20 August 2026
ChatGPT search queries to specific websites spike after August update
First reported
Simon Willison ran this on .
- Queries using site: operator, which search a single website, jumped from less than 1% to 16-17% in mid-August.
- The spike followed OpenAI's August 6th announcement about improving how ChatGPT handles factual accuracy.
- OpenAI has not publicly explained what changed in the system, making the exact cause unclear.
How it was covered
Simon WillisonDaily notes and links
ChatGPT search queries using the site: operator jumped from 0.3-0.5% to 16-17% in mid-August following the GPT-5.6 rollout. Promptwatch, a tool tracking chatbot responses, detected this change aligned with OpenAI's August 6th announcement about improving factual reliability, though the exact implementation details remain unclear due to OpenAI obscuring system prompts.