AI Search Analyzed 107 Million Answers: Where Brands Get Cited From

AI search engines — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews — don't pull from random sources when answering. In every industry they return again and again to a specific set of sites, and that set varies sharply from sector to sector. Trendos, a platform that tracks GEO (Generative Engine Optimization — optimizing content to get cited in AI answers), analyzed 107 million AI responses this year and identified the ten most-cited sources for each system across three industries: IT and software, consumer goods, and telecom and media services.

The results show user-generated content — forums, Reddit, YouTube, and social media — accounts for nearly half of all citations across all three industries: 51% in IT, 50% in consumer goods, and 50% in telecom services. The difference shows up in the other half. In IT and software, a company's own website is barely a factor — just 2% — while independent editorial and reference sources (review platforms like G2, Clutch, and Gartner, plus trade publications) make up 47%. In consumer goods, it's the opposite: brand and retail pages (Amazon storefronts, product pages) reach 46%, while independent editorial sources drop to just 4%.

What does this mean in practice? For software and B2B service vendors, the most effective path isn't improving your own website — it's filling out profiles on platforms like G2, Clutch, and Gartner, continuously gathering fresh reviews, and earning natural mentions in trade publications. For telecom and media companies, an accurate, up-to-date Wikipedia article and consistent press coverage matter most, since Wikipedia dominates the entire list in several AI systems. For brands selling physical products, effort should stay focused on their own pages: product descriptions, specifications, and the reviews section should be written fully and clearly in Q&A format, since that's exactly the content AI reads back as its answer.

There are also big differences between the systems themselves. Google AI Overviews is the most "social" system — YouTube and Reddit make up three-quarters of its ten most-cited sources across nearly every industry. ChatGPT, by contrast, takes the most "editorial" approach, with Wikipedia, trade publications, and reference sources leading the way. Perplexity sits between the two, drawing first on public discussion, then on review platforms and publications. Gemini shifts sharply by industry — leaning on editorial sources for services and on brand and retail pages for physical products.

One source consistently leads across all three industries: Reddit. Across all four systems, it ranks among the top three most-cited sources in every category, often taking first place. The study's authors are clear about what this means: don't flood forums with brand spam — participate honestly and helpfully in conversations your audience is already having, since that's what naturally earns a mention in AI answers.