If it feels like the search landscape is shifting beneath your feet… you’re not wrong.
With Google’s AI Overviews, Perplexity, and ChatGPT Search now powering answers for millions of users, marketers are facing a brave new world of organic visibility. Ranking #1 in classic blue links? That’s so 2022.
To help brands navigate this transformation, we at OtterlyAI analyzed 100,000 websites across three major AI search platforms.
The result? A first-of-its-kind AI Search Study that unpacks how brands are being mentioned, cited, and surfaced in AI-powered results—and what marketers can do about it.
Let’s break down the biggest insights—and why they matter to your next SEO strategy.
📊 TL;DR: Key Takeaways from the OtterlyAI AI Search Study
- Google AI Overviews delivers the most link citations, and triggers an AI Overview for 33.38% of search queries.
- ChatGPT Search heavily favors brand mentions over citations—good for awareness, bad for link-building.
- Perplexity offers the best balance between mentions and citations, ideal for reference-heavy SEO.
- Commercial intent dominates AI Search (62.7% of prompts), followed by informational (28.5%).
- User-generated content platforms like Reddit and Quora are outperforming traditional media in visibility.
👉 Want the full breakdown, data visualizations, and actionable recommendations? Download the full AI Search Study here:
AI Search Is Not Traditional Search—Here’s Why That Matters
Marketers are used to optimizing for Google’s 10 blue links, featured snippets, and maybe a few video carousels. But AI-powered results flip the script:
- No static SERP: Each AI answer is a generated response, built on summaries, citations, and sources chosen in real-time.
- Citation-based trust: Where traditional SEO rewarded keyword density and backlinks, AI search engines prioritize contextual accuracy and source diversity.
- Brand visibility ≠ link equity: Getting mentioned is not the same as getting linked. And not all platforms treat the two equally.
Understanding how each AI search engine behaves is the first step toward building an adaptive, future-proof strategy.
Platform Deep Dive: Google vs. ChatGPT vs. Perplexity
🔎 Google AI Overviews: The Citation King
Out of the 10,000 prompts we analyzed, Google’s AI Overviews triggered just 33.38% of the time. But when it did, it cited an average of 7.77 links per result—by far the highest of any platform.
Why it matters:
For brands focused on link acquisition and referral traffic, Google AIO still offers the best payoff—if you can get featured when it fires.
💡 Strategy tip:
Optimize content for high-authority, structured sources. Long-form, fact-rich pages (especially with schema markup) are more likely to get cited.
ChatGPT: Brand Visibility, Low Link Love
Since ChatGPT Search launched in February 2025 for all user groups worldwide, it’s gained major traction. Our study found it leads in brand mentions per prompt (4.01) but lags significantly in link citations—averaging just 1.72.
Why it matters:
ChatGPT is great for awareness, product discovery, and brand association—but don’t expect it to fuel your backlink profile.
💡 Strategy tip:
Ensure your brand is clearly represented across editorial-style content, FAQs, and summaries. Focus on natural language and conversational tone—ChatGPT loves that.
Perplexity: The Balanced Contender
Perplexity AI hits the sweet spot: it averages 3.77 brand mentions and 6.87 link citations per prompt. It’s not as popular as Google, but it’s the most evenly weighted engine in terms of citations vs. visibility.
Why it matters:
If you’re targeting B2B audiences or technical niches, Perplexity is a prime candidate for reference-driven SEO efforts.
💡 Strategy tip:
Publish expert-level explainers, research-backed content, and comparison pages that are highly citeable and trustworthy.
🔍 Intent Matters: What People Are Actually Searching for in AI Engines
When we categorized the 10,000 prompts, we found:
- 62.7% were commercial: Think “best CRM for agencies” or “top email marketing tools 2025.”
- 28.5% were informational: e.g., “How does AI search work?”
- 6.6% were transactional
- 2.2% were navigational
Implication for marketers:
AI Search isn’t just about buying intent. Users rely on these tools for research and evaluation, so you need content that supports both decision-making and discovery.
💡 Strategy tip:
Update your product comparison pages, customer reviews, and how-to guides to align with these AI-intent trends.
🌐 What Kind of Sites Actually Show Up in AI Results?
This is where it gets even more interesting.
From the 100,000 domain citations we analyzed, here’s what dominated:
- Forums & communities: Reddit was the most visible site across all AI search platforms. That’s right—more than Wikipedia.
- News & editorial: Sites like Forbes, TechRadar, and niche publishers still perform well, especially in Google AIO.
- Brand websites: Companies’ own sites show up frequently for product-related queries.
- Educational resources: Wikipedia and Britannica are still going strong.
- Social media? Not so much: Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok had negligible visibility.
💡 Takeaway:
If you’re relying on traditional social to fuel organic traffic, you may be invisible in AI search.
💡 Strategy tip:
Get active in Reddit threads, Quora answers, and community forums. Also: treat your blog like a source, not a sales brochure.
🔗 Who’s Getting the Citations?
Want to know who’s winning the AI Search game?
Here are the most-cited domains on each platform:
- Google AI Overviews: YouTube, Wikipedia, Forbes
- ChatGPT: Reddit, Amazon, LinkedIn
- Perplexity: Reddit, Wikipedia, Yelp
Reddit alone accounts for 3 out of every 100 citations in AI results. That’s insane reach for UGC.
💡 Strategy tip:
Brands should support SEO efforts with community engagement and digital PR—your next link might come from a thoughtful Reddit comment, not a blog post.
What This Means for SEO & GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)
AI Search isn’t killing SEO—it’s evolving it.
Instead of just optimizing for Google, brands now need to think about how AI systems interpret, summarize, and source content. It’s less about keywords, and more about being the answer.
That means:
- Structuring your content with clarity and citations
- Creating summary-friendly sections
- Building authority through digital PR and community mentions
- Monitoring your brand’s mentions across platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity
👉 Want a head start?
We built OtterlyAI to monitor how your brand shows up across AI search engines—brand mentions, citations, and visibility trends in one dashboard. Try for free here.
Also make sure to check out our Generative Engine Optimization Guide as well as GEO Audit tool inside OtterlyAI.
Final Thoughts: Adapt or Be Invisible
The AI Search era is here—and it’s reshaping how users find, trust, and choose brands. Whether you’re a CMO or an in-the-trenches SEO lead, it’s time to broaden your strategy beyond Google rankings.
The good news? The brands that adapt early are the ones that will own the next wave of organic visibility.
📥 Want all the data, graphs, and strategic insights?