# ChatGPT search queries shift between identical prompts

Published: 2026-10-23T00:03:52.049Z · Source: Seer Interactive (https://www.seerinteractive.com/insights/chatgpt-data-structure)
Source date: 2026-10-22
Flags: Seer Interactive study — vendor-published
Entities: chatgpt

Running identical, hash-verified ChatGPT prompts over several weeks, Seer Interactive SEO associate Hoa Cong found two runs made eight minutes apart on Sept. 17 shared zero matching search query strings. Between Sept. 3 and Sept. 16, the same prompt's underlying pipe-language query data dropped from four lines to zero while the number of unique URLs it retrieved rose from 14 to 40, per Seer Interactive.

Why it matters: SISTRIX already showed ChatGPT rotates 74% of its cited sources every week; this finds the same instability one layer down, in the search queries and retrieved data behind a single prompt, on a timescale of minutes rather than weeks.

## What this answers

**Does ChatGPT run the same search behind the same prompt twice?**

Not reliably. In a Seer Interactive test, two runs of an identical, hash-verified prompt eight minutes apart on Sept. 17, 2026 shared zero matching search query strings.

**How much did ChatGPT's retrieved search data change over two weeks for the same prompt?**

Between Sept. 3 and Sept. 16, 2026, the same prompt's pipe-language query data dropped from four lines to zero while its unique retrieved URLs rose from 14 to 40, per Seer Interactive.


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