ChatGPT search reportedly increases use of site: operator to 16–17% of queries

Promptwatch, which tracks responses across end-user chat products, reports a sharp increase in the share of ChatGPT Search queries that include the site: operator. Between July 15 and August 5, the daily share hovered between 0.3% and 0.5%. It dipped briefly to 0.15% on August 3–5, then jumped to 16–17% on August 8. Promptwatch notes these figures reflect only the prompts for which automated tracking is enabled.

The timing aligns with OpenAI’s August 6 announcement that GPT‑5.6 Sol in Chat would be updated “to be more reliable with facts and provide more focused answers” for Plus and Pro users.

The observed increase in site: operator usage suggests ChatGPT Search is now issuing targeted, site-specific queries rather than broad web searches. Simon Willison speculates the underlying tool may take the form search(query, recency, domains) rather than explicitly encouraging users to include site: in their prompts.

In a follow-up report on August 18, Promptwatch also noted a reduced likelihood of Reddit appearing in ChatGPT Search results, though Willison could not confirm whether system prompts had been updated to discourage Reddit sourcing based on current leaked prompt collections.