Reddit citations in ChatGPT dropped 86% due to search mechanism changes
gaganghotra_ · x · 2026-08-20
Data shows Reddit's share of ChatGPT search citations plummeted from 3.8% to 0.5% in a week. Suganthan argues this is due to a change in ChatGPT's retrieval mechanism, where the model now generates more domain-scoped site: queries (e.g., site:runnersworld.com) before retrieval. This pre-selects sources, reducing Reddit's chance to appear in open web searches. However, this doesn't mean the model has "forgotten" Reddit; the knowledge remains in the weights, even if citations disappear.
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