Home/Algorithm Research
Original research · South Africa

Algorithm Research

Original research from Algorithm on how South Africans search and what it means for marketing teams. Every study is free to read in full, with its method published alongside it.

Published studies

Original researchOctober 2026

Zero-click search in South Africa

16 months of Google Search Console data from 110 South African websites

South African businesses are being seen more in Google and clicked less. The typical business went from almost 5 clicks per 100 appearances to about 3 in a year, and Google's AI Overviews now show on 70% of the non-branded searches these businesses rank on page one for. The report has a page for each sector, the AI Overview analysis and the 3 breaks in Search Console's own data, and it ends with a one-page brief for marketing teams.

Read the report
Original researchAugust 2026 · 12 min read

Who AI Engines Cite in South Africa

Original research - 170,720 citations across ChatGPT, Perplexity and Claude

Algorithm's 2026 citation report, built on our own Lighthouse GEO production data. We measured 170,720 domain-citations across 39,258 ChatGPT, Perplexity and Claude responses to South African prompts, issued to all three engines in the same time window. 87.8% of cited domains appear on only one engine, up from 83.4% in May, and only 1.7% appear on all three. The four most-cited sources answering South African questions are YouTube, Facebook, Reddit and Wikipedia; the first South African source ranks fifth. Full methodology, sector breakdown, per-engine credibility models and honest caveats published in full.

Read the report