Where ChatGPT, Google AI, Perplexity and Claude get their answers
By Daniela Ricaud, founder of Pretty CitableEach AI engine builds its answers from a different place. Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode use Google's own search index. Independent tests show ChatGPT drawing on Google's results. Perplexity runs its own live web search and cites sources inline. Claude's web search uses Brave's independent index. So a brand can be named in one engine and missing from another, and each gap takes a different fix.
Google AI Overviews, AI Mode and Gemini
Google's AI features build answers from Google's own index, so pages Google already trusts have the advantage. Video matters here more than most brands expect: YouTube is the most-cited domain in AI Overviews, according to BrightEdge data reported by 5W.
What helps: strong pages for the questions your buyers ask, and useful long-form video on YouTube for your category.
ChatGPT
Independent tests reported by Search Engine Land show ChatGPT drawing on Google's search results when it browses the web. In practice, pages that rank well in Google for related questions have a better chance of being used.
What helps: the same groundwork as Google, plus clear pages that answer one question each.
Perplexity
Perplexity runs live web searches and cites its sources inline, so you can see exactly which pages it relied on. Research from AirOps on the page types that earn AI citations points to reviews, community discussions and original data as strong performers.
What helps: being discussed and reviewed on the sites Perplexity cites in your category, and publishing original data.
Claude
Claude's web search uses Brave's independent search index, as reported by Xponent21. A brand that only optimizes for Google can still be hard for Claude to find.
What helps: being findable and well linked across the open web, beyond Google alone.
What this means for your brand
Test all four engines with the same questions. When you're missing from one, look at which sources it cited for the brands it did name. That tells you where to work. A fix that moves Google may do nothing for Claude, and the reverse.
Sources
- BrightEdge via 5W: AI video citation index 2026
- Search Engine Land: tests on ChatGPT using Google Search
- AirOps: page types that earn AI citations
- Xponent21: Claude web search, Brave and Turbopuffer
See where your brand stands
Run three buyer questions yourself in 60 seconds, or get the full AI Visibility Audit: 30 questions on four engines, a competitor map and a ranked fix list in 5 business days.