ChatGPT search now uses the site:operator at scale

In a post published Thursday, Simon Willison's Weblog reports that ChatGPT search has begun using the site: operator at scale. Citing tracking data from Promptwatch, the share of ChatGPT search queries containing that operator jumped from around half a percent to 16 percent on August 8th, coinciding with the GPT-5.6 rollout. Willison notes OpenAI's announcement was vague, but he believes the search tool now takes query, recency, and domain parameters — a shift that matters for the emerging field of Generative Engine Optimization.

Listen to this story

Hear this and more stories in a personalized audio briefing.

Open The Chonkerton