ChatGPT Citation Share by Domain Rank - August 2026
Klaas FoppenChatGPT citation share by domain rank in August 2026
Based on ChatGPT citations from Aug 1 - Aug 31, 2026. Each bar is one day, split by domain rank (DR 0-15 through DR 91-100), and adds up to 100% of citations whose domain has a known rank. That covers 89.65% of all ChatGPT citations in the period; the other 10.35% came from domains without a known rank and are excluded.
The web's biggest sites lost ground to the middle tier
ChatGPT mostly cites mid- to high-authority sites, not the web's giants. In August, domains ranked DR 46-60 took 22.6% of citations and DR 61-75 took 23.4%, together almost half. DR 76-90 added another 18.9%. At the bottom, DR 0-30 sites still earned about 14%.
The top tier shrank sharply. DR 91-100 domains averaged 7% of citations in the first week, dropped to about 5% on August 8, and fell again to about 3% on August 14, where they stayed for the rest of the month. That second drop happened on the same day Reddit's share of ChatGPT citations collapsed. Most of the lost share went to the middle tiers, with the biggest gains in DR 61-75 (up 1.6 points) and DR 46-60 (up 0.9 points).
Where to aim your content and PR
- Don't wait for a top-tier domain rank before investing in AI search. Sites ranked DR 46-75 earned almost half of ChatGPT's citations in August, so a solid mid-authority site with relevant content is enough to get cited.
- Put less weight on placements on the web's very biggest sites. DR 91-100 domains lost more than half their share during August and ended the month at about 3% of citations.
- Aim for the DR 61-90 range for PR and guest content. Those sites held around 42% of citations all month, making them the most reliable targets for earned coverage.
ChatGPT citation share per domain rank group
The same ChatGPT citations from Aug 1 - Aug 31, 2026, grouped into one bar per domain rank group. Each bar is that group's average daily share across the month, out of citations whose domain has a known rank.
DR 91-100 sites ended the month behind DR 0-15
Citation share rises with domain rank up to DR 61-75, which leads at 23.4%, and then drops off. DR 46-60 follows closely at 22.6%, and DR 76-90 takes 18.9%. The top tier, DR 91-100, ends up with only 4.4% of citations for the month, less than DR 0-15 at 6.3%.
How to size up your own site
- Benchmark your site against the DR 46-75 range. Those two groups took 46% of citations in August, so that is where most of your competition for ChatGPT citations sits.
- Don't write off smaller sites as citation targets or as your own channel. Domains ranked DR 0-45 still earned almost a third of all citations.
How we collect this data
We collect millions of prompt responses, citations, and click data from the actual user interfaces of major AI platforms: over 26 billion data points and growing. This gives us one of the largest datasets on how AI search engines cite sources and recommend brands.
Real UI monitoring
Data straight from the interfaces of ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, AI Overviews, and more.
26B+ data points
Over 26 billion analyzed citations, prompts, and responses, one of the largest AI search datasets available.
Continuously updated
Refreshed constantly so the trends you see reflect the latest behavior of AI search engines.
Aggregated & public
Published freely for the GEO community, based on aggregated, non-identifiable trends.
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