We analyzed over 1 million AI citations across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews. The results revealed something critical: if your site relies heavily on JavaScript, you’re invisible to the AI engines reshaping how people discover content.
The JavaScript Problem Nobody’s Talking About
AI crawlers can’t interact with JavaScript the way search engines do. When ChatGPT’s searchbot visits your site, it sees what’s in your raw HTML. If your content loads dynamically through JavaScript, AI crawlers see an empty shell.
Our research shows that sites with high static content visibility dramatically outperform those with JavaScript-rendered content.
Think about it: you’ve built a beautiful product page, written detailed FAQs. But if that content only appears after JavaScript executes, it might as well not exist for AI search purposes.
The Citation Landscape: Where Brands Actually Get Discovered
Our September 2025 study of 1M+ citations revealed which types of sites win in AI search:
ChatGPT citations break down as 44.7% brands, 25.1% news/media, and 8.1% community forums. The platform heavily favors Reddit, Wikipedia, and established news sources.
Google AI Overviews skew even more toward brands at 59.8%, with 16.7% news/media citations. When Google’s AI does cite sources, it wants authoritative, easily crawlable content.
Perplexity takes a different approach, with 28.9% news/media and 16.9% community content. It’s more balanced but still requires technical accessibility.
The pattern is clear: AI search engines need content they can actually read. JavaScript rendering creates a barrier that even the most valuable content can’t overcome.
Why we partnered with Prerender.io
Prerender solves the core technical problem: it delivers fully rendered, static HTML to AI crawlers while keeping your dynamic site intact for users. When GPTBot, PerplexityBot, or Claude-Searchbot arrives, they get the complete, rendered page.
The partnership connects OtterlyAI’s visibility analytics with Prerender’s infrastructure layer. You see exactly where you’re getting cited (or where you’re missing out), then Prerender ensures your content is technically accessible to every AI platform.
“We’re excited to partner with Prerender to help brands understand how AI is reshaping discovery,” said Klaus-M. Schremser, Co-founder of OtterlyAI. “Together, we can help businesses not only stay visible but thrive in the next evolution of search.”
The Three Basics to Get Cited by AI
Getting cited by AI search requires fixing three technical fundamentals:
- Your robots.txt file must explicitly allow AI crawlers. Many sites accidentally block GPTBot, PerplexityBot, and Claude-Searchbot without realizing it. Check your robots.txt against the full list of AI crawler user-agents.
- Your hosting and CDN configuration matters. Some CDNs block AI bots by default. Your infrastructure needs to recognize and allow these new crawlers, which behave differently than traditional search bots.
- Your content must be static or pre-rendered. This is the killer. If your content lives in JavaScript bundles, AI crawlers will never see it. Solutions like Prerender turn your dynamic content into static HTML specifically for these bots.
Content Still Matters (But Only If AI Can See It)
Technical accessibility is table stakes, not a competitive advantage. Once your site is crawlable, content quality determines citation rates.
Our study found that AI platforms heavily favor editorial content. News articles, in-depth guides, and well-structured educational content dominate citations across all three platforms.
Wikipedia and Reddit appear so frequently because they combine technical accessibility with content that AI models trust. Both sites serve static HTML, structure information clearly, and maintain high editorial standards.
Your brand can achieve similar results by ensuring AI crawlers can access your best content: detailed product documentation, comprehensive buying guides, technical specifications, and original research.
The Partnership in Practice
Here’s how the Prerender and OtterlyAI integration works:
Start with visibility tracking in OtterlyAI. See exactly which AI platforms cite your content, which competitors dominate your topic area, and where you’re missing citations you should be getting.
Run a technical audit using OtterlyAI’s crawler simulation tool. This reveals whether AI bots can actually read your content or if JavaScript is blocking them.
If you have JavaScript rendering issues, implement Prerender. It sits between your site and AI crawlers, serving fully rendered HTML without changing your site architecture.
Monitor citation improvements in OtterlyAI. Track how technical fixes translate to increased visibility across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews.
The combination bridges the gap between knowing you’re invisible and actually fixing the problem.
Who This Matters For Most
Ecommerce sites built on Shopify, Magento, or similar tech face the biggest JavaScript challenges. Product descriptions, specifications, and reviews often load dynamically, making them invisible to AI search.
SaaS companies with documentation sites, knowledge bases, and feature pages need AI visibility for product discovery. Technical decision-makers increasingly ask ChatGPT to compare solutions.
Publishers and media companies compete directly with AI-generated summaries. If AI platforms can’t crawl your articles, they’ll cite competitors or simply generate responses without attribution.
B2B brands with detailed product information, case studies, and technical resources should appear in AI responses to industry queries. JavaScript rendering blocks this visibility entirely.
What Happens Next
AI search isn’t replacing traditional SEO; it’s creating a parallel discovery channel. People still use Google, but they also ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude for recommendations, comparisons, and answers.
The brands that win in this environment will be those that solve both the visibility problem (knowing where you’re cited) and the technical problem (ensuring AI can actually read your content).
That’s what this partnership delivers. OtterlyAI shows you the landscape; Prerender makes you visible in it.
The infrastructure is here. The analytics are here. The only question is whether you’ll fix the technical gaps before your competitors do.
Ready to make your site visible to AI search? Explore all of OtterlyAI’s technology partnerships at otterly.ai/technology-partners.