Generative AI isn’t just disrupting how people search. It’s transforming which sources they see, trust, and cite. Platforms like ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity now deliver answers instantly, often skipping links altogether. But here's the catch: they don’t all trust the same sources.

So, even if your business ranks well in traditional search results, it might be completely invisible in AI-generated answers.

Let’s Talk About What AI Trusts

Two major studies, one by Profound and another from Search Engine Land, analyzed how major AI platforms cite content. The findings are eye-opening:

Google’s Gemini and AI Overviews are the most inclusive, citing everything from YouTube and Reddit, to LinkedIn articles and deep blog posts.
Perplexity blends expert sources (NerdWallet, Investopedia) with niche product blogs, making it more favorable to mid-sized brands with strong niche presence.
ChatGPT leans predominantly on authoritative sources like Wikipedia and major news outlets

In other words, each AI engine “trusts” a different set of sources. Your AI visibility depends on how well your brand shows up where that specific engine looks.

“Most AI platforms pull search results into the model and ask it to explain and summarize,” says Matt Bentley, Scorpion’s Chief Data Scientist. “So the best way to be cited is to show up in those results—especially on the search engines each AI prefers.”

For example, ChatGPT taps into Bing, not Google. That changes everything.

From SEO to AI Visibility: What Really Works

Search Engine Land’s analysis of 8,000 AI citations offers practical guidance. Across all platforms, one message is clear: AI visibility is an outcome of strong SEO multiplied by broad web presence.

Here’s what the top-cited content had in common:

Authority-first content: Wikipedia, news sites, and trusted blogs ranked highest.
High-quality “category” content: Listicles, comparisons, and in-depth guides got cited repeatedly, especially when hosted on credible sites or well-structured vendor blogs.
Third-party validation: Review platforms like G2, TripAdvisor, and NerdWallet show up frequently, especially in Perplexity and Google results.
Community-driven signals: Reddit, Quora, and even LinkedIn matter, particularly for B2C and reputation-driven queries.

The Big Risk: If You’re Not Everywhere, You’re Nowhere

The Profound study highlights that a few sources dominate. For instance, ChatGPT pulls 47.9% of its top citations from just Wikipedia. Meanwhile, Perplexity relies on Reddit for nearly half of its top 10 sources.

“This concentration reflects the reality that a small number of websites dominate search,” Bentley explains. “If your business isn’t present on those sites—or worse, isn’t contributing content across the web—it gets left out entirely.”

In other words, visibility in AI isn’t just about rankings. It’s about footprint. If you’re not showing up in review sites, forums, blogs, and third-party media, AI may assume you don’t exist.

What Scorpion Does to Fix That

At Scorpion, we’re already solving this problem for our clients across legal, home services, franchise, and more. Here’s how:

Listings + review management: We ensure you’re present across key platforms like Google, Yelp, and Bing, all prime sources for AI.
Multi-channel SEO: We optimize not just for Google, but Bing and other engines that power generative AI.
Content strategy that scales: Our team creates service-specific, deeply structured content, in the form of blog posts, guides, and comparisons, that improve visibility across AI platforms.
AI-driven marketing insights: RevenueMAX solutions like Leads AI and Advertising AI use real-time data to adjust your presence where it matters most.

We don’t just help you rank. We help you get found by both humans and machines.

The Bottom Line: You Can’t Game AI. But You Can Train It to Find You.

AI engines don’t cite at random. They look for signals of expertise, authority, and relevance across hundreds of digital touchpoints. The more often your business appears in credible, helpful content across the web, the more likely it is that AI will associate you with what you do.

That’s not gaming the system. That’s building a brand that shows up, and shows up strong.

Scorpion makes it easy.

Let’s talk.

Why Your Business Might Be Invisible to ChatGPT and What to Do About It