Source: bklink research, 1 November 2026
``` The top result was among the overview's sources for 51% of the keywords with an overview. So ranking first makes a citation likely but does not make it certain, and a site can be cited without ranking at all. ## The sites AI Overviews cite most | Site | AI Overviews citing it | Of those, also on page one | On mxverify | |---|---:|---:|---| | youtube.com | 1,622 (49%) | 896 (55%) | — | | en.wikipedia.org | 591 (18%) | 153 (26%) | — | | reddit.com | 538 (16%) | 370 (69%) | [report](https://mxverify.uk/publications/reddit.com) | | instagram.com | 468 (14%) | 216 (46%) | [report](https://mxverify.uk/publications/instagram.com) | | facebook.com | 446 (13%) | 265 (59%) | [report](https://mxverify.uk/publications/facebook.com) | | linkedin.com | 383 (12%) | 128 (33%) | [report](https://mxverify.uk/publications/linkedin.com) | | github.com | 204 (6%) | 98 (48%) | [report](https://mxverify.uk/publications/github.com) | | x.com | 172 (5%) | 53 (31%) | [report](https://mxverify.uk/publications/x.com) | | apps.apple.com | 144 (4%) | 69 (48%) | — | | trustpilot.com | 124 (4%) | 37 (30%) | — | youtube.com is the most-cited site, named in 49% of the overviews. The list is led by video, encyclopaedia, forum, social and app-store pages, which Google can cite for almost any product or brand name. Where the site has a report on mxverify, the table links it. ## Which kinds of site hold page one Sites with a report on mxverify held 26% of the page-one places across these keywords and were on page one for 83% of them. By what each site is for (mxverify's reading of its homepage): | Kind of site | Sites with a report | On page one for any keyword | Share of that kind | Share of all ranking sites | |---|---:|---:|---:|---:| | User platforms | 47 | 34 | 72% | 6% | | Company sites | 597 | 238 | 40% | 39% | | Directories and listing sites | 420 | 148 | 35% | 24% | | Not yet classified | 568 | 86 | 15% | 14% | | Publishers (news, magazines, blogs) | 1,437 | 99 | 7% | 16% | | Press-release and syndication sites | 448 | 5 | 1% | 1% | | Link networks | 499 | 1 | 0% | 0% | **User platforms are the most likely to be on page one (72% of them are); publishers are much less likely (7%).** A plausible reason is that search terms like these are mostly names of products, tools and companies, which Google answers with the product's own site, its listings and its user pages rather than articles about it; the data does not say why. By topic: | Category | Sites with a report | On page one for any keyword | Share of that kind | Share of all ranking sites | |---|---:|---:|---:|---:| | Gaming | 52 | 32 | 62% | 5% | | Technology | 496 | 154 | 31% | 25% | | Other (no single topic) | 797 | 226 | 28% | 37% | | Not yet classified | 285 | 67 | 24% | 11% | | Finance | 229 | 23 | 10% | 4% | | Sports | 20 | 2 | 10% | 0% | | Business | 404 | 36 | 9% | 6% | | Entertainment | 35 | 2 | 6% | 0% | | Health | 57 | 3 | 5% | 0% | | Crypto | 81 | 4 | 5% | 1% | | News | 1,414 | 53 | 4% | 9% | | Lifestyle | 132 | 1 | 1% | 0% | ## Ranking and link level | Link level | Sites on page one | All sites with a report | |---|---:|---:| | A | 4% | 1% | | B | 62% | 32% | | C | 33% | 35% | | D | 1% | 32% | Sites on page one are priced at higher link levels: 0.6% of them are level D (a link network's site), against 32% of all sites with a report. Their middle Backlink Value is $129, against $5.75 for the rest. Read that with care: Backlink Value takes a site's organic-search visits as an input, so a site that ranks is partly priced higher because it ranks. It is a check that the two agree, not a separate finding. ## What changed since the last refresh This is the first edition: every keyword has one first page stored so far, read in November 2026. From the next refresh a month on, this section compares each keyword with itself. ## What this means for link building - **A page-one ranking is not the only way into an AI Overview.** 60% of the sources cited were not in the top ten for the same search, so the sites an overview trusts include ones that rank elsewhere or for other searches. - **The sites cited most are platforms.** Video, forum, social and app-store pages are named far more than articles. A placed link on a publisher's article is a different thing from a presence on those platforms, and this data does not say one leads to the other. - **Link level and ranking line up.** Few page-one sites are priced at level D. See [how a link's level is set](https://mxverify.uk/backlink-value), and check a site's level and BV on its [mxverify report](https://mxverify.uk/). - **This study counts citations, not clicks.** It does not say how many visits a citation sends; for that, see our [AI-assistant traffic study](https://bklink.uk/blog/ai-assistant-traffic-share). Browse the sites in this data with mxverify's [explorer](https://mxverify.uk/explore); each site's report lists the searches it ranks for. ## Method and limits - **One country, one language, one day per keyword.** Google's results in the United States, in English, read once a month; results move by day, place and person. - **Not a sample of all searches.** The 3,861 keywords are the search terms mxverify keeps a page for, taken from the sites in its database, so product and brand names weigh heavily. - **Sites, not pages.** A citation is matched to a ranking by site (hostname), not by the exact page. - **An overview counts when it names a source.** One with no source link is counted apart. - **Link levels and Backlink Value are mxverify's model**, an estimate of a link's worth to rankings, not a market price. Each report says what its price rests on. ## Edition log This post is rebuilt each time mxverify's first pages are refreshed, in a rotation with its other studies. Earlier editions stay in the log. | Edition | Keywords | With an AI Overview | Sources not on page one | mxverify sites on page one | |---|---:|---:|---:|---:| | 1 November 2026 | 3,861 | 86% | 60% | 83% | The newest first pages were read on 1 November 2026. ## Key Takeaways - Google showed an AI Overview naming sources for 86% of 3,861 keywords. - 60% of AI Overview citations went to sites not on page one for the same search; 22% to the top three. - The top result was among the sources for 51% of keywords with an overview. - youtube.com was the most-cited site, in 49% of overviews. - 72% of user platforms were on page one, against 7% of publishers. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### How often does Google show an AI Overview? For 86% of the 3,861 keywords mxverify tracked in November 2026 (Google US, English). The keywords lean to product, brand and tool names, so the rate for all searches will differ. ### Do AI Overviews only cite pages that rank on page one? No. In this data 60% of the sites cited were not in the top ten results for the same search; 22% were in the top three and 18% in positions 4–10. ### Does ranking first get you cited in the AI Overview? Often but not always: the top result was among the overview's sources for 51% of keywords with an overview. ### Which sites do AI Overviews cite most? youtube.com, en.wikipedia.org, reddit.com, instagram.com, facebook.com, in that order, across the keywords mxverify tracks. ### Where does this data come from? Google's first page for each keyword mxverify keeps a page for, read monthly in the United States, in English: the top ten results and the sites the AI Overview links as sources. The overview's text is not used. ### How often is this updated? Each time mxverify's first pages are refreshed, in a rotation with its other studies; the edition log keeps earlier editions. ## Sources 1. [mxverify.uk – Explorer (the sites in this data)](https://mxverify.uk/explore) 2. [mxverify.uk – How links are read and audited](https://mxverify.uk/methodology)