I Ran 50 Buying Searches on Google. The AI Put Reddit First in 23.
When your buyers look for software on Google, an AI answer now sits on top. So I typed 50 searches people make right before they pay for software, like "best crm for small business" and "best seo tools." Then I checked which page Google's AI listed first as its source. It was rarely the company selling the product.
The 50 searches
I picked 50 "best software" searches across sales, marketing, finance, HR and support. I ran each one as a US phone search on October 9 with DataForSEO, then ran all 50 again the same day.
Every one of the 50 showed an AI Overview at the top. Each AI Overview lists its sources in order, next to or under the answer. The first one is the one people see first.
Reddit came first
In 23 of the 50 searches, the first source was a Reddit thread. That was true in both runs. Nothing else came close: Zapier's blog and YouTube were first in 3 or 4 each.
Reddit showed up as a source in 30 of the 50 answers. In 23 of those 30, it was at the very top.
YouTube was everywhere too. It was a source in 41 of the 50 answers on the first run and 42 on the second. About 1 in 4 of all sources was a YouTube video (93 of 388). Reddit or YouTube showed up in 46 of the 50.
Three of the searches, up close:
- "best seo tools": In both runs, the first source is a Reddit thread on r/SEO. Zapier's list is second. Semrush's own page comes third, in an answer that names Semrush the best overall tool. One of the YouTube sources is called "I Used These 10 SEO Tools for 30 Days (Traffic Exploded)." When I took a screenshot later that day (the image above), Reddit had the first two spots.
- "best pos system for small business": In my first run, Square's own page was the #1 Google result. The AI also calls Square the best overall pick. But for that claim it cites a YouTube video and NerdWallet, not Square.
- "best crm for small business": In both runs, the first source is a Reddit thread on r/CRM. In the first run, the AI backs Zoho's free plan with that thread.
Ranking #1 didn't buy much. The top Google result was a source in only 8 of the 50 answers on the first run, and 12 on the second.
I'm not the only one seeing this. SE Ranking's AI tracking team checked 100,000 searches, and about two in three AI Overviews cited a social site, Planable reports. For buying searches, my count was higher: 46 in 50.
Why Google's AI picks Reddit
Think about the question the AI is answering. Someone asks "which tool is best?" A company page can only say one thing: we are. A Reddit thread has dozens of people arguing about it. A YouTube video shows the tool being used. The AI wants other people's opinions, so it goes where those opinions are.
After Reddit and YouTube, it leaned on comparison lists and Q&A sites. On the first run, Zapier's blog was a source in 19 answers, PCMag in 15, Quora in 12 and Forbes in 11.
The bottom line: a page-one ranking no longer makes you the answer. When your buyers ask Google which tool to pick, the AI leans on what other people say about you. Try your own top three "best" searches today. If the first source is a Reddit thread, that thread is now your real first impression, so read it.
How I counted: 50 "best X software" searches, Google US, English, mobile, pulled twice on October 9, 2026 through DataForSEO's SERP API. "Source" means a card in the AI Overview's source panel, in the order the panel shows them. I checked that order against desktop screenshots of three of the searches.