains include rtings.com (29 answers), tomsguide.com (22 answers), fidelity.com (17 answers), mayoclinic.org (16 answers), techradar.com (16 answers), forbes.com (15 answers), kingarthurbaking.com (14 answers), capterra.com (11 answers), cerave.com (11 answers), zdnet.com (11 answers).
- Answers were collected through each engine's API using the model IDs listed in the methodology. The consumer ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity apps can answer differently.
The 24 questions
Questions marked "Core question" are the original study questions, asked word for word. The others are added neutral questions.
| # | Question | Group | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | What is the best robot vacuum? | Web Sources Index 2.0 | Core question |
| 02 | How do I fix a leaking faucet? | Web Sources Index 2.0 | Core question |
| 03 | What is the best running shoe for beginners? | Web Sources Index 2.0 | Core question |
| 04 | How do I start investing with little money? | Web Sources Index 2.0 | Core question |
| 05 | What is the best CRM for a small business? | Web Sources Index 2.0 | Core question |
| 06 | What are the best things to do in Lisbon? | Web Sources Index 2.0 | Core question |
| 07 | How do I learn to play guitar? | Web Sources Index 2.0 | Core question |
| 08 | What is the best laptop for video editing? | Web Sources Index 2.0 | Core question |
| 09 | What are the symptoms of iron deficiency? | Web Sources Index 2.0 | Core question |
| 10 | What is the best project management software? | Web Sources Index 2.0 | Core question |
| 11 | How do I train a puppy to stop biting? | Web Sources Index 2.0 | Core question |
| 12 | What is the best skincare routine for oily skin? | Web Sources Index 2.0 | Core question |
| 13 | Which electric car has the longest range? | Web Sources Index 2.0 | Core question |
| 14 | How do I make sourdough bread at home? | Web Sources Index 2.0 | Core question |
| 15 | How do induction cooktops work? | Web Sources Index 2.0 | Added question |
| 16 | What is the difference between an index fund and an ETF? | Web Sources Index 2.0 | Added question |
| 17 | How do noise-cancelling headphones work? | Web Sources Index 2.0 | Added question |
| 18 | What is the difference between a migraine and a tension headache? | Web Sources Index 2.0 | Added question |
| 19 | How does accounting software connect to a small business bank account? | Web Sources Index 2.0 | Added question |
| 20 | What is the difference between retinol and retinal? | Web Sources Index 2.0 | Added question |
| 21 | What is the best season to visit the Grand Canyon? | Web Sources Index 2.0 | Added question |
| 22 | How do I tell whether a bicycle tire needs replacing? | Web Sources Index 2.0 | Added question |
| 23 | What is the difference between a hybrid and a plug-in hybrid car? | Web Sources Index 2.0 | Added question |
| 24 | Why does bread dough need to rest before baking? | Web Sources Index 2.0 | Added question |
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