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The short version
Where does AI get its answers when people ask who to buy from? We counted every link in 10,095 answers from ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews, collected over four weeks for eight real businesses. That's 88,813 links in all.
- Most citations go to businesses' own websites: competitors, suppliers and the tracked businesses themselves. Together that's 69%. (By type)
- Directories and review sites come next at 7.5%, then Google's own pages at 5.6%. Reddit was 0.7%. (By type)
- The AI systems cite very differently. AI Overviews averaged 14.4 links per answer; Gemini 4.9, with no link at all in 7% of answers. (By AI system)
- Every market has its own sources. Of 1,007 sites cited in five or more answers, 917 appeared for only one business. (Concentration)
How we counted
The short answer: every link, in every answer, for four weeks.
Our tracker, LLM Visibility Lens, asks each business's buying questions every morning in five AI systems, logged out, from the business's own area, and stores every link each answer cites. This census covers every answer from 30 September to 28 October 2026 for eight businesses:
- Kato Electrical, a Vancouver electrician and our public demo.
- Seven anonymous businesses: a Massachusetts roofer, a Miami dental training institute, an online mobility store, an online sod farm, an industrial software company, a Florida shower door company and a Los Angeles psychology practice.
Some of these businesses were tracked for fewer days, so they contribute fewer answers. We left out our two research accounts.
| Count | |
|---|---|
| AI answers | 10,095 |
| Links in those answers | 88,813 |
| Answers with at least one link | 9,827 (97%) |
| Sites cited in 5 or more answers | 1,007 |
| Citations to those sites | 42,205 |
We sorted each of the 1,007 sites into a type by hand. "Citations" here means answers that cited a site, so one answer citing the same site twice counts once. Sites cited in fewer than five answers aren't in the type breakdown.
What this can't tell you. A citation is a link AI showed. It isn't proof that the AI relied on that page, or that the business behind it was recommended. These are buying questions for eight businesses, mostly local and specialist ones. General-knowledge questions would give a different mix. Google explains how its AI features choose pages in AI features and your website.
I sell this tracker, so weigh my view. Kato's sources can be checked in the demo.
What type of site AI cites
The short answer: for buying questions, AI mostly reads businesses' own websites, and only then directories, Google and everything else.
| Type of site | Share of citations |
|---|---|
| Other businesses' websites (competitors, suppliers, vendors) | 63.5% |
| Directories and review sites (BBB, Angi, Yelp, HomeStars and others) | 7.5% |
| The tracked business's own website | 5.8% |
| Google's own pages and Google Maps | 5.6% |
| Associations and manufacturers | 3.3% |
| Big retailers (Lowe's, Home Depot, Amazon) | 2.8% |
| Social media (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn) | 2.7% |
| Government, regulators and utilities | 2.4% |
| "Best of" list sites | 2.2% |
| Media, guides and calculators | 1.4% |
| Universities | 1.3% |
| Reddit and forums | 0.7% |
| Booking pages and app stores | 0.7% |
Three things stood out to me.
AI compares businesses by reading their websites. Nearly two thirds of the citations went to individual businesses' sites. When AI answers "who should I hire", it reads the candidates' own pages. So yours has to make the case clearly, or it helps someone else; see when your own web page helps a competitor and which pages AI reads.
Directories matter, but they're a slice, not the whole pie. Directories, lists, Google's pages and social media together made up about 18%. They're often where AI checks reputation; we broke them down by trade in the directories AI reads.
Reddit was small. For these buying questions, Reddit and other forums made up 0.7% of citations. Reddit was cited in 276 answers across seven of the eight businesses. Treat claims that "AI just reads Reddit" with caution for local and specialist buying questions.
How each AI system cites
The short answer: they cite in very different volumes, and Gemini often cites nothing at all.
| AI system | Answers | Links per answer | Different sites cited | Answers with no link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | 2,104 | 7.6 | 980 | 1.6% |
| Gemini | 2,027 | 4.9 | 589 | 6.9% |
| Google AI Mode | 2,101 | 7.7 | 482 | 3.0% |
| AI Overviews | 1,807 | 14.4 | 1,183 | 1.7% |
| Perplexity | 2,056 | 10.0 | 914 | 0% |
- AI Overviews cite the most links and the widest range of sites. More places to appear, but more competition for attention.
- Google AI Mode cites fewer different sites than anyone, leaning on a narrow set, especially Google's own pages; see Google AI Mode for local businesses.
- Gemini cites the fewest links, and answered without any link 139 times. It leans on Google Maps.
- Perplexity cited something in every single answer.
- ChatGPT sits in the middle, with a wide spread of sites; see which websites ChatGPT trusts.
Our earlier comparison of Perplexity vs ChatGPT shows how those differences play out for a single business.
The 25 most-cited sites
The short answer: Google tops the list, followed by a mix of individual businesses' sites and a handful of big platforms.
- Google's own pages were cited in 1,795 answers, and Google Maps in another 448.
- Fourteen of the top 25 were individual businesses' websites, including two of the tracked businesses' own sites and Intel Power Electric, one of Kato's competitors. Kato's own site was just outside the top 25, in 247 answers.
- The platforms in the top 25: Facebook, Lowe's, BBB, Angi, Straumann (an implant maker), Home Depot, HomeStars, Reddit and Yelp.
We keep the other tracked businesses and their competitors anonymous, so business sites are described rather than named.
Every market has its own sources
The short answer: there's no universal list of "AI sources". Most sites mattered for one market only.
- Of 1,007 sites cited in five or more answers, 917 were cited for just one business. Only 90 appeared for two or more.
- Those 90 are the big platforms: Google (seven businesses), Facebook and YouTube (eight each), Reddit (seven), Yelp (five), Lowe's, Home Depot, Angi and HomeAdvisor (four each), BBB (three).
- The citations are spread thin. The 10 most-cited sites took 17.6% of citations, the top 25 took 28.5%, and it took 79 sites to reach half.
So "get on the top AI sources" lists don't transfer between trades or towns. A roofer in Massachusetts and an electrician in Vancouver share almost no sources beyond the big platforms. Find yours by looking at the links in your own answers; how to get recommended by ChatGPT walks through it.
What this means for where to spend effort
- Your own website first. AI reads businesses' websites more than anything else. Make every page say who you are, what you do, where, and how to book; the AI visibility checklist covers it.
- Then the platforms that appear across markets: your Google Business Profile, Facebook page, BBB and the big review sites for your country.
- Then your market's own sources: the directories, list sites, associations and regulators that show up in your answers. They differ for every trade.
- Don't chase one AI system's habits blindly. AI Overviews spread links widely, AI Mode concentrates them, and Gemini often cites nothing. Track all five; see which AI recommends local businesses most.
- Make sure AI can reach your site at all. Check OpenAI's crawler documentation against your robots.txt.
How to see your own sources
LLM Visibility Lens records every link in every answer for your questions and lists the sites AI read, separating directories you can join from competitors' websites. See Kato's in the live demo. The free question finder writes the questions to track, plans start free, and agencies can report under their own name; see the agency plan.
More reading:
- ChatGPT citations for local businesses
- AI share of voice
- What to fix first when AI ignores a client
- Questions nobody searches on Google
- Why a single AI visibility score can mislead you
- How to report AI visibility to clients
- Invisible on Google, recommended by AI
- 5 AIs, same questions, 1,814 answers
- 5 AI systems, 35 questions
- Google Business Profile and AI answers
- How to rank in AI Overviews
- AI Overview tracking for near me searches
- Spoken questions
- How to rank in ChatGPT
- Why there's no rank #1 in ChatGPT
- What one free check can and can't do
- We asked AI who to hire 80 times
The method is on the how it works page. There's also a comparison with Semrush's AI visibility tool, the changelog, the FAQ page and the security page. If you'd like me to look at where AI gets its answers for your business, get in touch.
Questions people ask
Where does AI get its answers for buying questions?
In our data, mostly from businesses' own websites: 69% of citations went to the tracked businesses' sites and their competitors'. Directories and review sites were 7.5%, Google's own pages 5.6%, and associations, retailers, social media, regulators and list sites made up most of the rest.
What sources does ChatGPT use?
ChatGPT averaged 7.6 links per answer and cited 980 different sites over four weeks in our data, a wide spread. For local businesses it leaned on businesses' own websites, "best of" list sites, BBB and the relevant regulator.
Does AI use Reddit as a source?
Sometimes, but less than you might expect for buying questions. Reddit and other forums made up 0.7% of citations in our data, even though Reddit appeared for seven of the eight businesses.
Which AI system cites the most sources?
Google's AI Overviews averaged 14.4 links per answer and cited the widest range of sites, 1,183 in four weeks. Perplexity cited something in every answer. Gemini cited the fewest links and answered without any link 6.9% of the time.
Are the same websites cited for every business?
No. Of 1,007 sites cited in five or more answers, 917 were cited for only one business. Only big platforms like Google, Facebook, YouTube, Reddit, Yelp, BBB and the big retailers appeared across several markets.
How can I find out which sources AI uses for my business?
Ask your customers' buying questions in each AI system over a couple of weeks and note every link in the answers. An AI visibility tracker does this daily and lists the sites, separating directories you can join from competitors' websites.
Harjeet Singh Bedi Founder, LLM Visibility Lens · SEO consultant, Bedi SEO
Harjeet has worked in SEO since 2010, first in agencies and now running Bedi SEO for local businesses, online stores and agencies. He built LLM Visibility Lens after clients kept asking whether they showed up in ChatGPT and other AI tools and nobody could give them an honest, measured answer. Every figure in this article comes from answers his tool collected.