54.9% of Google's AI Overviews that list sources cite at least one YouTube video, and YouTube supplies 14.8% of all AI Overview citations, six times as many as Reddit. For roofing searches, 86.7% of AI Overviews cite a YouTube video.
Analysis of 55,442 citations in 7,505 Google AI Overviews · Google search results for 20,000 commercial searches, September 2026
Key Findings
- 1.54.9% of Google AI Overviews that list sources cite at least one YouTube video.
- 2.YouTube supplies 14.8% of all citations in Google's AI Overviews, 8,220 links, more than any other website.
- 3.Google's AI Overviews cite YouTube 8,220 times, six times Reddit's 1,366 citations and eight times Wikipedia's 1,025.
- 4.86.7% of Google AI Overviews for roofing searches cite a YouTube video, against 8.1% for real estate searches.
- 5.On mobile, YouTube supplies 12.9% of the sources cited in Google's AI Overviews.
Summary
A homeowner searches Google for how to fix a leaking roof vent. The AI Overview at the top of the results explains the steps, and among the sources under it is a YouTube video of a roofer doing the job. That is not unusual: for roofing searches, nearly nine AI Overviews in ten cite a video.
AI Overviews are the AI summaries Google shows above its search results, and the sources they cite are the links searchers see first. Knowing how often those sources are videos tells a business whether a short video could earn a place in that answer, next to or ahead of written articles.
54.9% of AI Overviews with sources cite at least one YouTube video, and YouTube is the most-cited website by a wide margin, with 14.8% of all citations. In trades and software, video is cited in most AI Overviews; in real estate, it barely appears.
What we measured
On September 23, 2026 we searched 20,000 commercial and service keywords from 24 industries, from roofing and HVAC to banking and real estate, on Google desktop in the US. 7,505 of those searches showed an AI Overview with a list of sources, and those AI Overviews cited 55,442 links. We repeated the searches on mobile for the first 10,000 keywords, which produced 29,093 citations.
A citation is one source link shown with an AI Overview. For each citation we recorded its website, then counted YouTube's share of all citations and the share of AI Overviews that cite at least one YouTube video, overall and by industry. An AI Overview cites 7.4 sources on average, with a median of 7.
YouTube is the most cited source in AI Overviews
YouTube receives 8,220 citations. The next entry is google.com itself, mostly Google Shopping cards and search links, at 12.1%. Among independent websites, Reddit (2.5%) and Wikipedia (1.9%) are far behind, and real estate portals, retailers and finance sites fill the rest of the top 12.
Source: Suff Digital analysis of 55,442 citations in 7,505 Google AI Overviews · Google search results for 20,000 commercial searches, September 2026
YouTube is the most-cited source in Google's AI Overviews, ahead of every publisher, forum and reference site. For a business, that makes a video one of the most direct routes into the sources a searcher sees first.
More than half of AI Overviews cite a video
54.9% of AI Overviews with sources link at least one YouTube video. With 7.4 sources in the average AI Overview, a video is usually one of several links rather than the only one, but it is present in more AI Overviews than not.
On mobile the pattern holds: YouTube supplies 12.9% of the 29,093 citations shown on phones. A business that makes a video answer to a common question can appear in the AI Overview whichever device the searcher uses.
Trades and software rely on video, real estate does not
Roofing AI Overviews cite YouTube 86.7% of the time and software (SaaS) 85.4%. Auto dealers (80.3%), home remodeling (76.9%), plumbing (74.2%) and HVAC (71.8%) follow. These are subjects where people want to see how something works or how to fix it, and a video shows it better than text.
Source: Suff Digital analysis of 55,442 citations in 7,505 Google AI Overviews · Google search results for 20,000 commercial searches, September 2026
Real estate AI Overviews cite YouTube 8.1% of the time, far below every other industry. Listing portals such as Zillow, Redfin and Realtor.com take those citations instead, because real estate searches are about specific homes and prices. Higher education (32.8%), banking (36.7%) and mortgage (37.4%) are also low, as official and financial sources lead those answers.
What this means for businesses in trades and software
If you sell to people who need to understand or fix something, publish short YouTube videos that answer the exact questions your customers search, and title each one with the question. In roofing, HVAC, plumbing, home remodeling and software, AI Overviews cite a YouTube video more often than not, so a short video answer can put your business among the first sources a searcher sees.
Add a clear description and chapters to each video, link it from the matching page on your website, and keep it current. In finance and real estate, video carries less weight, and listing portals and finance publishers take the citations, so match the format to your industry. Working with an ai seo company shows which formats and sources Google's AI Overviews cite for your searches.
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Cite this study
Suff Digital. (2026). 54.9% of Google's AI Overviews Cite at Least One YouTube Video. https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/youtube-share-ai-overview-sources
54.9% of Google's AI Overviews Cite at Least One YouTube Video - Suff Digital - https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/youtube-share-ai-overview-sources
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