Citations and mentions are different things. An answer can name your product without linking to your site, and it can link to a “best of” list that names you. Both help in different ways. Being named is what the buyer reads. A citation shows where the AI got the idea.
Most citations point to other people’s sites. In AirOps’ review, “best of” lists were the most-cited kind of page, and 80.9% of those were on third-party sites. The same review found that 44% of citations come from the first 30% of a page, so a clear answer near the top helps (AirOps).
Each AI tool cites differently. AirOps found that only 11% of websites were cited by both ChatGPT and Perplexity. And people rarely click them: Pew found people clicked a link inside Google’s AI summary on 1% of visits (Pew Research Center).
Sources
Every number here links to where it came from. We checked each source on 6 Nov 2026.
AirOps Which page types earn AI citations
airops.com Checked
AirOps sells content software. It doesn't give the sample size for every figure.
Pew Research Center Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears
pewresearch.org Checked
Browsing data from 900 US adults, March 2025.