Semrush: ChatGPT Leans on News Sites More Than Rival AI PlatformsSemrush: ChatGPT Leans on News Sites More Than Rival AI PlatformsSemrush: ChatGPT Leans on News Sites More Than Rival AI PlatformsSemrush: ChatGPT Leans on News Sites More Than Rival AI Platforms
October 13, 2026
Semrush's AI Visibility Index finds that ChatGPT leans on news sites more than any other major AI platform: news and information sites took 29.5% of citations among its 100 most-cited UK domains, on average, and 19.6% in the US. The sharper finding sits underneath: fewer than
Semrush's AI Visibility Index finds that ChatGPT leans on news sites more than any other major AI platform: news and information sites took 29.5% of citations among its 100 most-cited UK domains, on average, and 19.6% in the US. The sharper finding sits underneath: fewer than half of the top 100 brands an AI mentions also appear among the top 100 domains it cites, so being named and being credited are different things. This is a study of citation behavior, not an OpenAI product change, and enterprise marketing and communications teams are now being asked to fund visibility strategies for platforms whose sourcing habits differ sharply.
The index covers January to July 2026 across 22 industry categories, using 2.5 million UK prompts and 25 million US prompts each month. This analysis draws on the study's published figures for OpenAI / ChatGPT and three other platforms, and explains what they mean for teams deciding where to invest.
What's new
Semrush compared four platforms: ChatGPT, Gemini, Google's AI Mode and Google AI Overviews, the last added for real search keywords. ChatGPT's news share led the field, with news and information sites making up 29.5% of its top-100 UK citations and 19.6% in the US. A citation, meaning a source an AI answer credits, is distinct from a mention, meaning a brand the answer simply names.
The gap between mentions and citations is the study's sharpest result. Fewer than half of the top 100 mentioned brands also appeared among the top 100 cited domains. In the UK the overlap ranged from 36.7 to 45.3 domains out of 100, depending on the month. The grocery retailers show it plainly: in July, on ChatGPT, Tesco was the 25th most-cited UK domain while Asda was the 606th. Both are well-known brands, yet only one is a frequent source.
Two caveats apply. The study material does not say which ChatGPT model was tested, how "news and information sites" was defined, or whether OpenAI has commented. It also does not address whether the pattern relates to OpenAI's publisher relationships.
Why it matters
A brand that appears in an AI answer without being cited gets name recognition but no link to follow. Adobe data cited in the study says visitors referred by AI convert 60% better than other traffic and bring 53% more revenue per visit. If that holds, the click behind a citation is worth more than an average visit, which raises the price of being mentioned but not linked. However, Adobe owns Semrush and the study material gives no method for these figures, so treat them as vendor-reported and not independently verified.
The study also identifies a "Universal Core": 24 UK domains and 36 US domains that made the top 100 mentions on all four platforms every month. Fifteen domains are shared across both markets, including Adobe, Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Reddit, TikTok and YouTube. The UK-only set holds nine domains, six of them retailers, including Amazon UK, Argos, Asda and eBay UK. Brands outside that core face platform-specific work.
Semrush sells tools that track how brands appear in AI answers, so its authors have a commercial interest in this problem looking large. Andrew Warden is Semrush's chief marketing officer. Independent analyst commentary specifically on this announcement was not publicly available at publication time.
Competitive Landscape
The four platforms source differently, and the differences matter more than any single ranking. All figures below come from one Semrush study and have not been independently replicated. Platform by platform:
- ChatGPT: News took 29.5% of top-100 UK citations and 19.6% in the US, the highest of the four. Its citations are spread widely: its ten leading UK domains took 12.8% to 15.4% of citations among its 10,000 most-cited domains. A lower figure means more sites share the credit.
- Gemini: News led UK source categories every month, at 16.6% to 23.0% of top-100 citations. Tesco ranked 29th and Asda 60th on Gemini in July, a far narrower gap than the 25th and 606th on ChatGPT.
- Google AI Mode: The most concentrated of the platforms Semrush measured this way, with its ten leading UK domains taking 23.2% to 35.8% of citations among its 10,000 most-cited domains. Fewer sites hold more of the credit, which makes it harder for a newcomer to break in.
- Google AI Overviews: Medical reference sites held 13.4% to 18.9% of citation weight among leading UK sources and 8.4% to 13.7% in the US.
Despite those differences, any two platforms shared 63 to 70 of their top 100 mentioned brands in the UK and 70 to 78 in the US. Platforms mostly agree on which brands to name and disagree on whom to credit.
The tracking vendors are a competing field of their own. Profound, a rival brand-visibility vendor, raised $180m at a $1.8bn valuation in September. Semrush, owned by Adobe, sells in the same market it measures. For buyers, that means a vendor's headline claim about AI visibility should be checked platform by platform: Tesco's 25th place on ChatGPT and 29th on Gemini are close, while Asda's 606th and 60th are not.
What's next
Publisher economics may shift. Google is paying 100 publishers for AI answers in a pilot, according to a report cited in the Semrush coverage. If sourcing becomes a paid relationship, news-heavy citation patterns like ChatGPT's could become a negotiating asset, though the study material does not establish that link.
OpenAI's homepage lists a post titled "GPT-6 and Intelligent UI for everyone," dated October 7, 2026, with a 12-minute read time. That headline is the only GPT-6 data point available, so nothing about GPT-6 is confirmed beyond its title. The Semrush numbers are a January to July snapshot, not a forecast.
For a head of digital at a UK retailer, the Tesco and Asda gap is a budget question: a brand ranked 606th among ChatGPT's cited domains but 60th on Gemini should not spend the same effort on each. Audit citation rank per platform, not just mention counts, and direct comms spend toward the news and reference coverage that ChatGPT draws from. Brands chasing AI visibility may find the oldest tactic, earning coverage from outlets that other people trust, is still what gets them cited.
-- Aria Lin, Enterprise Technology Analyst
Sources: OpenAI / ChatGPT · The Next Web