ChatGPT vs Google: They Agree on the Top Answer Only 20% of the Time

    The first website ChatGPT cites in an answer is the same website Google ranks #1 for that question 20.2% of the time, so four times out of five ChatGPT leads with a different source. Agreement runs from 69.4% on software questions down to 0.5% on recipe questions.

    ChatGPT's first source is Google's #1 website by topic
    Software
    69.4%
    Taxes
    67.9%
    Shopping
    63.9%
    Tech
    47.9%
    Weather
    31.1%
    Education
    27.9%
    Health
    27.2%
    Mortgage
    24%
    Legal
    7.8%
    Energy
    7.4%
    Real estate
    6.2%
    Beauty
    5.8%
    Investing
    3.5%
    Garden
    2.2%
    Recipes
    0.5%

    Source: Suff Digital analysis of 5,836 ChatGPT answers to 2,960 questions · ChatGPT answers and Google search results, September 2026

    Exact #1 page cited by topic
    Taxes
    36.6%
    Software
    25.8%
    Health
    23.2%
    Mortgage
    20.1%
    Tech
    16%
    Shopping
    12.4%
    Legal
    6.2%
    Recipes
    2.1%

    Source: Suff Digital analysis of 5,836 ChatGPT answers to 2,960 questions · ChatGPT answers and Google search results, September 2026

    Source: ChatGPT vs Google: They Agree on the Top Answer Only 20% of the Time - Suff Digital