Knowledge baseSourcesJosh Blyskal (Profound)

The state of AEO in 2026: Claude is not ChatGPT

Author Josh Blyskal (Profound) Date 2026-07-22 Model state ChatGPT and Claude, US, Profound panel, summer 2026 Open source →

Key findings

Comparison of the search and citation mechanics of ChatGPT and Claude: search rates, year-number injection, domain overlap (8%), UGC share.

Checked against our data

Year-number injection is the rule in our data for product, price, news and comparison questions, not for local and entity questions. The share is therefore above Blyskal's 17%, which may be down to the topic mix.

ClaimStatusEvidence
ChatGPT appends a year number in 17% of fan-outs (Claude 94%)confirmed'2026' in K2-01, K3-01, K5-01, K7-01 (2026-08-22), i.e. in 4 of 19 searching questions; date '22 August 2026' at K1-02 and K5.
ChatGPT alignment with Google top 50 at 37%unverifiableNo SERP comparison.
Claude searches on 36.6% of queriesunverifiableNot within scope of the project; ChatGPT 69% in our data.

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