A common belief I hear from business owners is that Google's AI Overviews simply summarize the top few organic results. So if you rank in the top three, you are "in" the AI Overview, and if you don't, there is nothing to do. The data says the picture is quite different.
According to the latest Ahrefs ranking of the most-cited websites in AI Overviews, the most-cited source is not a publisher at all. It is YouTube. Reddit and Facebook follow, and Google's own domain sits in fourth place. Most of the top of the list is social and video platforms, not the traditional websites we usually think of as "authorities."
AI Overviews are shown to a huge audience. Ahrefs cites Digiday's report that Google's AI Overviews reach over 2 billion monthly users. So in this article I explain how the list was built, what it shows, which source types you can actually influence, and how to turn it into a mention plan. If you want the on-page side of getting your own pages cited, I cover that in my guide on how to get your content cited in Google AI Overviews.
How Ahrefs measured the sources behind AI Overviews
Ahrefs used its Brand Radar tool, which records AI answers for large sets of search-style questions. For AI Overviews, the September 2026 snapshot covers more than 3 million US queries across all topics. For each answer, Ahrefs logged which domains were cited, then ranked the domains.
The ranking uses mention share: a domain's citations as a percentage of the combined citations of the top 50 sources. That last part is important. The percentages are shares of the top 50, not shares of every link Google ever showed in an AI Overview.
| Column in the Ahrefs table | What it means in plain words | How I use it |
|---|---|---|
| Mention share | How much of the top-50 citation pie a domain takes | To see which platforms Google leans on most |
| Pages cited | How many different URLs from that domain were cited | To see whether a domain wins with a few pages or with breadth |
| Domain Rating (DR) | Ahrefs' 0–100 score for backlink strength | As context only; it doesn't explain the ranking |
| Monthly move | Rank change since the previous snapshot | To spot trends, with caution |
Ahrefs refreshes this page every month with an AI agent, so the numbers you read today may differ next month. I treat each snapshot as a reading on a dial, not a final verdict.
YouTube, Reddit and Facebook: the AI Overviews leaders at a glance
Here are the first twelve domains from the September 2026 snapshot. The "source type" column is my own label, as is the note on which ones Google owns.
| Rank | Domain | Mention share | Pages cited | Source type (my label) | Owned by Google? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | youtube.com | 22.9% | 1,737,252 | Video / user-generated | Yes |
| 2 | reddit.com | 18.5% | 830,641 | Community / forums | No |
| 3 | facebook.com | 10.1% | 514,175 | Social network | No |
| 4 | google.com | 8.8% | 1,220,228 | Google's own pages | Yes |
| 5 | instagram.com | 5.6% | 277,245 | Social network | No |
| 6 | quora.com | 4.7% | 171,198 | Q&A community | No |
| 7 | en.wikipedia.org | 4.0% | 88,400 | Encyclopedia | No |
| 8 | tiktok.com | 3.3% | 140,750 | Short video | No |
| 9 | amazon.com | 3.3% | 148,116 | Marketplace | No |
| 10 | walmart.com | 1.0% | 47,425 | Retailer | No |
| 11 | homedepot.com | 0.8% | 27,286 | Retailer | No |
| 12 | forbes.com | 0.8% | 12,733 | Publisher | No |
Source: Ahrefs, September 2026 snapshot, US queries. Labels are mine.
“The leader is www.youtube.com, capturing 22.9% of citations.”
— Ahrefs, The 50 Most-Cited Websites in Google AI Overviews
Look at the drop after ninth place. The top nine domains are all at 3.3% or more. From tenth place down, everyone is at 1% or less. That is a very steep curve. In practice, AI Overviews spread most of their citations across a handful of giant platforms, then sprinkle the rest across many smaller sites.
Why Google's AI Overviews lean so hard on social and video
Let me add up the six social and community platforms in the top nine: YouTube, Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, Quora and TikTok. Together they hold 65.1 points of mention share (my sum of Ahrefs' numbers). In other words, roughly two out of every three top-50 citations in AI Overviews point to a platform where ordinary people and brands post content.
Compare that with traditional publishers. Forbes, the highest-ranked classic publisher, has 0.8%. Healthline has 0.8%. That is a dramatic shift from the "big media brands win" world that many SEOs grew up in.
A few reasons I think this happens, offered as reasoning rather than proof:
- Google owns YouTube, so it has deep access to video transcripts, chapters and metadata.
- Google has a data deal with Reddit. Search Engine Land reported in February 2024 that Google was reportedly paying Reddit about $60 million a year to use its content for AI, and that the expanded partnership includes access to Reddit's Data API.
- Many AI Overview queries are practical. "How do I fix a leaking tap" or "is this product worth it" are questions where a video demo or a real user's experience is the most useful evidence.
- Social posts are often the freshest content on a topic, especially for local businesses, events and products.
The google.com puzzle
Google's own domain is fourth, with over 1.2 million distinct pages cited. Ahrefs does not say what those pages are. Google hosts many kinds of public pages under google.com, so it could be a mix. I don't want to guess beyond that. What I can say is that Google cites itself a lot, and you should check whether your business information inside Google's own products is accurate and complete.
What Google says about how AI Overviews choose supporting links
Google has published clear guidance in its AI features and your website documentation (last updated December 2025). The short version: there is no separate system to opt into.
“There are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary.”
— Google Search Central, AI features and your website
Here is what the page says in practical terms:
- Your page must be indexed and eligible to show a snippet in Google Search. That is the only technical requirement.
- Google may run several related searches across subtopics while building the answer. Google calls this query fan-out. It is why pages that don't rank for the main query can still be cited.
- No special files or markup are required. Google says you don't need new machine-readable files or AI text files.
- You control what Google can show with nosnippet, data-nosnippet, max-snippet or noindex. If you block snippets, you also limit your chance of being cited.
And here is how it shows up in your reporting. Search Console counts AI Overview links inside the normal Web search results:
“An AI Overview occupies a single position in search results.”
— Google Search Console Help, Performance report (Search Console Help)
The same help page says every link in the AI Overview is assigned that same position, and a click on an external link counts as a normal click. So you can't filter AI Overview clicks out separately in Search Console. If you want to know which query types trigger AI Overviews in the first place, read my guide on what triggers AI Overviews.
Which AI Overview sources are within your reach
This is the most useful part for a business. Because the top of the list is mostly platforms where anyone can publish, AI Overviews are actually more open to small brands than they first appear. You can't become YouTube. But you can be on YouTube.
| Source | How much control you have | What I would do |
|---|---|---|
| YouTube | High (your own channel) | Publish short, clearly titled how-to and comparison videos with accurate captions and chapters |
| Low to medium | Take part honestly as a named brand account; never fake reviews or astroturf | |
| Facebook and Instagram | High (your pages) | Keep business details current; post useful answers, not just promotions |
| Quora | Medium | Answer real questions in your field under a real expert profile |
| TikTok | High (your account) | Short demos with spoken and on-screen keywords that match how people search |
| Amazon, Walmart, Home Depot | High if you sell there | Complete listings, real reviews, clear specifications |
| Wikipedia | Very low | Don't edit your own article; fix errors only through proper channels |
| Publishers (Forbes, Healthline) | Medium, with effort | Digital PR, expert comment and original data |
I go deeper into video in my guide to getting YouTube content cited by AI, and into Q&A sites and niche forums in community mentions beyond Reddit. For a wider triage across all assistants, see which AI citation sources you can actually influence.
AI Overviews next to ChatGPT, AI Mode and Perplexity
Ahrefs publishes the same kind of list for other assistants. Comparing the September 2026 snapshots shows how unusual AI Overviews are.
| Metric | AI Overviews | AI Mode | ChatGPT | Perplexity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 1 domain | YouTube | |||
| YouTube share | 22.9% | 17.8% | 2.5% | 20.8% |
| Facebook share | 10.1% | 10.2% | Not in top 15 | 4.5% |
| google.com share | 8.8% | 12.5% | Not in top 15 | Not in top 15 |
| Wikipedia share | 4.0% | 4.0% | 7.0% | 6.3% |
Sources: Ahrefs lists for AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT and Perplexity, September 2026, US queries.
The two Google products look like siblings: heavy on YouTube, Facebook and Google's own pages. ChatGPT is the odd one out, with almost no YouTube and much more weight on publishers, testing labs and explainer sites. If you want to compare the two Google features more closely, read AI Mode vs AI Overviews, and the platform breakdowns of the sites Google AI Mode cites most, the sites ChatGPT cites most and the sites Perplexity cites most.
Niche patterns inside the average
The all-topics average hides industry clusters. Within the top 50, I can see groups like car research (Edmunds, Kelley Blue Book, Cars.com, CarGurus), home and DIY (Home Depot, Lowe's, The Spruce, Angi), money (NerdWallet, Yahoo Finance) and health (Healthline, WebMD, GoodRx). If you work in one of these areas, those sites matter far more to you than their small average share suggests.
Building an AI Overviews mention plan: a worked example
Let me show how I would use this with a hypothetical business: a plumbing company serving one US metro area.
- List 40 real questions customers ask. For example "why is my water heater making noise," "how much does it cost to replace a water heater," "tankless vs tank water heater."
- Search each one in Google and note whether an AI Overview appears, and which domains it cites. Suppose 26 of the 40 show an AI Overview, with 150 citations between them.
- Count the domains. Imagine YouTube appears 31 times, Reddit 22, a home-services marketplace 14, Home Depot guides 12, Facebook 9 and your own website twice.
- Match each source to a channel you control. YouTube: you can publish. Facebook: you already have a page. Reddit: you can take part in your city's subreddit honestly. Marketplace: you can complete your profile and collect reviews.
- Create five short videos answering the five most common questions, each with a clear title, accurate captions and a link to the matching service page on your site.
- Re-check the same 40 queries monthly. If your brand goes from 2 of 150 citations (1.3%) to 10 of 150 (6.7%) in six months, you have measurable progress.
This is the kind of work our local SEO services team folds into a monthly plan, alongside the core YouTube SEO basics.
Caveats: what the AI Overviews list can't tell you
- US data only. Other markets may favor local platforms and publishers.
- Relative share. Percentages are shares of the top 50 domains, not of every citation.
- No date window or prompt list. We know it is the September 2026 snapshot of over 3 million queries, but not which queries.
- Small inconsistencies. The chart caption refers to "top sources" while the method says top 50.
- Monthly movement is real. In the September update, The Spruce, the New York Times and wikiHow each rose eight or nine places, while Lemon8 and Yelp's mobile site dropped eight and nine. CNBC, Byrdie and RTINGS entered the top 50.
- AI Overviews themselves can be wrong. Google's own help page is blunt about it.
“AI Overviews can and will make mistakes.”
— Google Search Help, Find information in faster & easier ways with AI Overviews in Google Search
That is one more reason to make sure the sources Google draws from describe your business correctly.
Questions people ask about the sites AI Overviews cite
Which website do Google AI Overviews cite most?
YouTube. In Ahrefs' September 2026 snapshot of more than 3 million US queries, YouTube held 22.9% mention share in AI Overviews, ahead of Reddit at 18.5% and Facebook at 10.1%.
Why does google.com show up as a cited source in AI Overviews?
Ahrefs lists google.com fourth with 8.8% share and over 1.2 million distinct pages cited, but it does not say which Google pages those are. Google has many public pages on google.com, so treat any explanation of this as a guess until someone publishes a breakdown.
Do I need special markup or an llms.txt file to be cited in AI Overviews?
No. Google's documentation says there are no additional requirements and no special optimizations needed. A page must be indexed and eligible to show a snippet in Google Search.
How do I see AI Overview clicks in Search Console?
They are part of the normal Performance report under the Web search type. An AI Overview takes one position, every link inside it gets that same position, and a click on an external link counts as a click. Search Console does not separate AI Overview traffic into its own report.
Is the AI Overviews source list the same outside the US?
The Ahrefs data covers US queries only, so we don't know. AI Overviews are available in many countries, and local platforms and publishers are likely to appear more often in other markets.
Where to start with AI Overview mentions this week
In brief: AI Overviews favor big platforms where anyone can publish, plus Google's own properties. That is good news for smaller businesses. You don't need to be Forbes. You need useful videos, active social profiles, honest community participation and indexable pages that answer questions clearly.
This week, pick ten customer questions, check which sources AI Overviews cite for them, and decide which one or two platforms you will show up on first. Keep the list and re-check it every month.
If you want our team to build this plan for you, take a look at our SEO services or request a quote. We are always happy to talk it through.
Further reading on websites AI Overviews cite most
- The Websites Google AI Mode Cites Most
- The Websites Perplexity Cites Most
- The Websites Gemini Cites Most
Sources for this AI Overviews citation analysis
- The 50 Most-Cited Websites in Google AI Overviews (Ahrefs)
- AI features and your website (Google Search Central)
- Performance report (Search Console Help)
- Find information in faster & easier ways with AI Overviews in Google Search (Google Search Help)
- Google’s AI Overviews reach over 2 billion monthly users (Digiday)
- Reddit and Google AI content licensing deal (Search Engine Land, February 22, 2024)
- The 50 Most-Cited Websites in ChatGPT (Ahrefs)
- The 50 Most-Cited Websites in Google AI Mode (Ahrefs)
- The 50 Most-Cited Websites in Perplexity (Ahrefs)
