Who Google’s AI Overviews cite for shopping questions: a 60-question study

Published October 17, 2026 · Corrected October 18, 2026 · Data collected October 17, 2026

Correction, October 18, 2026. The first version of this study counted only the short source list Google shows for each AI Overview, usually three sites, and missed the sites cited next to the overview’s paragraphs. A reader on Reddit noticed that 45 of 55 overviews listed exactly three sources. We recounted from the same saved search results: overviews cited a median of 7 sites, not 3; brand websites appeared in 49% of overviews, not 22%; retailers in 27%, not 7%. Links to Google Shopping product listings are now counted separately, and we removed conclusions the data did not test. Every number on this page is the corrected one.

Key findings

• AI Overviews appeared on 55 of the 60 questions. All 60 were research questions (“best X for Y”, “X vs Y”, “is X worth it”, “how to choose”); we did not test product-name or “buy” searches. Each overview cited a median of 7 sites (from 3 to 18).
• Review sites, YouTube and Reddit appeared in most overviews. Review sites or media in 49 of 55 (89%), YouTube in 47 (85%) and Reddit in 28 (51%). 52 of 55 cited a video or a forum.
• Brand websites appeared in about half. A brand’s own site was cited in 27 of 55 overviews (49%).
• Comparisons were the exception. In 11 “X vs Y” overviews, one of the compared brands was cited on its own site once: a ClickUp help-centre page in “Notion vs ClickUp”.
• Every “how to choose” overview cited a brand. All 9 cited at least one brand’s own page, and most of those pages were titled as buying guides, such as Gaiam’s guide to choosing a yoga mat and Infantino’s guide to choosing a baby carrier.
• Google linked products to its own Shopping listings. 26 of 55 overviews linked named products to Google Shopping (104 links). We count these separately, not as cited sources.
• Most cited sites were outside the organic top 10 for the exact question. 236 of the 368 citations (64%). We did not check rankings for the related searches Google may run behind an overview.

Follow-up: we asked ChatGPT and Perplexity the same 60 questions. Brand sites were cited in 57% and 53% of their answers with sources, and neither cited YouTube. See how the three engines differ.

How often each type of site was cited

Share of the 55 AI Overviews that cited at least one site of each type. An overview can cite several types, so the bars add up to more than 100%. An overview citing one video counts the same as one citing ten review sites, so the table also shows each type’s share of all citations.

A citation here is one site cited by one overview: 368 citations across 55 overviews, 241 different sites. Most cited, by number of overviews: youtube.com (47), reddit.com (28), facebook.com (9), consumerreports.org (7), cnet.com (6).

By type of question

These groups hold 9 to 23 overviews each, so read them as examples, not estimates.

• “Best X for Y” (24 questions, 23 overviews): review sites in 21, video in 18, forums in 14, brand sites in 8.
• “X vs Y” (12 questions, 11 overviews): video in 10, review sites in 8, forums in 7, independent blogs in 6; a compared brand’s own site in 1.
• “Is X worth it” (12 questions, 12 overviews): video in 12, review sites in 11, forums in 9, brand sites in 8.
• “How to choose” (12 questions, 9 overviews): brand sites in 9, review sites in 9, video in 7, forums in 7.

What this means for brands

• Your own pages are cited, so keep their facts complete. Brand sites appeared in about half of the overviews and in every “how to choose” overview, mostly through buying guides.
• In comparisons, other people describe you. Only 1 of 11 “X vs Y” overviews cited a compared brand’s own site. Read what the videos, forums and reviews it cites say about your product.
• Video and forums are part of the answer. YouTube appeared in 85% of overviews and Reddit in 51%.
• Check your own questions. Each overview cites a different mix, and this is one run on one day.

Method and limitations

• Questions: 60 shopping questions, 5 in each of 12 categories, in four shapes: “best X for Y” (24), “X vs Y” (12), “is X worth it” (12) and “how to choose” (12). We wrote them to sound like real buyers. They are not a sample of real searches, so the percentages describe these 60 questions, not shopping searches in general.
• Collection: Google US, English, desktop, one search per question on October 17, 2026, collected through DataForSEO’s SERP API with the AI Overview loaded.
• Counting: every site an overview cited, both in its source list and next to its paragraphs, counted once per overview. Links to Google Shopping product listings are counted separately. Site types were assigned by one person at Hasmord from the domain and the cited page, without a second coder. “Review site or media” includes testing sites, magazines, newspapers, health publishers and software review directories. “Brand site” is a company’s own site for products it makes or sells, including direct-to-consumer stores. “Retailer” sells other companies’ products. “Professional or institution” covers clinics, associations, public bodies and service firms.
• Limits: one search per question on one day. AI Overviews change between searches and between people, and this study does not measure that variation; we are re-running the same questions to measure it. The groups are small (55 overviews in all, 9 to 23 per question type). The raw rows are in the CSV.

All 60 questions and the sites their AI Overviews cited

Where Hasmord fits

This study looked at Google’s AI Overviews. Hasmord does the same kind of reading for your own products: it asks ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity your buyers’ questions, reads Google AI Overviews for the questions you track, keeps each answer, and shows which pages it cited and which product facts it relied on, so you can see what is missing or wrong and fix it.

Frequently asked questions

What sources do Google AI Overviews cite for shopping questions?

In our 60-question study, review sites and media appeared in 89% of AI Overviews, YouTube in 85% and Reddit in 51%. Brand websites appeared in 49% and retailers in 27%. Each overview cited a median of 7 sites.

Do Google AI Overviews cite brand websites?

In about half of the overviews in our study (27 of 55), and in all 9 “how to choose” overviews, where the cited brand pages were mostly buying guides. In 11 brand-versus-brand comparisons, a compared brand’s own site was cited once.

Do you need to rank in the top 10 to be cited in an AI Overview?

Not for the exact question: 64% of the sites cited were outside the organic top 10 for that search. We did not check rankings for the related searches Google may run behind an overview, so this does not show that ranking does not matter.

How was this study done?

We searched 60 shopping questions, 5 in each of 12 categories, on Google US in English on a desktop on October 17, 2026, collected each AI Overview with every site it cited, and classified each site by type by hand. It is one run on one day, and the questions are not a random sample. The first version undercounted sources; this page has the corrected numbers.

Related: who ChatGPT and Perplexity cite · how to rank in AI Overviews · ChatGPT citations · AI share of voice · product claims and evidence · the state of AI product discovery · all research.