New US research by marketing agency 5W maps which websites AI search engines such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews use as sources. The finding is striking: a small group of sites determines what these AI systems tell people about brands and topics. According to the research, Wikipedia and Reddit together account for over a quarter of all citations ChatGPT uses in the United States. Established news brands such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and Bloomberg don’t even make the top 20.
Every AI picks its own sources
What makes it tricky: the different AI search engines draw on different sources. The same type of research shows that only around 11% of websites are cited by both ChatGPT and Perplexity. ChatGPT leans heavily on encyclopaedic sources such as Wikipedia, while Perplexity refers far more often to discussions on Reddit. So a single content strategy that works everywhere no longer exists.
For you as an SME owner this matters, because more and more people no longer click ten blue links but get a ready-made answer from an AI. If you’re not mentioned in it, you effectively don’t exist for that searcher — no matter how well your website ranks in the regular search results.
What this means for you
You don’t have to overhaul everything at once, but it pays to look at your visibility more broadly than just Google:
- Check your Wikipedia presence (where relevant and factually supported) and make sure information about your business is correct on authoritative, external sites.
- Be active where your audience talks, such as trade forums or relevant communities, because those conversations are weighed by AI.
- Keep investing in clear, factual content on your own site; that remains the foundation AI systems can pick up and cite.
Think of an example: a local installer who actively answers questions in a DIY forum is more likely to become a source for an AI answer than a competitor with only a pretty but silent website.
Source: 5W via PR Newswire
