# Profound finds AI citation half-life is just 11 days

Published: 2026-09-30T22:49:21.327Z · Source: Profound research blog (https://www.tryprofound.com/blog/the-half-life-of-an-ai-citation-is-11-days)
Source date: 2026-09-30
Entities: profound, chatgpt, anthropic

Profound tracked 883,000 pages across seven AI engines — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot — from September 2025 to September 2026, finding the median page loses half its peak citation share within 11 days, with the full climb to that point taking 42 days. Per the company, durability varies sharply by engine: a sustained page on Claude is 2.8 times as likely as one on ChatGPT to still hold half its peak share two months out, and pages cited by five or more engines are 5.5 times as likely as single-engine pages to stay above half their peak after eight weeks.

Why it matters: It argues AEO can't be a one-time optimization push: citations decay fast enough, and unevenly enough by engine, that tracking and refreshing content on a schedule matters as much as first getting cited.

## What this answers

**How long does an AI citation last before it fades?**

Per Profound's tracking of 883,000 pages across seven AI engines over a year, the median page loses half its peak citation share within 11 days, with the full rise-to-half-peak arc running 42 days.

**Which AI answer engine keeps citing the same pages longest?**

Profound found a sustained page on Claude is 2.8 times as likely as one on ChatGPT to still hold half its peak citation share two months later; Perplexity and Claude spread citations across weeks, while ChatGPT, Google's AI modes, and Gemini concentrate them into days.


Canonical: https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-09-30-profound-finds-ai-citation-half-life-is-just-11-days/
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