Every AI search statistic we measure, in one place.

Primary data, not a roundup of other studies: every number below was measured on real buyer questions, live SERPs and ~104 real sites by SEOmatic’s instrumentation, and links to the report section that details it. Free to cite with a link. Updated every month.

AI visibility & citations

Measured live on real buyer questions across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews (7,461 citations, 299 scans).

SEP 2026
46% of buying questions answered by two or more AI engines shared zero cited sources between engines (n=356). source →
SEP 2026
The median AI answer names 5 brands; mean 6.4 (n=1,382). source →
SEP 2026
81% of AI citations point at third-party pages the brand does not control (n=7,461). source →
SEP 2026
Wikipedia earned under 0.4% of citations to buyer questions (28 of 7,461). source →
SEP 2026
Reddit tops the citation leaderboard while only two of four engines cite it. source →
SEP 2026
When engines cite a brand’s own site, they name the brand 100% of the time (0% ghost citations, n=106). source →
SEP 2026
0 sponsored units found inside 35 ad-measurable AI answers. source →

Google search

Pooled Search Console data across ~104 real sites (5.6M impressions); SERP facts from live fetches.

SEP 2026
Unbranded position 1 earns 19.1% of clicks; the blended figure is 35.7%. source →
SEP 2026
The CTR cliff sits between positions 2 and 3: 10.3% falls to 1.6%. source →
SEP 2026
Moving position 3 → 1 multiplies clicks 22×; 2 → 1, 3.5×. source →
SEP 2026
62% of buyer questions showed an AI Overview in the week of Sep 14, up from 25% in late August. source →
SEP 2026
82% of buyer-intent SERPs carry a People-Also-Ask block; mean 3.3 questions (n=828). source →
SEP 2026
Position 4 out-clicks position 3 on live SERPs: 2.1% vs 1.6%. source →

Use this data

Every statistic on this page is free to cite, quote or republish with a link to this page or the linked report section. No permission needed.

AI Search Statistics, SEOmatic Research, September 2026. https://seomatic.ai/research/statistics