Sample report · measured as answer source

Meridian Money: where AI assistants used this publication as a source

A fictional publication, used to show what an OTW Signal source report contains. We asked ChatGPT, Google AI Overview and Perplexity 24 questions a reader would type, across the 6 topics Meridian Money covers, each question asked 4 times, and recorded whether each of the 288 answers cited a page on meridianmoney.ca. Measured 19 August 2026 in Canada. This measures whether assistants used the site as a source, not whether they said the brand name, and it is not a search ranking, a score or an optimisation audit.

Result

  • Cited as a source in 89 of the 271 answers given (17 searches returned no AI answer at all).
  • Present in 5 of the 6 topics measured.
  • #3 of 10 among the sources those answers cited.

By assistant

  • ChatGPT: 18 of 96 answers used the site, over all 96 answers it gave.
  • Google AI Overview: 37 of 79 answers used the site, over the 79 searches that returned an AI answer.
  • Perplexity: 34 of 96 answers used the site, over all 96 answers it gave.

Each assistant is reported over its own answers and never averaged with the others, because a combined figure would move with which assistants were measured.

By topic

  • Mortgages and rates: 31 of 48 answers used the site.
  • First-time buying: 24 of 48 answers used the site.
  • Retirement savings: 7 of 48 answers used the site.
  • Taxes and credits: 13 of 48 answers used the site.
  • Everyday banking: 14 of 48 answers used the site.
  • Careers and income: 0 of 48 answers used the site.

Content the assistants opened

  • The FHSA, explained with a worked example
  • The renewal guide: what changes when rates move
  • What Canadian bank accounts actually cost
  • The tax credits most Canadians miss
  • How Canadian mortgage rates are actually set
  • RRIF withdrawal rules, year by year

Where it was absent

No answer about careers and income used this site. reddit.com, canada.ca, glassdoor.ca were used instead.

The full report is interactive: it shows every question, which assistant answered it, and the exact sources each answer carried. Turn on JavaScript to open it.