As AI-generated answers take over the search landscape, understanding what gets cited – and why – has never been more critical.
Explore citation data across leading AI engines, see how B2B and B2C intent shapes visibility, and learn actionable SEO tactics to help your brand get found.
This analysis is powered by Rankscale.ai, a platform tracking AI query visibility across the web.
Why care where AI results come from?
Understanding how generative AI engines cite their sources is crucial for effective SEO today.
Visibility in responses from ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews hinges on getting your brand mentioned in the content they trust.
Yet, their preferences in terms of trusted sources vary significantly.
This is especially true for results that use the web for RAG (retrieval-augmented generation).
The chart above, powered via Rankscale.ai data, contains analysis for almost 8,000 unique citations across 57 diverse queries. Each query was fetched multiple times across the four leading AI engines.
(If you want to browse the data yourself, you can do that here.)
In the following sections, we’ll:
Dissect engine-specific source preferences (from Wikipedia and Reddit to niche blogs and vendor sites).
Explore how B2B versus B2C query-intent shapes citations.
Reveal the strong link between foundational SEO and AI citation likelihood.
AI engine citation patterns: Who cites what?
Each AI engine has its own distinct personality when it comes to sourcing information.
Understanding such preferences is key to positioning your brand for AI visibility.
ChatGPT (OpenAI GPT-4o): The authority seeker
Preference
Heavily skews toward established, authoritative, and factual sources.
Think encyclopedias and major news outlets.
Top sources
Wikipedia was dominant (27% in our dataset), alongside reputable global news like Reuters (~6%) and OpenAI’s partner, Financial Times (3%).
~27% were from news and ~21% of citations were blogs, followed by ~17% comparison portals (e.g., Valuepenguin).
Avoids
User-generated content (UGC) like forums and social media was virtually absent.
Vendor blogs or product pages were rarely cited (<3%).
SEO takeaway
To get cited by ChatGPT, focus on building authority and ensuring your brand is documented in neutral, reference-style materials.
A robust Wikipedia presence and mentions within major blogs and news reports are crucial.
As previously noted by Olaf Kopp, LLMs often favor “non-commercial sources”, rather than ecommerce pages.
Google Gemini (2.0 Flash): The balanced synthesizer
Preference
Blends authoritative sources (blogs, news) with community input.
Top sources
YouTube was the single most cited domain (~3%).
Blogs (~39%) (e.g., Zapier ~2%) and news (~26%) sites (e.g., PCMag ~2%, Forbes ~2%) accounted for more than half of its citations.
Community content made up ~2%.
Wikipedia was also cited, but way less prominently.
Unique trait
Seems adept at mixing professional reviews with peer feedback, especially for consumer queries.
While it doesn’t always prominently display sources within its UI, internal sourcing mirrors AI Overview’s breadth, potentially with slightly less emphasis on blogs and more on news.
SEO takeaway
Similar strategies to AI Overviews apply.
Target high-quality blogs, authoritative publications, and relevant media (especially YouTube).
Content depth and broad web coverage are key.
Perplexity AI (Sonar mode): The expert and review curator
Preference
Strongly emphasizes trusted, expert sources and specialised review sites, adjusting based on industry.
Top sources
Blog/editorial content made up ~38% of citations, news ~23%, and product blogs ~7%.
Domains known for expert reviews (~9%), such as NerdWallet, Consumer Reports, and Investopedia, featured prominently.
Unique trait
Incorporates some UGC, but avoids low-quality sources.
Citation preference can vary significantly by topic (e.g., finance sites for finance queries, Reddit for ecommerce).
SEO takeaway
Cultivate presence on high-authority niche sites and respected review platforms relevant to your industry.
Encourage discussion on relevant forums.
Focus on factual, useful content (comparisons, guides, data).
Google AI Overviews: The broad aggregator
Top sources
Pulls from the widest mix of sources, mirroring the diversity of Google Search results.
Preference
Blog-style articles (~46%) and mainstream news (~20%) form the core.
Critically, community content (~4%, forums like Reddit/Quora) and social media (LinkedIn articles were the fourth most cited source) are significant contributors.
Reddit was the most-cited single site. YouTube and Quora were also frequent.
Vendor-authored “product blogs” saw notable inclusion (~7%).
Wikipedia was cited sparingly (<1%).
Unique trait
Favors specific, deep pages over homepages. (Search Engine Land’s Danny Goodwin reported that 82.5% of AI citations linked to deeply nested pages.)
Effectively blends expert content, community discussion, and even professional commentary from LinkedIn.
SEO takeaway
Requires a multi-faceted web presence.
Target:
High-quality blogs.
News outlets.
Relevant forums (Reddit or Quora).
Q&A sites.
Potentially even expert discussions on LinkedIn.
Don’t neglect deep, content-rich pages on your own site, especially well-structured listicles or guides (more on product blogs later).
Dig deeper: Want to beat AI Overviews? Produce unmistakably human content
Engine comparison summary: Key differences
Authority vs. breadth
ChatGPT and Perplexity lean toward high-authority, factual sources (Wikipedia, news, expert sites).
Google’s engines (Gemini and especially AI Overviews) cast a wider net, heavily incorporating blogs, community content (Reddit!), and even social / vendor content.
UGC appetite
Google’s engines have a strong appetite for UGC (Reddit / Quora), making up 2-5% of their citations. ChatGPT avoids it almost entirely (<0.5%), while Perplexity uses it selectively (~1%).
Blog reliance
Blogs form a foundation for all, but are dominant for Google’s engines (~43% blog, ~7% product_blog) and Perplexity (~38% blog, ~7% product_blog) compared to ChatGPT (~21% blog, ~1% product_blog).
Specific site dominance
ChatGPT leans heavily on Wikipedia.
Google’s engines show a strong affinity for Reddit.
Perplexity often favors industry-specific review/expert sites (like NerdWallet and ConsumerReports).
AI engine citation sources by category, Rankscale.ai
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How query type shapes citations: B2B vs. B2C vs. mixed
The type of query significantly alters where AI engines look for answers:
B2C queries
Examples: “best smartphone brands”, “top airlines”
Sources
Dominated by popular domains from:
Media (YouTube).
Tech review sites (PCMag, CNET).
Mainstream news rankings (Forbes, Business Insider).
Wikipedia and user reviews/communities (Reddit, Quora, Consumer Reports, TripAdvisor).
Focus
Blends expert opinions with crowd sentiment – highly relevant for consumer decisions.
Official company sites or blogs are rarely cited (<4%).
SEO implication
Target:
Consumer review sites.
Popular tech/lifestyle blogs.
Wikipedia.
Relevant community threads.
B2B queries
Examples: “top CRM software”, “top SEO software vendors”
Sources
Shifts toward:
Industry-specific sources and blogs.
Official company websites/blogs.
Professional communities.
Company sites/blogs (“product”, “product_blog”) made up ~17% of citations.
Niche B2B publications (TechTarget, QSR Magazine, FiercePharma), industry directories (Clutch.co), LinkedIn posts/articles (~2%), and analyst reports (Gartner, Statista) are common.
Mainstream news is frequent (~10%).
Focus
Prioritizes expert content, vendor information, and data-driven rankings suitable for a professional audience.
UGC is minimal.
SEO implication
Focus on placements in:
Industry publications.
Directories.
Analyst reports.
LinkedIn expert content.
Ensure your own site offers detailed, authoritative product information and comparisons.
Mixed-interest queries
Examples: “top pharmaceutical companies”, “renewable energy firms”)
Sources
Leans on:
Neutral, factual references like research reports, news, government/nonprofit data (.gov sites), academic/reference sites.
Industry awards (e.g., Skytrax for airlines).
News and blog sources made up nearly 70% of citations, higher than in B2C/B2B.
Fewer user opinions or direct vendor promotions.
Focus
Provides objective information using data-driven rankings (revenue, market share, innovation) suitable for a broad audience (investors, professionals, public).
SEO implication
Target mentions in industry reports, data compilations, official rankings, and reputable news sources covering the sector factually.
Top 5 cited domains per AI model, by B2B / B2C split (Rankscale.ai)
The crucial link: Web presence, search visibility, and AI citations
Let’s be clear on the cause and effect:
Strong organic search presence and broad web visibility leads to AI citations, not the other way around.
AI engines, particularly those integrated with search like AI Overviews and Gemini, often use top-ranking search results as a primary input for generating answers.
If your brand consistently ranks well due to solid SEO fundamentals (quality content, authority, backlinks, E-E-A-T signals), it’s more likely to be pulled into the AI’s consideration set.
However, it’s not just about ranking at Position 1.
Google emphasizes source quality (E-E-A-T) for AI citations.
We observed instances where highly authoritative content from a lower-ranking page, was cited over a less credible top-ranking page.
Brands with high visibility scores (reflecting detection rate and average rank) were frequently cited because they already dominated the conversation across various high-quality third-party sites (reviews, lists, forums).
SEO takeaways
Double down on foundational SEO.
Improve your organic footprint through high-quality, deep content and authoritative mentions across the web (third-party blogs, news, trusted forums, relevant directories).
Think of AI optimization as an outcome of excellent SEO, not a separate discipline. AI citations mirror your overall web authority.
Deep dive: The surprising role of product blogs in AI citations
One fascinating pattern emerged: the citation of “product blogs” – content published natively by commerce brands directly (vendor blogs).
Prevalence
In most cases, Perplexity (~7%), AI Overviews (~7%), and Gemini (~7%) cited vendor blogs.
ChatGPT rarely did (~1%).
Context
These citations occurred most often for “best X” or “top Y” queries (e.g., “top online learning platforms”).
Vendors creating comprehensive, listicle-style blog posts comparing products in their category (putting them in the first place and subsequently including competitors) seem to be:
Filling a content gap.
Ranking well.
Subsequently getting cited with content blindly taken over by AI engines.
Examples
We saw blogs from Thinkific, LearnWorlds, Monday.com, Pipedrive, SE Ranking, and HP cited as sources in AI answers about their respective industries.
Implications and SEO strategy
Opportunity
Creating high-quality, genuinely informative comparison content on your own blog can earn AI visibility, especially in niches with sparse third-party coverage.
Caution
This raises bias concerns. While AI cites the source, users may not realise that the objective comparison comes from a competitor.
To succeed and maintain credibility (aligning with E-E-A-T):
Vendor content must be thorough, fact-based, appear objective, and provide real value beyond self-promotion.
Overly salesy content likely won’t rank or be cited in the future.
Balance
Don’t rely solely on your own blog.
A diversified strategy including third-party mentions is crucial for credibility.
AI engines using product-blogs as citation source, by B2B / B2C split
Brand visibility: Who gets mentioned and how often?
Beyond source types, we looked at which brands get cited and how many per answer:
Engine differences in brand count:
ChatGPT and AI Overviews: Tend to cite few brands per answer (average ~3-4), focusing primarily on the dominant market leaders with the highest visibility (e.g., Netflix, Expedia, Salesforce).
Gemini: Cites a moderate number (average ~8), including top players and some secondary brands.
Perplexity: Returns longer lists (average ~13), including top brands and numerous niche or lower-visibility players.
Dominance vs. niche
All engines reliably cite the top 1-3 brands in a category (those with high visibility scores).
Due to their broader citation approach, Perplexity, and to some extent Gemini, offer more opportunities for mid-tier or niche brands to be mentioned.
Topic alignment
The top-cited brands consistently matched known market leaders (e.g., Salesforce for CRM, Netflix for Streaming, Apple/Samsung for Smartphones, Nike for Sportswear).
Visibility scores closely mirrored real-world market share and brand recognition.
Visibility correlation to the number of citation references
Brands with relatively high amounts of citation references pointing to their mention in the AI result clearly tend to have higher average visibility scores (a metric defined by detection and order of appearance).
Visibility/Citations Correlation – each point represents a brand with average visibility score and share of citation references (sources pointing to a mentioned brand).
SEO recommendations for enhanced AI visibility
Based on our analysis, here’s how to optimize for AI citations.
Monitor AI citations: Use tools to monitor AI citations and adapt your strategy by engaging in repeatedly cited sources or identifying influential categories and sources in AI-generated responses.
Dominate third-party authority sites: Get featured in high-quality listicles, reviews, and articles on respected industry blogs, news outlets, and review sites (e.g., CNET, NerdWallet, industry-specific publications). These are prime citation sources for all AI engines. The more, the better.
Build your foundational authority: Ensure a strong, accurate Wikipedia page and Google Knowledge Panel. These reinforce credibility, especially for models like ChatGPT.
Engage in relevant communities: Participate authentically in key forums (Reddit, Quora, industry-specific forums) and Q&A sites, particularly for B2C or community-driven topics. Google’s engines heavily rely on these.
Create high-quality “category hub” content (own site): Develop comprehensive, data-driven guides or comparisons on your own blog. Structure them well, cover competitors fairly (builds E-E-A-T), and optimize them for “best X” type queries. This is a key tactic for visibility in AI Overviews.
Amplify E-E-A-T signals: Showcase expertise through author bios, cite sources within your own content, keep information updated, and gather positive user reviews/testimonials.
Target industry-specific trusted hubs: Identify the go-to expert sites in your niche (e.g., Mayo Clinic for health, TechTarget for B2B tech) and strive for presence there. Perplexity often favors these.
Diversify your web presence: Aim for a balanced ecosystem of mentions – authoritative content on your own site and endorsements/discussions on credible third-party platforms.