Data Collected: Analyzed thousands of URLs cited by ChatGPT-4 and compared volatility patterns with Google AI platforms

Key Finding: ChatGPT maintains consistent high volatility (35-45%) while Google AI Overviews shows increasing instability (climbing from 15% to 40%+), revealing distinct platform testing patterns

ChatGPT Citation Concentration:

• Top 20% of domains capture 67% of all citations
• 34% of URLs experience >50% weekly citation changes
• Individual URL swings range from -60% to +400%
• Platform maintains steady volatility range despite extreme individual swings

Extreme Volatility Examples (100-400% swings):

• Major retailers: Macy's (+150%), Apple (+200%), Rakuten (+400%)
• Educational platforms: Coursera (+200%), showing even trusted categories aren't immune
• Specialty retail and niche tools showing highest volatility
• Week-over-week changes can quadruple citations or eliminate them entirely
   

Platform Comparison Patterns:

• Google AI: Progressive volatility increase suggests active algorithm evolution
• ChatGPT: Consistent high volatility indicates established testing framework
• Both platforms actively refining citation signals but through different approaches

Data Collected: Analysed thousands of ChatGPT prompts using BrightEdge AI Catalyst to compare brand mentions, citations, and trigger words

Key Finding: ChatGPT mentions brands 3.2x more than it cites them. Nearly half of prompts contain zero brand mentions, but commercial intent language (e.g., “deals,” “where to buy”) drives 4–8x higher mentions than informational queries.

ChatGPT Brand Mention Patterns:

• 2.4 average brand mentions per prompt
• 44% of prompts = zero brand mentions
• Only 3% of prompts = 10+ brand mentions
• 0.74 citations per prompt → unlinked recommendations dominate
• “Best” queries = 4.8 mentions (2x higher than baseline), but 25% still return zero brands

Trigger Word Impact:

• High performers: “where,” “find,” “cheap,” “deals,” “affordable”
• Moderate: “best” (popular but inconsistent)
• Low performers: “how,” “what,” “cost”

Examples:

• “Best Cyber Monday electronics deals” → 21 mentions
• “Best Prime Day deals” → 20 mentions
• “Educational tools/tech queries” → 17–21 mentions
• Transactional queries outpace informational by 8–10x

Platform Recommendation Patterns:

• Mentions are more stable than citations, reducing volatility risk
• Commercial queries consistently outperform informational ones
• Educational and deal-related queries produce unexpected visibility opportunities

Data Collected: Monitored AI Overview citation overlap with organic rankings across 9 industries from May 2024-September 2025 using BrightEdge Generative Parser™ to analyze:

• Citation source patterns
• Overlap progression over time
• Industry-specific convergence rates
• Algorithm evolution phases

Key Finding: AI Overview citations increasingly come from pages that rank organically—overlap grew from 32.3% to 54.5% (+22.3 pp), but individual industries vary wildly from E-commerce's flat 0.6 pp change to Education's massive 53.2 pp surge.

The Big Numbers

• 54.5% of AI Overview citations now rank organically (up from 32.3%)
• 69% relative increase in overlap over 16 months
• 53.2 pp increase for Education (largest industry shift)
• 0.6 pp increase for E-commerce (only flat industry)
• 75%+ overlap for Healthcare and Education (highest convergence)

The Convergence Timeline

May 2024: Launch Baseline

• Overall overlap: 32.3%
• Healthcare leads at 63.3%
• Travel/Entertainment/Restaurants near 0%
• Most citations from non-ranking sources

September 2024: Public Rollout Catalyst

• Overlap jumps to 39.1%
• Acceleration begins (+5.4 pp in 2 months)
• Education and Insurance surge
• Clear shift toward ranked content

January 2025: New Year Acceleration

• Overlap reaches 45.2%
• Fastest growth period (~3 pp/month)
• Most industries showing convergence
• E-commerce remains flat

September 2025: Current State

• Overlap stabilizes at 54.5%
• Healthcare at 75.3%
• Education at 72.6%
• E-commerce still at 22.9%
• Pattern appears to be stabilizing

Industry Breakdown

High Convergence (68-75% overlap)

• Healthcare: 75.3% (started high, modest gains)
• Education: 72.6% (explosive +53.2 pp growth)
• B2B Tech: 71.0% (strong +32.4 pp growth)
• Insurance: 68.6% (major +47.7 pp surge)

Low Convergence (<33% overlap)

• Finance: 32.2% (steady but below average)
• Entertainment: 25.9% (late starter, catching up)
• Travel: 23.6% (started near zero)
• E-commerce: 22.9% (anomaly - virtually no change)
• Restaurants: 19.2% (started at zero)

The Three Phases

Phase 1: Testing (May-Aug 2024)

• Flat at ~32-34% overlap
• Google experimenting with sources
• Some industries had AIOs disabled
• No clear pattern emerging

Phase 2: Acceleration (Sep 2024-Jan 2025)

• 34.6% → 45.2% (+10.6 pp in 4 months)
• September public rollout triggers shift
• Fastest growth: ~3 pp per month
• Clear move toward ranked content

Phase 3: Convergence (Feb-Sep 2025)

• 45.2% → 54.5% (+9.3 pp)
• Crossed 50% threshold in May 2025
• Growth slowing, pattern stabilizing

Data Collected: Analyzed tens of thousands of identical prompts across ChatGPT, Google AI Overview, and Google AI Mode using BrightEdge AI Catalyst to compare brand recommendations and citation patterns.

Key Finding: Platforms disagree on brand recommendations for 61.9% of queries. Only 17% of queries result in the same brands across all three platforms, revealing massive untapped visibility opportunities.

Platform Disagreement Patterns

• 61.9% of queries get different brand recommendations across platforms
• Only 33.5% of queries trigger brands from all three platforms
• Just 17% result in the same brands across all three
• Only 4.6% of queries get zero brands from all platforms
• Google AIO dominates mentions in 36.8% of queries
• ChatGPT beats both Google platforms in only 3.9% of queries

Brand Mention Averages

• ChatGPT: 2.37 brands per query
• Google AI Overview: 6.02 brands per query (2.5x higher than ChatGPT)
• Google AI Mode: 1.59 brands per query
• ChatGPT silent on 43.4% of queries
• Google AIO silent on only 9.1% of queries
• Google AIM silent on 46.8% of queries

The Citation Paradox

• ChatGPT: Mentions 3.2x MORE than cites (2.37 mentions vs. 0.73 citations)
• Google AIO: Cites 2.4x MORE than mentions (14.30 citations vs. 6.02 mentions)
• Google AIM: Cites 6x MORE than mentions (9.49 citations vs. 1.59 mentions)
• ChatGPT = trust/training data patterns
• Google = transparent source trails

Same Brand Alignment Triggers

• “Compare” queries: 80% same-brand agreement (highest)
• “Buy” queries: 62% same-brand agreement
• “Where” queries: 38% same-brand agreement
• “Best” queries: 23% same-brand agreement
• Overall: Only 17% of queries get same brands across platforms

Industry Disagreement Rates

• Healthcare: 68.5% disagreement
• Education: 62.1% disagreement
• B2B Tech: 61.7% disagreement
• Finance: 57.9% disagreement
• E-Commerce: 57.1% disagreement (lowest)

Data Collected: Monitored YouTube citation patterns across AI search engines from May 2024-September 2025 using BrightEdge AI Catalyst to analyze:

• Citation rates across platforms
• Video platform competition
• Query type patterns
• Week-over-week changes

Key Finding: YouTube averages 20% citation share across AI platforms—making it the most cited video platform with 200x more citations than any other video platform, despite no obligation from non-Google engines to favor it.

The Big Numbers

• 20% average YouTube citation share across platforms
• 200x advantage over nearest video competitor (Vimeo at 0.1%)
• 29.5% of Google AI Overviews cite YouTube (#1 domain)
• 100% week-over-week growth for ChatGPT (though from small base)
• -32.8% recent decline in AI Overviews (but still dominant at #1)

The Platform Breakdown

Google AI Overviews

• 29.5% YouTube citation share
• #1 cited domain (ahead of Mayo Clinic at 12.5%)
• -32.8% week-over-week change
• Average rank position: 6.3

Google AI Mode

• 16.6% YouTube citation share
• #1 cited domain
• -3.2% week-over-week change
• Average rank position: 9.7

Perplexity

• 9.7% YouTube citation share
• #5 cited domain
• +4.8% week-over-week growth
• Average rank position: 9.7

ChatGPT

• 0.2% YouTube citation share
• Minimal but growing (+100% week-over-week)
• Average rank position: 5.2

The Video Platform Monopoly

YouTube Dominance:

• 20% average citation share
• Present across all AI platforms
• #1 domain in Google AI Overviews
• Growing on independent platforms (Perplexity, ChatGPT)

Competition Non-Existent:

• Vimeo: 0.1% (AI Overviews only)
• TikTok: 0.1% (AI Overviews only)
• Dailymotion: 0%
• Twitch: 0%
• All others: 0%

Query Types That Trigger YouTube Citations

High YouTube Citation Rate:

• Platform-specific tutorials ("TD Ameritrade post-merger")
• Medical education with action components
• Current pricing/deals ("Is Home Depot having a sale?")
• Financial tool demonstrations
• Product reviews and comparisons

Low/Lost YouTube Citations:

• Strategic planning questions
• Career advice and academic selection
• Abstract financial concepts
• Technical architecture decisions
• Pure informational without visual benefit

Takeaways from Data

1. YouTube Has Absolute Video Monopoly With 200x more citations than any competitor, YouTube isn't just the preferred video platform—it's the only one that matters for AI citations. Even non-Google platforms (ChatGPT, Perplexity) choose YouTube almost exclusively.
2. Platform-Agnostic Trust ChatGPT and Perplexity have no obligation to favor Google properties, yet they still choose YouTube for video citations. This validates YouTube's position as the universal video authority for AI.
3. Supplementary Not Primary YouTube typically ranks in positions 3-10 (average 6-10 across platforms), indicating AI engines use video as supporting evidence rather than primary sources. This creates opportunity for brands to complement text authority with video demonstrations.
4. The August 31st Shift A clear inflection point where multiple platforms simultaneously increased YouTube citations—Google AI Mode and Perplexity both jumped from 0% to double digits, suggesting industry-wide recognition of video value.

AI Overviews shows 16.7% higher volatility in brand mentions compared to AI Mode but retains more stable citation sources (24% of URLs unchanged vs. 20% in AI Mode).

• Stable Sources:
  • Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic
  • .gov (6.6%) and .edu (6.8%) domains
  • Platforms like LinkedIn and YouTube
• Volatile Categories:
  • Healthcare (e.g., Kaiser ↑700%)
  • Financial (e.g., Citizens Bank ↑700%)
  • Software/Tech brands
  • News and product launch content
• Strategic Insight:
  AI Mode acts as a steady discovery engine. AI Overviews is more experimental with dynamic source ranking.