AI Answers Cite .com Websites 66% of the Time vs 14% for Government and University Sites

    66% of the sources ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI features cite in their answers are .com websites, against 14% for government (.gov) and university (.edu) websites. ChatGPT is the one AI engine that cites government and university websites more often than .com.

    Share of citations by domain ending
    .com
    66.08%
    .org
    12.93%
    .gov
    9.84%
    .edu
    4.32%
    .uk
    1.85%
    .net
    0.65%
    .au
    0.62%
    .ca
    0.48%
    .int
    0.29%
    .in
    0.26%
    .ai
    0.24%
    .io
    0.24%

    Source: Suff Digital analysis of 155,312 cited URLs · answers from ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI features, September 2026

    .com by engine
    ChatGPT
    34.7%
    Perplexity
    65.4%
    Gemini
    72.4%
    Google AI Overviews
    74.5%
    Google AI Mode
    74.9%

    Source: Suff Digital analysis of 155,312 cited URLs · answers from ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI features, September 2026

    Citations to .gov and .edu by question topic
    Taxes
    39.6%
    Weather
    34.2%
    Health
    31.8%
    Education
    28%
    Shopping
    0.4%

    Source: Suff Digital analysis of 155,312 cited URLs · answers from ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI features, September 2026

    Source: AI Answers Cite .com Websites 66% of the Time vs 14% for Government and University Sites - Suff Digital