The engines that cite the web
AI engines
Each profile tracks four things: how the engine grounds, where it surfaces citations, what its retrieval corpus is, and the diversity of sources per answer. Profiles are dated and revised when an engine ships a material change.
v1 ships with two profiles. Claude, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, and Bing Copilot are queued.
OpenAI
ChatGPT Search
OpenAI's web-grounded mode inside ChatGPT, surfaced as 'Search' and rolled into the default model behavior for queries the model judges to benefit from fresh information. Grounded answers cite a panel of web sources alongside the assembled response.
Perplexity AI
Perplexity
Perplexity is a search-first AI engine: every answer is grounded against retrieved sources by default, with a heavily citation-forward UI. Has been the most aggressive engine in the citation-frequency race and the most read by SEO teams as a leading indicator of GEO signal.
Anthropic
Claude
Anthropic's Claude is a conversational AI with optional web search grounding (introduced in 2025). Claude leans more cautious about citation than ChatGPT or Perplexity. It grounds when the model judges fresh information is necessary and surfaces sources in a side panel rather than inline. The grounding behavior is more conservative, the citations more curated, and the answer style more long-form.
Google
Gemini
Google's Gemini app (and the embedded Gemini features across Google's product surface) is grounded against Google's search index when the conversation calls for current information. Distinct from Google AI Overviews: Gemini is the conversational interface, AI Overviews is the SERP-integrated answer block. Both consume Google's grounding infrastructure but surface citations differently.
Google
Google AI Overviews
AI Overviews is the SERP-integrated answer block Google began rolling out in 2024 (formerly 'Search Generative Experience' or SGE). It appears at the top of search results for queries Google judges to benefit from an assembled answer, citing 3-10 sources. AI Overviews is the most consequential AEO surface for sites that already rank well in traditional Google search.
Microsoft
Bing Copilot
Microsoft Copilot (formerly Bing Chat, now extending across Bing, Edge, and Windows) is grounded against Bing's search index and shares OpenAI's GPT-4-class models. Less consumer reach than Google AI Overviews but increasingly important as Microsoft pushes Copilot through Edge, Windows, and Microsoft 365 surfaces, and as enterprise buyers consolidate on Microsoft AI tooling.
Google
Google AI Mode
Google AI Mode is the conversational AI surface inside Google Search, distinct from AI Overviews. Where AI Overviews is a passive answer block embedded above the organic results, AI Mode is an active chat experience: the user opts in, asks multi-turn questions, and gets a Gemini-powered conversational answer with inline citations. Rolled out broadly in 2025 after the SGE / AI Overviews launch. Heavy use of query fan-out (one user question expanded into multiple sub-queries) means retrieval reaches further down Google's index than classical SERP rankings would suggest.
xAI
Grok
Grok is xAI's chatbot, originally exclusive to X (Twitter) Premium subscribers and broadly accessible at grok.com from 2025. Grok 3 introduced DeepSearch in early 2025, a multi-step research mode that crawls the web and assembles long-form cited answers. Distinctive feature: heavy weighting of real-time X (Twitter) posts as a grounding source, which gives Grok citation behaviour unlike any other major engine. Strong on breaking news, weak on long-tail editorial content where X conversation is sparse.
Meta
Meta AI
Meta AI is Meta's assistant powered by Llama models, embedded in Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and the standalone meta.ai web app. Search grounding is provided via a Bing-derived web index (Meta's longstanding partnership with Microsoft). The discovery surface inside Meta's apps (1.5+ billion monthly users for the assistant across surfaces by mid-2026) makes it consequential for consumer queries even though the dedicated web experience is less prominent than ChatGPT or Perplexity.
DeepSeek (China)
DeepSeek
DeepSeek is a Chinese AI lab whose chat interface at chat.deepseek.com gained global prominence in early 2025 when DeepSeek-R1 (a reasoning model) launched at a fraction of the cost of comparable Western models. DeepSeek Chat offers free access to both V3 (general-purpose) and R1 (reasoning) modes with web search grounding. Strong in Chinese-language queries; growing English-language usage as a free alternative to ChatGPT and Claude.
Mistral AI (France)
Mistral Le Chat
Le Chat is Mistral AI's conversational interface, headquartered in Paris and operated under EU jurisdiction with GDPR alignment as a stated differentiator. Web search grounding was added in 2024 and substantially expanded in 2025 with the 'Mistral Le Chat Pro' tier. Particularly strong adoption in European enterprise and EU-public-sector contexts where data residency and GDPR compliance matter. Powers Mistral's enterprise APIs as well.
Alibaba Cloud (China)
Qwen Chat (Tongyi Qianwen)
Qwen Chat is Alibaba Cloud's conversational AI, powered by the Qwen model family (Qwen2.5, Qwen3, and successors). Strong in the Chinese market and across Asia, with web search grounding integrated into the chat experience. Open-source Qwen variants are widely deployed across the Chinese AI ecosystem, giving Alibaba meaningful upstream influence on what content is well-represented in Chinese-language AI surfaces.
Baidu (China)
Baidu AI Search
Baidu is the dominant search engine in mainland China, and Baidu Search now surfaces AI-generated answers at the top of the SERP for many query types (analogous to Google AI Overviews). Baidu also operates ERNIE Bot (文心一言, Wenxin Yiyan) as a standalone conversational AI. For any publisher targeting Chinese-language audiences, Baidu's AI surfaces are the single most consequential AI search channel: Google has effectively no presence in mainland China.
Moonshot AI (China)
Moonshot Kimi
Kimi is Moonshot AI's chat product, distinguished early by very long context windows (initially 2M tokens, expanded subsequently) which made it the preferred Chinese AI for document analysis and long-form research. Strong adoption in Chinese knowledge-work and academic contexts. Web search grounding is integrated; the long-context capability lets Kimi consume entire retrieved documents rather than chunked snippets.
Yandex (Russia)
Yandex Neuro
Yandex Neuro is the AI-generated answer surface inside Yandex Search, the dominant search engine in Russia and several CIS countries. Yandex also operates YandexGPT as a standalone chatbot. For Russian-language publishers and Western publishers with Russian-language content targeting CIS markets, Yandex's AI surfaces are the meaningful AI search channel (Google has reduced presence in Russia post-2022).
Naver (South Korea)
Naver AI Search (HyperCLOVA X)
Naver dominates South Korean search (60 to 70% domestic market share, well above Google). Naver Search integrates HyperCLOVA X-powered AI answers for relevant queries, and Naver also operates standalone AI products on top of HyperCLOVA X. For any publisher targeting Korean-language audiences, Naver's AI surfaces are the primary AI search channel.
You.com (US)
You.com
You.com is a multi-mode AI search product offering Smart, Genius, and Research modes with different depths of retrieval and reasoning. Less consumer traction than Perplexity or ChatGPT Search in 2026, but maintains a citation-heavy interface and a developer-friendly API. Notable as one of the earlier AI search products (launched 2022) that continues to operate independently.
Phind (US)
Phind
Phind is a developer-focused AI search engine, oriented toward technical queries, code snippets, and documentation. Particularly strong on programming, cybersecurity, DevOps, and infrastructure topics. For any publisher in technical verticals (developer tooling, cybersecurity, identity, infrastructure), Phind's citation share is disproportionately consequential relative to its consumer-search share.
Brave (US)
Brave Leo
Leo is the AI assistant integrated into the Brave browser, with privacy-first defaults: queries do not require accounts, are not retained, and are not tied to user identifiers. Backed by Llama and Mistral models with optional premium access to Claude. Less consequential for raw citation share than the major engines, but meaningful for publishers reaching privacy-conscious or developer audiences who use Brave as a daily browser.