Observatory · Source type
Reddit and forums: a smaller AI source than you think
Forums such as Reddit and Quora make up only 1.0% of the sources AI engines cite on buying questions, and on ChatGPT they fell from 6.1% in July to 0.1% in October 2026. Data: 406,626 answers from six engines.
Updated
1%
of all cited sources
2%
for ChatGPT
2%
in real estate
Reddit is often presented as a must for AI visibility. On buying questions, the Observatory data says otherwise: forums weigh 1.0% of cited sources across six engines, between July 12 and October 11, 2026.
By engine: 1.5% for ChatGPT, 1.3% for Google AI Overviews, 0.6% for Claude, 0.3% for Perplexity and Gemini, and 0 for Copilot. The ChatGPT average hides a collapse: forums went from 6.1% of its sources in July to 2.1% in August, then 0.1% in September and October.
Some sectors keep a forum signal: real estate (1.9% overall, 4.0% on ChatGPT), travel and leisure (1.7%, 3.5% on ChatGPT) and retail and fashion, where forums reach 3.3% of AI Overviews sources.
Community presence can still help a brand in other ways. But as a source of AI citations on buying questions, forums sit far behind rankings (29.9%) and reviews and directories (4.0%).
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
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