AI search citation study (2026): who ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini recommend when buyers ask for an SEO agency

When buyers ask ChatGPT, Perplexity or Gemini which SEO agency to hire, 87% of the answers cite a directory or a "best agencies" list. That's 196 of 225 answers we collected on 2 and 3 November 2026 in Australia, the US and the UK. Perplexity did it every time, 80 answers out of 80. Google's AI Overviews behave differently: they cited a list in 18 of 42 answers, leaned on agencies' own pages and YouTube, and on most Australian city searches Google showed a map pack and no AI Overview at all.

So the engines mostly build their shortlist from what other sites say about you. Your own website comes second.

This is Searchmaxxed's own measurement. We're an AI-native search team, and we make companies the answer in Google and in the AI engines their buyers ask. That's why we track these answers. The full data set is free to download and reuse with attribution: ai-search-citations-2026-11.csv.

One more thing before the tables: we didn't come out of this well. Searchmaxxed was named in 3 of 241 AI answers. More on that below.

In summary

• 87% of chatbot answers (196 of 225) about hiring an SEO agency cited at least one directory or "best agencies" list. Perplexity did it in 80 of 80, Gemini in 38 of 45 and ChatGPT in 78 of 100.
• Two directories carry outsized weight. Semrush's agency directory (agencies.semrush.com) and Clutch together took 200 of 1,846 citations (10.8%), spread over 578 different websites.
• Lists beat your own pages in the chatbots. Directories and lists made up 62% of Perplexity's citations and 56% of ChatGPT's. In AI Overviews they made up 9%, and agencies' own pages took 52%.
• On city searches, the map pack decides. Four of five Australian "seo agency [city]" searches showed no AI Overview, and all five showed a map pack.
• ChatGPT changes its mind. Across two identical runs, only 20% of the sites it cited in Australia appeared both times. Perplexity's overlap was 99%.

Cite this study as: Searchmaxxed, "AI search citation study: who AI engines recommend when buyers ask for an SEO agency", November 2026, searchmaxxed.com/research/ai-search-citations-study. Data: /data/ai-search-citations-2026-11.csv, free to use with attribution.

How did we run the study?

We turned 42 agency-hiring searches into plain buyer questions, asked each one in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini, and recorded every source each answer linked and every agency it named. We also pulled the live Google results page for each search to capture the AI Overview, its sources and the map pack. Collection ran through DataForSEO's AI answer and Google results APIs, with web search switched on for every engine.

That's 241 chatbot answers and 54 Google results pages. Each search became one question, asked the same way in every engine: "seo for builders" became "Who is the best SEO agency for builders in Australia?", and "chatgpt seo agency" became "Which agency can get my business recommended by ChatGPT?" The Google pages used the search term itself.

What counts as a citation. A citation is a link the answer shows as a source. Each URL counts once per answer. Gemini's redirect links were resolved to the real page where they could be. For AI Overviews, we counted the links in the Overview and in its expandable sections.

How we sorted sources. Each cited URL got one type from its domain and address: a directory (agency marketplaces and review platforms such as Clutch, Semrush's agency directory, Sortlist and DesignRush), a "best agencies" list (articles ranking several providers, usually titled "best" or "top"), an agency's own page (a company's service, home or case study page), an article or guide, YouTube, Reddit or a forum, LinkedIn, a news site or press wire, or a Google business listing. These rules agreed with the labels from our 2 November deep dive on 95.4% of URLs, and the headline moves by one answer (197 instead of 196) on those labels.

What counts as a named agency. We searched each answer's text for 45 agency names that appear across the answers, including Searchmaxxed. An answer counts once per agency. The list doesn't cover every agency the engines mentioned, so treat the agency tables as counts for those 45 names. The Searchmaxxed counts are a direct search for our name in every answer.

The limits. This is a snapshot from two days, not a census. Forty-two searches and 241 answers is enough to show strong patterns, like Perplexity citing a list 80 times in 80, but small differences between engines could move on a rerun. Gemini was rate-limited on 2 November, so it ran once and covered 25 of the 30 Australian searches (cybersecurity, ecommerce, financial adviser, mortgage broker and Shopify were skipped). Gemini also took no country setting, so its answers weren't localised the way ChatGPT's and Perplexity's were. US and UK Perplexity ran once. AI Overviews are one desktop capture per search, and they change. The Australian and US/UK question sets differ, which matters for the comparison further down. Two how-to questions ("How do I get my business to show up in ChatGPT answers?" and "How do I make my company show up in AI search results?") sit in the data but are left out of every agency figure in this article.

Which sources do AI engines cite when buyers ask for an SEO agency?

AI engines cite "best agencies" lists and directories in most answers, and agencies' own pages in many of them. Perplexity cited a list or directory in all 80 of its answers, Gemini in 84% and ChatGPT in 78%. Google's AI Overviews were the exception: lists appeared in 43% of them, while YouTube appeared in 62% and agencies' own pages in 95%.

Share of answers citing each source type (agency questions, all markets)

Source: Searchmaxxed AI search citation study, 2 to 3 Nov 2026. AI Overview figures cover the 42 agency searches where Google showed one.

Two patterns stand out. ChatGPT and Perplexity cited no YouTube video and no Reddit thread at all for these questions. Plenty of studies of AI citations report Reddit as a top source, but when the question is "who should I hire", these two engines go to lists, directories and agency sites instead.

Google's AI Overviews do the opposite. They explain the service, using agencies' own pages, guides and YouTube videos, and rarely hand over a shortlist.

Which websites do AI engines cite most?

Semrush's agency directory and Clutch are the two most-cited websites in the study, with 121 and 79 citations. After them the field is wide: 578 different websites were cited, 309 of them only once, and the ten most-cited sites took 24.8% of all 1,846 citations.

The 15 most-cited websites (agency questions, all engines and markets)

Source: Searchmaxxed AI search citation study, 2 to 3 Nov 2026. A website can be cited more than once in an answer when the answer links several of its pages.

Notice who publishes the lists. Local Digital, First Page Sage and Uprise Digital are agencies, and their most-cited pages are their own "best agencies" articles. Most of the lists the engines lean on are written by agencies.

Do AI engines cite an agency's own website or third-party pages?

Third-party pages win in the chatbots and agencies' own pages win in AI Overviews. Of every 100 sources Perplexity cited, 62 were directories or lists and 34 were agencies' own pages. AI Overviews flip it. Over half their sources (52 in 100) were agencies' own pages, and just 9 were directories or lists.

Share of citations by source (agency questions)

Source: Searchmaxxed AI search citation study, 2 to 3 Nov 2026.

Agencies' own lists are a special case worth a closer look. When an answer cited an agency's own site, did it go on to name that agency? Often, yes, but not always.

Source: Searchmaxxed AI search citation study, 2 to 3 Nov 2026. ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini answers.

The engines also read the small print. In one Perplexity answer about ecommerce SEO in Australia, our own list was source number one. Perplexity noted that the list "explicitly states that its top-ranked agency is run by the publisher and is not an independent ranking", and left us out of its recommendations. In three answers, Perplexity warned readers that some agency rankings are "self-published". So a list on your own site can go either way: First Page Sage was named in 22 of the 27 answers that cited its site, and we were named in 1 of the 14 that cited our lists. Being read isn't the same as being named.

Which agencies do AI engines name most?

In Australia, StudioHawk was named most, in 50 of 145 answers, followed by Prosperity Media (36) and SIXGUN (25). In the US and UK, First Page Sage led with 27 of 80 answers, then iPullRank (23) and Loopex Digital (19). The most-named agencies appear across the most-cited lists and directories, and they tend to have a page for the exact service the buyer asked about. Safari Digital's 26 citations, for example, went to separate pages for builders, accountants, mortgage brokers, lawyers, dentists and roofers.

Source: Searchmaxxed AI search citation study, 2 to 3 Nov 2026. ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini answers to agency questions; counts cover the 45 agency names we tracked.

ChatGPT was the most reluctant to pick. In 28 of its 100 answers it said there "isn't a single" best agency, and one Australian answer said it couldn't verify current rankings live, so it wouldn't "make up a definitive winner". Perplexity and Gemini named more agencies per answer and stuck closer to the lists they cited.

Do AI Overviews or the map pack decide city searches?

The map pack does. For "seo agency" searches in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and the Gold Coast, Google showed a map pack and no AI Overview. Melbourne was the only city search with an AI Overview, and three of its seven sources were Google business listings.

Source: Searchmaxxed AI search citation study, Google results captured 2 Nov 2026.

The pattern holds beyond cities. Across all 54 Google results pages, 8 showed no AI Overview, and every one of those 8 showed a map pack: the four city searches above, "law firm marketing agency" and "ecommerce seo agency" in Australia, and "best seo agency" and "law firm seo agency" in the US. When Google reads a search as local, it hands the answer to its map, so a business's Google Business Profile decides who gets seen.

How do Australia and the US/UK differ?

Australian answers lean on directories, and US and UK answers lean on "best agencies" lists. Directories appeared in 68% of Australian chatbot answers and 33% of US/UK ones, and Semrush's agency directory took 119 Australian citations against 2 in the US and UK. In the US and UK, lists made up 56% of all citations, against 18% in Australia.

Source: Searchmaxxed AI search citation study, 2 to 3 Nov 2026.

Read this table with the question mix in mind. Half of the US/UK agency questions were about AI search agencies (AI SEO, GEO, AEO, AI search optimisation and ChatGPT SEO), a young category with few directory listings and plenty of fresh lists. The Australian set was mostly industry and city questions, where directories have years of listings. In Australia, Semrush's directory appeared for 20 of the 30 searches, in 38 of 60 Perplexity answers and 16 of 25 Gemini answers, but in only 4 ChatGPT answers.

How consistent are AI answers from one run to the next?

Perplexity is consistent and ChatGPT isn't. We asked ChatGPT and Perplexity every Australian question twice on the same morning. Perplexity cited nearly the same websites both times, a 99% overlap, while ChatGPT's overlap was just 20% in Australia and 36% in the US and UK.

Overlap is the number of websites cited in both runs divided by the number cited in either. Source: Searchmaxxed AI search citation study, 2 to 3 Nov 2026.

That changes how you win each one. With Perplexity, getting onto the few sources it trusts for your search gets you read every time someone asks. ChatGPT draws a fresh hand on each run, so the business that appears across many sources gets named more often, and a single check tells you very little.

How often was Searchmaxxed named?

Rarely. Searchmaxxed was named in 3 of 241 AI answers, all of them from Perplexity: twice for "Who is the best SEO agency for plastic surgeons in Australia?" and once for the UK question about getting recommended in AI search. ChatGPT and Gemini never named us, no AI Overview cited us, and searchmaxxed.com wasn't in Google's top 10 for any of the 54 searches.

Source: Searchmaxxed AI search citation study, 1 to 3 Nov 2026.

The two Australian answers that named us both cited our dedicated page on plastic surgeon SEO. Our "best agencies" lists were read 14 times and got us named once. That's the study's main lesson in miniature: a page that answers the buyer's exact question can get you named, and being cited isn't enough on its own.

We're publishing this because it's true, and because it's the starting line we'll measure ourselves against.

How does this compare with other AI citation studies?

Most AI citation studies measure every kind of question. This one measures a single buying decision, and the sources change with it. The biggest difference is Reddit: general studies put it at or near the top for ChatGPT, while here ChatGPT and Perplexity cited it zero times.

The takeaway: averages across all topics won't tell you where your buyers' answers come from. Check the sources for your own buying questions.

What does this mean for a business that wants to be named?

It means the shortlist is mostly written before a buyer reaches your website. To be named, you need to appear on the lists and directories the engines read for your exact search, and have a page of your own that answers that search plainly enough to quote. Here's what that looks like in practice, based on the data above.

1. Be on the lists and directories the engines cite for your search. Directories or lists appeared in 87% of chatbot answers. Find the ones cited for your service and city, then earn a fair place on them with a complete profile and real reviews.
2. Own one page for each service and market you want to be named for. Both Australian answers that named us cited a page built for exactly that search. The most-named agencies had pages like that too, one per industry.
3. Rank in Google for the search itself. AI Overviews took 52% of their sources from agencies' own pages. Gemini ran its own "best" or "top" search before answering in 42 of 45 agency questions, such as "top law firm SEO agencies Sydney", so the pages that rank for those searches are the ones it reads.
4. Treat your Google Business Profile as the city answer. On four of five city searches, Google gave a map pack and nothing else.
5. Add video if your buyers use Google. AI Overviews cited YouTube in 62% of answers. So did 13 of 20 US/UK Gemini answers.
6. Measure your own questions, more than once. ChatGPT's sources overlapped by only 20% between identical runs, so judge it on many answers, not one screenshot. Our guide to tracking your AI visibility shows how.

If you want the deeper reasons a rival keeps getting picked, read why ChatGPT recommends your competitor.

This is the work we do. With AI search optimisation, we go after the answers your buyers get in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google's AI Overviews, and we put your name on the sources those answers trust. Generative engine optimisation (GEO) makes your own pages the clearest, most quotable answer to the questions that bring you clients. Then we turn that visibility into high-intent leads and pipeline, and track which searches and AI answers turn into revenue.

Is Searchmaxxed right for you?

We're a strong fit if you run a business where one new client is worth thousands: a law firm, a private or aesthetic clinic, a premium builder or specialist contractor, a real estate or accounting firm, an ecommerce brand, a cybersecurity company or an enterprise. You're losing ground in Google, missing from AI answers, or working with an SEO team that hasn't caught up. You'll talk to the people doing the work, with no account manager in between.

Searchmaxxed's work has generated more than $15 million in revenue through search for its clients.

We're the wrong call in a few cases. If you need leads this month just to keep the doors open, search takes longer than that. If you want the cheapest retainer on the market, we're not it. And if you want someone to promise your name in ChatGPT by a set date, nobody honest can: the answers change from one run to the next, as the data above shows.

What should you do next?

Ask ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini the three questions your best clients would ask before hiring you, and write down every source each answer cites. That list is your map of where the shortlist gets made.

Want us to do it with you? Get your free search analysis. We'll benchmark you against your top competitors across Google, ChatGPT and the other AI engines, show you where they're named instead of you, and the few moves that will matter most.

Frequently asked questions

The questions we asked

Every search became one buyer question, asked word for word in each engine. The full list is below; the Google results pages used the search term itself.