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AI Search Citation Benchmark: Q2 2026

Q2 2026 reference data. 75 brand-neutral buyer-intent prompts across 25 verticals run against ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Google AI Overview, and Perplexity. 375 responses, 1,119 distinct cited domains, full breakdowns by engine and vertical.

Last updated Data window 2026-05-18 (375 buyer-intent responses across 75 prompts × 5 engines)Download CSV

Methodology

75 brand-neutral buyer-intent prompts across 25 verticals (10 tech SaaS, 5 consumer services, 10 CPG/retail) were sent to ChatGPT (GPT-5 + web_search), Claude (claude-sonnet-4-6 + web_search), Gemini (gemini-2.5-flash + grounding), Google AI Overview (gemini-2.5-flash + grounding, AIO mode), and Perplexity (sonar) on 2026-05-18. Cited URLs were extracted from each response, normalized to root domains, and classified by structural type. Citation share is the fraction of the 15 responses per vertical (3 prompts × 5 engines) in which each domain was cited at least once. Shares are non-exclusive: multiple domains co-occur in the same response, so shares across the top of a vertical regularly sum to more than 100%. Full prompt set, raw responses, domain taxonomy, and aggregation script are reproducible from the files linked at the bottom.

What this is

This page is the Q2 2026 reference dataset for the Foglift AI Search Citation Benchmark. It contains the raw rankings and breakdowns from 375 buyer-intent responses across five production AI search engines. Each table on this page is a cite-able anchor.

For the analytical interpretation of these numbers (the four authority patterns, the empty Vendor Hegemony quadrant, the leader-vs-challenger strategies), see the companion paper at The Foglift AI Citation Map.

Responses
375
Distinct domains
1,119
Cited URLs
2,697
Cross-engine Jaccard
0.18

Overall: top 25 most-cited domains

Ranked by the number of distinct buyer-intent responses (out of 375) in which each domain was cited at least once. A domain’s “share” is its responses-cited-in divided by the total response count.

#DomainTypeResponsesShare
1youtube.comvideo52 / 37513.9%
2forbes.combusiness press33 / 3758.8%
3healthline.comniche publisher hub23 / 3756.1%
4medium.comblog/personal17 / 3754.5%
5emailvendorselection.comlisticle content farm17 / 3754.5%
6thegoodtrade.comniche publisher hub16 / 3754.3%
7outdoorgearlab.comniche publisher hub13 / 3753.5%
8sleepfoundation.orgniche publisher hub13 / 3753.5%
9salesforce.comvendor first-party12 / 3753.2%
10insiderone.comlisticle content farm12 / 3753.2%
11reddit.comcommunity UGC12 / 3753.2%
12growtherapy.comvendor first-party12 / 3753.2%
13consumerreports.orginstitutional12 / 3753.2%
14upgradedpoints.comniche publisher hub11 / 3752.9%
15cnet.comtech press11 / 3752.9%
16ncoa.orginstitutional11 / 3752.9%
17cleverhiker.comniche publisher hub11 / 3752.9%
18ventureharbour.comlisticle content farm10 / 3752.7%
19bettertrail.comniche publisher hub10 / 3752.7%
20mysubscriptionaddiction.comniche publisher hub10 / 3752.7%
21the-independent.combusiness press10 / 3752.7%
22techradar.comtech press9 / 3752.4%
23crm.orgreview aggregator9 / 3752.4%
24g2.comreview aggregator9 / 3752.4%
25emailtooltester.comlisticle content farm9 / 3752.4%

Top 10 cited domains by engine

Each engine’s top 10 domains, ranked by the number of the engine’s 75 responses in which the domain was cited.

ChatGPT

#DomainTypeResponsesShare
1techradar.comtech press4 / 755.3%
2hubspot.comvendor first-party3 / 754%
3nih.govinstitutional3 / 754%
4consumerreports.orginstitutional3 / 754%
5outdoorgearlab.comniche publisher hub3 / 754%
6tomsguide.comtech press3 / 754%
7semrush.comvendor first-party2 / 752.7%
8zoho.comvendor first-party2 / 752.7%
9salesforce.comvendor first-party2 / 752.7%
10atlassian.comvendor first-party2 / 752.7%

Claude

#DomainTypeResponsesShare
1healthline.comniche publisher hub6 / 758%
2fortune.combusiness press5 / 756.7%
3consumerreports.orginstitutional4 / 755.3%
4improvado.iovendor first-party3 / 754%
5bettertrail.comniche publisher hub3 / 754%
6ncoa.orginstitutional3 / 754%
7sleepdoctor.comniche publisher hub3 / 754%
8chewy.commarketplace3 / 754%
9thegoodtrade.comniche publisher hub3 / 754%
10cnn.combusiness press3 / 754%

Gemini

#DomainTypeResponsesShare
1forbes.combusiness press16 / 7521.3%
2youtube.comvideo11 / 7514.7%
3medium.comblog/personal9 / 7512%
4reddit.comcommunity UGC8 / 7510.7%
5cnet.comtech press6 / 758%
6emailvendorselection.comlisticle content farm5 / 756.7%
7healthline.comniche publisher hub5 / 756.7%
8zapier.comvendor first-party4 / 755.3%
9growtherapy.comvendor first-party4 / 755.3%
10thegoodtrade.comniche publisher hub4 / 755.3%

Google AI Overview

#DomainTypeResponsesShare
1forbes.combusiness press15 / 7520%
2youtube.comvideo10 / 7513.3%
3medium.comblog/personal7 / 759.3%
4pcmag.comtech press5 / 756.7%
5cnet.comtech press5 / 756.7%
6healthline.comniche publisher hub5 / 756.7%
7ventureharbour.comlisticle content farm4 / 755.3%
8crm.orgreview aggregator4 / 755.3%
9g2.comreview aggregator4 / 755.3%
10insiderone.comlisticle content farm4 / 755.3%

Perplexity

#DomainTypeResponsesShare
1youtube.comvideo31 / 7541.3%
2emailvendorselection.comlisticle content farm7 / 759.3%
3healthline.comniche publisher hub5 / 756.7%
4consumerreports.orginstitutional5 / 756.7%
5thegoodtrade.comniche publisher hub5 / 756.7%
6sybill.aivendor first-party4 / 755.3%
7salesforce.comvendor first-party4 / 755.3%
8insiderone.comlisticle content farm4 / 755.3%
9ventureharbour.comlisticle content farm4 / 755.3%
10irunfar.comniche publisher hub4 / 755.3%

Top 5 cited domains by vertical

For each of the 25 verticals, the top 5 domains cited in the 15 responses (3 prompts × 5 engines) for that vertical.

Tech SaaS

AI tools / GEO / AI search optimization

#DomainTypeResponsesShare
1onely.comvendor first-party4 / 1526.7%
2tryprofound.comvendor first-party4 / 1526.7%
3darkroomagency.comvendor first-party4 / 1526.7%
4ethicalseo.iovendor first-party3 / 1520%
5aeoengine.aivendor first-party3 / 1520%

CRM software

#DomainTypeResponsesShare
1salesforce.comvendor first-party7 / 1546.7%
2techradar.comtech press6 / 1540%
3folk.appvendor first-party4 / 1526.7%
4digitallitmus.comunclassified3 / 1520%
5myaifrontdesk.comunclassified3 / 1520%

Design / UI software

#DomainTypeResponsesShare
1uxpilot.aivendor first-party8 / 1553.3%
2uxpin.comvendor first-party6 / 1540%
3refront.iovendor first-party5 / 1533.3%
4custify.comvendor first-party5 / 1533.3%
5medium.comblog/personal4 / 1526.7%

Developer infrastructure / dev tools

#DomainTypeResponsesShare
1uptrace.devvendor first-party7 / 1546.7%
2last9.iovendor first-party4 / 1526.7%
3augmentcode.comunclassified4 / 1526.7%
4betterstack.comunclassified3 / 1520%
5dotcom-monitor.comunclassified3 / 1520%

Email marketing platforms

#DomainTypeResponsesShare
1emailvendorselection.comlisticle content farm9 / 1560%
2emailtooltester.comlisticle content farm8 / 1553.3%
3knock.appvendor first-party7 / 1546.7%
4postmarkapp.comvendor first-party5 / 1533.3%
5mailercloud.comvendor first-party4 / 1526.7%

HRIS / people operations software

#DomainTypeResponsesShare
1gusto.comvendor first-party8 / 1553.3%
2outsail.colisticle content farm7 / 1546.7%
3juicebox.aivendor first-party6 / 1540%
4paycor.comvendor first-party5 / 1533.3%
5forbes.combusiness press5 / 1533.3%

Marketing automation platforms

#DomainTypeResponsesShare
1insiderone.comlisticle content farm8 / 1553.3%
2crm.orgreview aggregator6 / 1540%
3adstellar.aivendor first-party6 / 1540%
4ventureharbour.comlisticle content farm6 / 1540%
5saashero.netlisticle content farm4 / 1526.7%

Product analytics / web analytics

#DomainTypeResponsesShare
1pendo.iovendor first-party7 / 1546.7%
2visionlabs.comvendor first-party6 / 1540%
3ideaplan.iovendor first-party5 / 1533.3%
4posthog.comvendor first-party5 / 1533.3%
5cometly.comvendor first-party4 / 1526.7%

Project management software

#DomainTypeResponsesShare
1thedigitalprojectmanager.comlisticle content farm8 / 1553.3%
2project-management.comlisticle content farm6 / 1540%
3wrike.comvendor first-party6 / 1540%
4monday.comvendor first-party5 / 1533.3%
5shortcut.comvendor first-party4 / 1526.7%

Sales engagement / outbound platforms

#DomainTypeResponsesShare
1forecastio.aivendor first-party6 / 1540%
2avoma.comvendor first-party5 / 1533.3%
3heysid.comvendor first-party5 / 1533.3%
4unifygtm.comvendor first-party5 / 1533.3%
5skylead.iovendor first-party5 / 1533.3%

Consumer services

Mental health apps

#DomainTypeResponsesShare
1growtherapy.comvendor first-party9 / 1560%
2eleanorhealth.comvendor first-party7 / 1546.7%
3myflourish.aivendor first-party7 / 1546.7%
4holonhealth.comvendor first-party6 / 1540%
5elevateicons.comvendor first-party6 / 1540%

Online learning / MOOCs

#DomainTypeResponsesShare
1medium.comblog/personal5 / 1533.3%
2emailvendorselection.comlisticle content farm5 / 1533.3%
3youtube.comvideo5 / 1533.3%
4ispring.comunclassified4 / 1526.7%
5schoolmaker.comunclassified4 / 1526.7%

Real estate platforms

#DomainTypeResponsesShare
1libertyhomeguard.comvendor first-party7 / 1546.7%
2altgage.comvendor first-party5 / 1533.3%
3managecasa.comunclassified4 / 1526.7%
4zillow.comvendor first-party3 / 1520%
5homelight.comunclassified3 / 1520%

Telemedicine platforms

#DomainTypeResponsesShare
1healthline.comniche publisher hub12 / 1580%
2goodrx.comvendor first-party8 / 1553.3%
3telehealth.comvendor first-party7 / 1546.7%
4smartclinix.netvendor first-party6 / 1540%
5builtin.comniche publisher hub6 / 1540%

Travel booking platforms

#DomainTypeResponsesShare
1upgradedpoints.comniche publisher hub11 / 1573.3%
2expedia.comvendor first-party6 / 1540%
3westgatereservations.comvendor first-party6 / 1540%
4smartertravel.comniche publisher hub5 / 1533.3%
5travelocity.comunclassified4 / 1526.7%

CPG / retail

Baby products (strollers, car seats, diapers)

#DomainTypeResponsesShare
1babylist.commarketplace7 / 1546.7%
2teachtoddler.comniche publisher hub5 / 1533.3%
3forbes.combusiness press5 / 1533.3%
4macrobaby.comunclassified4 / 1526.7%
5youtube.comvideo4 / 1526.7%

Cookware & kitchen goods

#DomainTypeResponsesShare
1consumerreports.orginstitutional7 / 1546.7%
2youtube.comvideo7 / 1546.7%
3foodnetwork.comniche publisher hub7 / 1546.7%
4cnn.combusiness press4 / 1526.7%
5the-independent.combusiness press4 / 1526.7%

Mattresses & bedding

#DomainTypeResponsesShare
1ncoa.orginstitutional11 / 1573.3%
2mattressclarity.comniche publisher hub9 / 1560%
3sleepfoundation.orgniche publisher hub9 / 1560%
4mattressnerd.comniche publisher hub8 / 1553.3%
5naplab.comniche publisher hub8 / 1553.3%

Outdoor / camping gear

#DomainTypeResponsesShare
1cleverhiker.comniche publisher hub10 / 1566.7%
2adventurealan.comblog/personal8 / 1553.3%
3gearjunkie.comniche publisher hub7 / 1546.7%
4bettertrail.comniche publisher hub7 / 1546.7%
5outdoorgearlab.comniche publisher hub7 / 1546.7%

Pet food & pet care products

#DomainTypeResponsesShare
1dogfoodadvisor.comniche publisher hub8 / 1553.3%
2chewy.commarketplace8 / 1553.3%
3petmd.comniche publisher hub8 / 1553.3%
4healthline.comniche publisher hub6 / 1540%
5forbes.combusiness press4 / 1526.7%

Running / athletic shoes

#DomainTypeResponsesShare
1runrepeat.comniche publisher hub8 / 1553.3%
2irunfar.comniche publisher hub7 / 1546.7%
3outdoorgearlab.comniche publisher hub6 / 1540%
4solereview.comlisticle content farm5 / 1533.3%
5theruntesters.comniche publisher hub5 / 1533.3%

Skincare & beauty products

#DomainTypeResponsesShare
1ulta.commarketplace5 / 1533.3%
2kajabeauty.comvendor first-party5 / 1533.3%
3veriphyskincare.comunclassified4 / 1526.7%
4newbeauty.comunclassified4 / 1526.7%
5skinsafeproducts.comunclassified3 / 1520%

Specialty coffee / coffee subscriptions

#DomainTypeResponsesShare
1menehunecoffee.comblog/personal8 / 1553.3%
2mysubscriptionaddiction.comniche publisher hub6 / 1540%
3drinktrade.comniche publisher hub5 / 1533.3%
4onyxcoffeelab.comunclassified4 / 1526.7%
5coffeebros.comunclassified4 / 1526.7%

Supplements & vitamins

#DomainTypeResponsesShare
1fortune.combusiness press5 / 1533.3%
2healthline.comniche publisher hub5 / 1533.3%
3medicalnewstoday.comunclassified4 / 1526.7%
4mamasselect.comlisticle content farm4 / 1526.7%
5menshealth.comniche publisher hub4 / 1526.7%

Sustainable / ethical apparel

#DomainTypeResponsesShare
1thegoodtrade.comniche publisher hub11 / 1573.3%
2goodonyou.econiche publisher hub4 / 1526.7%
3sumissura.comunclassified4 / 1526.7%
4youtube.comvideo4 / 1526.7%
5sustainabilitymag.comunclassified4 / 1526.7%

Citation-type distribution by engine

For each engine, the percentage of its 75 responses that cited at least one domain of each structural type. Rows do not sum to 100% (a single response can cite multiple types). The deeper engine-level read is in the citation content-types by engine report.

Citation typeChatGPTClaudeGeminiGoogle AI OverviewPerplexity
vendor first-party57.3%61.3%64%62.7%58.7%
niche publisher hub14.7%33.3%44%46.7%38.7%
listicle content farm4%25.3%33.3%34.7%24%
business press4%10.7%25.3%24%6.7%
tech press9.3%0%13.3%14.7%1.3%
lifestyle media2.7%0%6.7%5.3%1.3%
video0%0%14.7%13.3%41.3%
institutional12%9.3%8%8%13.3%
marketplace5.3%6.7%9.3%6.7%9.3%
review aggregator0%1.3%8%10.7%5.3%
community UGC0%0%12%5.3%0%
dev platform1.3%0%2.7%2.7%1.3%
blog/personal0%4%20%16%5.3%
search cache0%2.7%1.3%1.3%2.7%
unclassified60%89.3%98.7%98.7%90.7%

URL depth distribution

How deep the cited URL is on its domain. Homepage = path is empty (`/`). Category = one path segment (`/blog/`). Deep = two segments (`/blog/post-title/`). Very deep = three or more segments. Across all 2,697 cited URLs:

Citation typeHomepageCategory (1)Deep (2)Very deep (3+)URLs
overall1.7%18.9%53%26.3%2697
vendor first-party3.5%9.3%68%19.2%719
niche publisher hub0%14.3%54.1%31.5%279
listicle content farm0%47.7%35.6%16.7%132
business press0%5.3%19.3%75.4%57
tech press0%0%53.1%46.9%32
video0%92.3%5.8%1.9%52
marketplace0%3.6%50%46.4%28
institutional2.4%9.8%14.6%73.2%41
blog/personal0%55.9%41.2%2.9%34
unclassified1.5%20.3%52.1%26.1%1267

Cross-engine citation-set similarity

For each pair of engines, the mean Jaccard similarity of their cited domain sets, averaged across the 75 prompts. 1.0 = identical sets on every prompt; 0.0 = completely disjoint. Diagonal is always 1.0.

ChatGPTClaudeGeminiGoogle AI OverviewPerplexity
ChatGPT1.000.040.030.040.04
Claude0.041.000.180.180.17
Gemini0.030.181.000.560.27
Google AI Overview0.040.180.561.000.28
Perplexity0.040.170.270.281.00

How much do the engines' top-25 lists actually overlap?

A second way to read cross-engine agreement: take each engine's 25 most-cited domains, take the union, and count how many engines each union-member appears in. The union of the five top-25 lists contains 81 unique domains. Of those, 50 (61.7%) are engine-exclusive (they appear in exactly one engine's top-25). Only one domain (healthline.com) appears in all five engines' top-25.

Appears in N engines' top-25DomainsShare of union
1 engine (engine-exclusive)5061.7%
2 engines2227.2%
3 engines67.4%
4 engines22.5%
5 engines (universal)11.2%

Practical read: the winner-take-all dynamic in AI search is real, but it's engine-specific. Getting into the top of ChatGPT's cited-domain list does not transfer to Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, or Google AI Overviews. The “get into best-X listicles” play has to be repeated per engine, not assumed transitive.

Long-tail concentration

Cumulative citation share across the top-N most-cited domains. Reads as: the top N domains account for X% of all 2,583 domain-citations in the dataset.

Top N domainsCumulative citationsCumulative share
1522%
51425.5%
102088.1%
2031812.3%
5056021.7%
10084732.8%
2001,23347.7%
5001,93675%
1,1192,583100%

Reproducibility

Every number on this page is computed deterministically from the prompt set + raw response JSONL + domain taxonomy, all of which live in the Foglift state directory. The aggregation script is reproducible: same inputs produce identical outputs.

Want to see how your own domain ranks across these five engines? Run a free Foglift scan. The same engines, the same grounded production models, applied to your URL and your tracked prompts.

Teams that need recurring measurement can start with the AI search visibility software comparison or move directly to Foglift pricing for multi-engine monitoring cadence by plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Foglift AI Search Citation Benchmark?

A reproducible measurement of how the five production AI search engines (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Google AI Overview, Perplexity) cite the web in response to buyer-intent queries. 75 brand-neutral prompts run against each engine with live web search produce 375 responses. Cited URLs are extracted, normalized to root domains, and classified by structural type. The result is a quarterly snapshot of which domains hold AI search authority across 25 verticals.

Why doesn't my brand appear in the top 25?

The dataset surfaces a domain only if at least one of the 375 responses cited it. If your brand doesn't appear, the most common causes are: AI engines don't yet associate your brand with the buyer queries we measured; your category isn't covered by the 25 verticals; or your brand is cited in the long tail (top 100 to top 1,119) but not in the top tables we surface on this page. The aggregated CSV download contains the full long tail.

Why do citation shares add to more than 100%?

Each AI response cites multiple URLs, ranging from 3 to 10 per response depending on the engine. The shares we report are response-level: the fraction of responses in a vertical or per engine where a domain was cited at least once. Multiple domains co-occur in the same response, so shares across the top of a vertical regularly sum to more than 100%. They aren't competing for the same slot. They're all appearing in overlapping responses.

How do you classify a domain as vendor first-party versus publisher hub?

Vendor first-party is the brand's own canonical website (salesforce.com, hoka.com, growtherapy.com). Niche publisher hub is a category-specialist editorial publisher with named reviewers and methodology (Sleep Foundation, Outdoor Gear Lab, Healthline). Listicle content farm is an SEO-optimized affiliate or comparison site (emailvendorselection.com, thedigitalprojectmanager.com). The full taxonomy is in the source repository at state/research/domain-taxonomy.json. Roughly 55% of citation mentions are hand-classified for the top of the distribution; the long tail uses TLD-based heuristics flagged as such.

How often will this dataset be refreshed?

Quarterly. The Q3 2026 refresh is scheduled. The 75-prompt set is intentionally frozen across quarters so cross-quarter comparison is honest. Trend continuity dies the moment a prompt changes, and the whole value of a recurring benchmark is in that continuity.

Can I cite these numbers in my own research?

Yes, the dataset is published with an explicit "cite as" block above. Attribute as: Foglift Research (2026). "AI Search Citation Benchmark: Q2 2026." https://foglift.io/research/ai-search-citation-benchmark-2026-q2/. Link the aggregated CSV for readers who want to verify the numbers.

Cite as

Foglift Research (2026). "AI Search Citation Benchmark: Q2 2026." https://foglift.io/research/ai-search-citation-benchmark-2026-q2/

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