What does AI cite most for education questions in India?
Ranked by the share of answers that cite each source at least once, across 629,880 answers from Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini. YouTube leads; shiksha.com is the most-cited Indian education site (11.0%).
In 629,880 AI answers about education in India, the most-cited source is YouTube (25.7% of answers), then shiksha.com (11%) and Facebook (10.4%).
Most-cited sources · % of answers citing
- 1
YouTubeVideo25.7% - 2
shiksha.comEducation sites11% - 3
FacebookSocial and creator10.4% - 4
GoogleOther websites10.1% - 5
careers360.comEducation sites9.1% - 6
WikipediaReference9% - 7collegedunia.comEducation sites7.7%
- 8
InstagramSocial and creator7.7% - 9
ScribdDocument sharing7.3% - 10
QuoraForums and Q&A6.1% - 11
vedantu.comEducation sites4.6% - 12
testbook.comEducation sites4.3% - 13
byjus.comEducation sites3.5% - 14
RedditForums and Q&A3.5% - 15justdial.comOther websites3.3%
Source mix
- Education sites41.9%
- Video25.7%
- Forums and Q&A11.3%
- Social and creator19.7%
- Reference10.3%
- Document sharing8.4%
- Schools and universities25.6%
- Government14.1%
- Other websites78.7%
% of answers citing each type at least once.
| # | Source | Type | % of answers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | youtube.com | Video | 25.7% |
| 2 | shiksha.com | Education sites | 11.0% |
| 3 | facebook.com | Social and creator | 10.4% |
| 4 | google.com | Other websites | 10.1% |
| 5 | careers360.com | Education sites | 9.1% |
| 6 | wikipedia.org | Reference | 9.0% |
| 7 | collegedunia.com | Education sites | 7.7% |
| 8 | instagram.com | Social and creator | 7.7% |
| 9 | scribd.com | Document sharing | 7.3% |
| 10 | quora.com | Forums and Q&A | 6.1% |
| 11 | vedantu.com | Education sites | 4.6% |
| 12 | testbook.com | Education sites | 4.3% |
| 13 | byjus.com | Education sites | 3.5% |
| 14 | reddit.com | Forums and Q&A | 3.5% |
| 15 | justdial.com | Other websites | 3.3% |
What each source type includes
- ·Education sites: course and tutoring platforms, test-prep and cram schools, school and university guides, and the 33 anonymized international sites.
- ·Video: YouTube, TikTok, Vimeo, TED and other video hosts.
- ·Forums and Q&A: Reddit, Quora, Yahoo! Chiebukuro, gutefrage.net, Brainly and other Q&A sites.
- ·Social and creator: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X (Twitter), Pinterest, note.com, blogs.
- ·Reference: Wikipedia, Britannica, dictionaries.
- ·Document sharing: Scribd, SlideShare, Studocu, Course Hero, ResearchGate.
- ·Schools and universities: universities, colleges and school websites (.edu, .ac.jp, .edu.au and similar).
- ·Government: government and public bodies (.gov, .go.jp, .gouv.fr, ministries, regions, employment agencies).
- ·Other websites: everything else: publishers, news, software vendors, job boards, shops.
Which Indian education sites does AI cite most?
Education sites (course and tutoring platforms, test-prep and cram schools, school and university guides) appear in 41.9% of answers. These are the ones AI cites most in India:
| # | Source | % of answers |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | shiksha.com | 11.0% |
| 2 | careers360.com | 9.1% |
| 3 | collegedunia.com | 7.7% |
| 4 | vedantu.com | 4.6% |
| 5 | testbook.com | 4.3% |
| 6 | byjus.com | 3.5% |
| 7 |  pw.live | 3.0% |
| 8 | Brand 5 | 2.7% |
| 9 | idp.com | 1.4% |
| 10 |  study.com | 1.1% |
| 11 |  topuniversities.com | 1.1% |
| 12 | Brand 4 | 1.1% |
Brand N: one of the 33 international education sites from the US study, anonymized.
Which sources does each AI platform cite in India?
The platform changes the answer. Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode cite video in up to 35.4% of answers; ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot and Gemini in at most 2.6%. Pick a platform to see its own ranking.
AI platform
In 629,880 AI answers about education in India, the most-cited source is YouTube (25.7% of answers), then shiksha.com (11%) and Facebook (10.4%).
Most-cited sources · % of answers citing
- 1YouTubeVideo25.7%
- 2shiksha.comEducation sites11%
- 3FacebookSocial and creator10.4%
- 4GoogleOther websites10.1%
- 5careers360.comEducation sites9.1%
- 6WikipediaReference9%
- 7collegedunia.comEducation sites7.7%
- 8InstagramSocial and creator7.7%
- 9ScribdDocument sharing7.3%
- 10QuoraForums and Q&A6.1%
- 11vedantu.comEducation sites4.6%
- 12testbook.comEducation sites4.3%
- 13byjus.comEducation sites3.5%
- 14RedditForums and Q&A3.5%
- 15justdial.comOther websites3.3%
Source mix
- Education sites41.9%
- Video25.7%
- Forums and Q&A11.3%
- Social and creator19.7%
- Reference10.3%
- Document sharing8.4%
- Schools and universities25.6%
- Government14.1%
- Other websites78.7%
% of answers citing each type at least once.
| Platform | Answers | Most-cited source | Video | Forums and Q&A | Education sites | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All platforms | 629,880 | YouTube25.7% | 25.7% | 11.3% | 41.9% | 14.1% |
| AI Overviews | 415,255 | YouTube35.3% | 35.4% | 15.5% | 50.1% | 15.9% |
| AI Mode | 163,800 | Google18.2% | 9.0% | 4.3% | 28.2% | 11.8% |
| ChatGPT | 12,344 | careers360.com5.9% | 0.2% | 0.4% | 18.0% | 18.4% |
| Perplexity | 12,005 | collegedunia.com9.7% | 2.6% | 0.9% | 29.7% | 8.8% |
| Copilot | 13,498 | collegedunia.com8.7% | 0.4% | 0.0% | 17.5% | 2.0% |
| Gemini | 12,978 | shiksha.com3.0% | 0.8% | 0.8% | 10.6% | 0.7% |
What do people in India ask AI about education?
The education searches with the highest monthly search volume in this data (Ahrefs). Each one triggered an AI answer that was collected.
| Search | Monthly searches |
|---|---|
| udise plus | 936,000 |
| satta 143 | 735,000 |
| nta | 721,000 |
| bharat result | 679,000 |
| cuims | 571,000 |
| neet | 559,000 |
| upsssc pet | 526,000 |
| typing speed test | 490,000 |
| emis | 446,000 |
| ssc gd | 436,000 |
| amizone | 412,000 |
| udiseplus | 386,000 |
How does India compare with other countries?
The same measure in every country of the study, all platforms. See all countries side by side.
| Country | Answers | Video | Education sites | Forums and Q&A | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 1,456,743 | 33.1% | 12.4% | 18.3% | 13.6% |
| India | 629,880 | 25.7% | 41.9% | 11.3% | 14.1% |
| Japan | 274,068 | 16.5% | 42.7% | 13.1% | 11.6% |
| United Kingdom | 222,184 | 25.5% | 26.7% | 9.0% | 28.2% |
| Indonesia | 170,993 | 37.8% | 18.5% | 5.3% | 22.2% |
| Brazil | 161,570 | 45.6% | 25.3% | 3.9% | 19.6% |
| Mexico | 141,634 | 47.4% | 18.4% | 3.1% | 24.9% |
| Canada | 131,414 | 33.1% | 24.1% | 18.0% | 18.3% |
| Australia | 128,845 | 25.2% | 20.9% | 9.8% | 31.7% |
| France | 111,959 | 32.8% | 27.1% | 2.2% | 37.3% |
| Germany | 109,804 | 32.1% | 29.2% | 4.9% | 19.1% |
| Philippines | 93,035 | 40.2% | 31.0% | 14.5% | 16.5% |
| Spain | 92,079 | 34.9% | 27.4% | 2.7% | 26.8% |
How was this measured?
- ·Data: Ahrefs Brand Radar, AI responses, India, data date 14 November 2026: every answer whose prompt Ahrefs files under Jobs and Education > Education (including its subcategories), with no site filter. 629,880 rows exported in slices under Ahrefs' row cap, each checked against the count Ahrefs showed.
- ·Answers: 629,880 unique answers after removing duplicates (same platform, prompt, opening text and date), dated 17 August 2026 to 14 November 2026.
- ·Platforms: Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini. Grok was paused in Ahrefs during this period.
- ·Measure: the share of answers that cite a source, or a source type, at least once.
- ·Source types: each cited page is assigned one type by fixed rules (domain lists and suffixes such as .gov or .ac.jp), the same rules in every country.
- ·Anonymized sites: the 33 international education sites of the US study are shown as Brand 1 to Brand 33, numbered by how many answers cite them across all countries.
- ·Platform mix: Google AI Overviews are 65.9% of the answers here, so all-platform figures lean toward Google.
- ·One snapshot: this is one pull, not a trend.
How to cite this study
Suggested citation
Pagadala, V. (2026). Most-Cited Sources in AI Search: Education in India. 629,880 AI answers, Ahrefs Brand Radar (India), answers dated 17 August 2026 to 14 November 2026. https://venkatapagadala.com/ai-retrieval-citations-research/education-industry/india
The data files on this page are licensed under CC BY 4.0: you may reuse them, with credit to this study.
Sources & further reading
Go deeper
Which source does AI cite most for education questions in India?
YouTube. It is cited in 25.7% of 629,880 AI answers to education questions in India, ahead of shiksha.com (11.0%) and Facebook (10.4%).
Which Indian education sites does AI cite most?
shiksha.com (11.0% of answers), careers360.com (9.1%) and collegedunia.com (7.7%). Education sites as a group appear in 41.9% of answers in India.
Does ChatGPT cite different sources than Google AI Overviews in India?
Yes. On Google AI Overviews the most-cited source is YouTube (35.3% of its answers); on ChatGPT it is careers360.com (5.9%). Video appears in 35.4% of AI Overviews answers and 0.2% of ChatGPT answers.
How often does AI cite YouTube for education questions in India?
YouTube is cited in 25.7% of AI answers to education questions in India, all platforms combined.
How should I cite this study?
Pagadala, V. (2026). Most-Cited Sources in AI Search: Education in India. 629,880 AI answers, Ahrefs Brand Radar (India), answers dated 17 August 2026 to 14 November 2026. https://venkatapagadala.com/ai-retrieval-citations-research/education-industry/india
Why are some education sites anonymized?
The study is about where AI answers get their sources, not about any one company. The 33 international education sites of the US study are shown as Brand 1 to Brand 33; local sites are named.