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Independent researchPew Research Center, 22 Jul 2025

AI summaries in Google results cite Wikipedia and government sites more often, while standard search results cite YouTube more often

Citation & visibility tracking

DestinationShare of links in AI summaries (%)Share of links in standard results (%)
Wikipedia6%3%
Government (.gov) websites6%2%
Reddit5%6%
News websites5%5%
YouTube4%8%

Share of links to Wikipedia, .gov, Reddit, News, YouTube: AI summaries vs standard search

Reader Note:
Based on shares of links, not of summaries: Wikipedia 6% of links in AI summaries against 3% in standard results, .gov 6% against 2%, Reddit 5% against 6%, news sites 5% against 5%, YouTube 4% against 8%. The AI summary side counts the first three source links of the summary; the standard side counts the first page of traditional results.
Evidence:
Observed behaviour
Vendor interest:
None
Sample:
900 U.S. adults in Pew Research Center's KnowledgePanel Digital who agreed to install tracking software on a device; analysis covered their google.com browsing during March 1-31, 2025, including 68,879 unique Google searches.

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Not for

  • Saying that one thing caused another, or predicting what you would get.
  • This was measured in one market. It may not hold where you are.

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