How is this measured?

We ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude the real questions customers ask about a business or category, and check whether each business is cited in the answer. Every figure here is aggregated across businesses using Zaduky and fully anonymized — a benchmark is only published once at least 5 businesses stand behind it.

What is a 'citation rate'?

The share of AI answers, across the tested prompts and engines, that cite a business's own domain. A higher rate means the AI recommends and links that business more often.

Why do some features correlate with more citations?

AI answer engines favor sources that are structured, complete, and independently verifiable. A stated price answers a top buyer question; credentials and third-party links build the trust AI weighs when choosing whom to cite.

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Original research · 2026

The State of AI Citations

How often AI assistants actually recommend businesses — by industry — and which profile features earn more citations. Measured on real prompts across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini & Claude.

The first edition is being compiled

We publish a benchmark only once at least 5 businesses in a category are tracked — no small-sample guesses, no fabricated figures. As more businesses run visibility checks with Zaduky, this report fills in with real per-industry citation rates and the features that earn them. Subscribe below to get the first edition.

Methodology

Real prompts — the questions customers ask AI about a business or category — run across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini & Claude.
A “citation” = the AI’s answer links the business’s own domain, not just mentions the name.
Aggregated + anonymized across businesses using Zaduky; a figure is published only at 5+ businesses.
Google AI Overviews has no API and is excluded from automated figures.

FAQ

How is this measured?: We ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude the real questions customers ask about a business or category, and check whether each business is cited in the answer. Every figure here is aggregated across businesses using Zaduky and fully anonymized — a benchmark is only published once at least 5 businesses stand behind it.
What is a 'citation rate'?: The share of AI answers, across the tested prompts and engines, that cite a business's own domain. A higher rate means the AI recommends and links that business more often.
Why do some features correlate with more citations?: AI answer engines favor sources that are structured, complete, and independently verifiable. A stated price answers a top buyer question; credentials and third-party links build the trust AI weighs when choosing whom to cite.

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