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Which sources does ChatGPT cite when people ask what to buy?

ChatGPT cites at least one source in 93.1% of its answers to buying questions, with 4.6 sources per answer, and 28.5% of those sources are rankings and comparison pages. Data: 113,842 answers collected via Profound between July 12 and October 11, 2026.

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Updated

93%

answers citing sources

4.6

sources per answer

29%

rankings among sources

64%

first-cited brand changes week to week

Types of sources cited : ChatGPT
Other sites65%Rankings and comparisons29%Reviews and directories4%Forums (Reddit, Quora)2%

Data : Profound, 113,842 answers analysed, July 12, 2026 to October 11, 2026.

Share of rankings among cited sources, by sector (ChatGPT)
Retail and fashion40%Marketing agencies40%Finance and wealth management40%Travel and leisure27%B2B software and tech26%Real estate13%Health, beauty and fitness11%Events and corporate retreats11%Coaching and advisory4%
Month by month (ChatGPT)
MonthSources per answerRankings among sourcesYouTube
July 2026 (partial month)4.237%0%
August 20264.429%0%
September 20264.826%0%
October 2026 (partial month)4.629%0%

ChatGPT is the engine with the most answers in the Observatory: 113,842 answers to buying questions tracked by Archipel, mostly in French. It answers every question (it is a chat, so the display rate is 100%), with a median length of 310 words. It cites at least one source in 93.1% of answers and 4.6 sources per answer on average.

Its source mix is dominated by brand sites, media and blogs (65.4%). Rankings and comparison pages come second with 28.5%, then reviews and directories with 4.0% and forums with 1.5%. YouTube, LinkedIn and Wikipedia weigh 0.2% each. Compared with Claude (88.1% rankings) or Copilot (48.5%), ChatGPT relies on rankings less and on brand and media pages more.

The mix moved over the period. Rankings fell from 36.8% of ChatGPT sources in July to 28.8% in October, and forums collapsed from 6.1% to 0.1%. Brand sites, media and blogs rose from 51.0% to 67.6%, while sources per answer went from 4.2 to 4.6.

Sector matters. Rankings weigh 40.3% of ChatGPT sources in retail and fashion, 40.2% for marketing agencies and 39.8% in finance, but only 3.9% in coaching and advisory. Reviews and directories reach 9.4% in real estate. Retail and fashion is also where ChatGPT cites a source least often: 73.1% of answers.

Being read is not being cited: ChatGPT consults 14.5 pages per answer and cites 3.8 (Peec AI data). And the brand it cites first changes from one week to the next in 64.3% of cases. To work on your position, see our ChatGPT optimization service.

Method

406,626 AI answers collected every day from July 12, 2026 to October 11, 2026 on over 1,700 purchase-intent questions tracked by Archipel (mostly in French, plus the United States and the Netherlands). ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Copilot: Profound data. Claude and Gemini: Peec AI data. Sources are classified automatically from their address and title. Figures are aggregated: no brand or client is published. Free to reuse with a link to this page.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Which sources does ChatGPT cite on buying questions?
On buying questions, ChatGPT cites brand sites, media and blogs for 65.4% of its sources, rankings and comparison pages for 28.5%, reviews and directories for 4.0% and forums for 1.5%, according to the Archipel Observatory (113,842 answers).
How many sources does ChatGPT cite per answer?
ChatGPT cites 4.6 sources per answer on buying questions, and at least one source in 93.1% of answers. It consults more pages than it cites: 14.5 consulted for 3.8 cited per answer in Peec AI data.
Does ChatGPT still cite Reddit and forums?
ChatGPT barely cites forums anymore on buying questions: they fell from 6.1% of its sources in July 2026 to 0.1% in October 2026. Over the whole period, forums weigh 1.5% of ChatGPT sources.
How stable are ChatGPT recommendations?
ChatGPT recommendations are unstable: for the same question, the brand it cites first changes from one week to the next in 64.3% of cases. Measuring ChatGPT visibility once is not enough.

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