We analyzed 3.9 million citations across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google's AI search tools. Here is what earns a brand a place in the answer.
More people now start their search in an AI platform instead of a search bar. When those platforms answer, they show their work through citations, the links to the sources they chose to trust. For content teams, a citation can be a stronger signal than a mention: it means the model credited your work as an authoritative source and sent readers to it.
Stacker sits between brands creating content and the publications who pick it up, which gives us a rare view into how brand content performs across millions of AI responses. This report is what we found.
Brand sites were cited in 29% of AI responses. Editorial sites were cited in 21%. Research doesn't need to come from an impartial third party to be valuable to AI.
Across nearly every vertical, the most-cited brands built content from their own data rather than summarizing others' work. Experian, GoodRx, Ramp, and Realtor.com all earned their spots this way.
641 Stacker network domains were cited by AI during the study window. 290 of them were cited for stories picked up from the Stacker Newswire, expanding the surface area where AI can find brand content on sites it already trusts.
ChatGPT and Claude lean on research, government, and editorial sources. Google's AI tools and Perplexity lean on YouTube, Reddit, and social media. A strategy built for one may not work on another.
Research, government, editorial
YouTube, Reddit, social media
See the full top 10 for every vertical in the report.
See exactly which sources AI trusts in your category, and what the most-cited brands are doing to earn their place.