Konitzny: How Query Fan-Outs and Source Retrieval shift over time
- 15. Juli
- 2 Min. Lesezeit
Key Takeaways:
Konitzny (PeecAI) analyzed Query Fan-Outs and citation behavior of AI Search / LLM Chats and how they significantly shift over time
In May Reddit citations as well as Query Fan-Outs with "reddit" increased and dropped in June again
End of June Query Fan-Outs with "Official" (products / site / docs) jumped from 0.x% to 3.5% - in multiple countries --> government authorities, consumer protection sites and domains with "official" gain citation share
In May the open-access repository for scientific research papers arXiv increased in citations with GPT 5.5 and 5.6 from 1% to 4% - which is not reflected by a QFO change but rather "a broader adjustment in ChatGPT's retrieval behavior"
Mid of March Wikipedia started decreasing from 40% to below 10% in June/July
Differences in ChatGPT 5.5 vs. 5.6 Luna:
site-query in Query Fan-Outs 0.004% versus 43% in GPT 5.6 Luna
"Official" in Query Fan-Outs 1.4% versus 21% in GPT 5.6 Luna
Year-based modifiers in Query Fan-Outs 6.2% versus 26% in GPT 5.6 Luna
"Best"/"Top" in Query Fan-Outs 8.5% versus 5.4% in GPT 5.6 Luna
Quotation marks (in combination with site-query or without) e.g. for brand contact info, tariffs/product info, attributes (site:www2.hm.com/en_gb/productpage "Organic cotton" "Straight jeans" "Black" "Ladies" "H&M")
Ray points out that Google with Search went a similar path trying to counter spammy SEO tactics
In this context AI Search / LLM Chats try to focus on EEAT sources to create higher quality answers, to make it harder for spammy domains to earn citations and "game the algorithm" - and adds further patterns identified:
Hinckley observed ChatGPT adding "case studies" to Fan-Outs
Reynolds observed ChatGPT adding known brands to Fan-Outs
Consequently, you do need to monitor all parts of AI Search / LLM Chats (see DEJANs masterpiece "How AI Search works": from model perception to retrieval via Query Fan-Outs, citations etc.) to detect changes over time and adapt or rather finetune your strategy
" Tracking mentions, retrieved sources, Query Fan-outs, and retrieval behavior is becoming increasingly important to understand why visibility changes occur." - David Konitzny
Sources:
