--- title: "AI Answers About Brands: Gemini Skips the Brand's Site 72%" url: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ai-cites-brand-own-website description: "AI answers about brands often skip the brand: asked 'Is [brand] good?', Gemini leaves out the brand's own website 72% of the time. See the data." lang: en --- Share Share on X: https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.suffdigital.com%2Fresources%2Fdata-studies%2Fai-cites-brand-own-website&text=Asked%20If%20a%20Brand%20Is%20Good%2C%20Gemini%20Leaves%20Out%20the%20Brand%27s%20Website%2072%25%20of%20the%20Time Share on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.suffdigital.com%2Fresources%2Fdata-studies%2Fai-cites-brand-own-website Share on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.suffdigital.com%2Fresources%2Fdata-studies%2Fai-cites-brand-own-website Share on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.suffdigital.com%2Fresources%2Fdata-studies%2Fai-cites-brand-own-website&title=Asked%20If%20a%20Brand%20Is%20Good%2C%20Gemini%20Leaves%20Out%20the%20Brand%27s%20Website%2072%25%20of%20the%20Time Ask Gemini whether a brand is any good and **72%** of its answers do not cite the brand's own website, leaning on review sites instead. Across ChatGPT and Gemini, one answer about a brand in three leaves the brand's website out. Analysis of 3,523 AI answers about 500 brands · answers from ChatGPT and Gemini, September 2026 ## Key Findings 1. 1. When asked "Is [brand] good?", Gemini leaves the brand's own website out of **72%** of its answers, citing it in 28.4%, against 78.6% for ChatGPT. Copy stat 2. 2. **34.6%** of AI answers about a brand, about one in three, do not cite the brand's own website and describe it using other sites alone. Copy stat 3. 3. ChatGPT cites a brand's own website in **84.8%** of its answers about that brand, more than twice Gemini's 40.5%. Copy stat 4. 4. Trustpilot is cited in **17%** of AI answers to "Is [brand] good?" questions, ahead of BBB (14.6%) and Reddit (13.4%). Copy stat 5. 5. Personal injury law firms get their own website cited in **78.3%** of AI answers about them, against 45.8% for software companies. Copy stat ## Summary A prospective customer types "Is [your company] good?" into Gemini. The answer that comes back sums up your reputation in a paragraph, and the sources listed under it are a review platform, a consumer complaints site and a Reddit thread. Your own website is not among them. That matters because a citation is the source an AI engine shows with its answer, and it tells you whose words the answer is built from. When your website is cited, the engine is describing you from your own pages: your services, your prices, your claims. When it is not, the description comes from reviewers, forums and comparison sites, and you have no direct say in it. AI answers about a brand cite that brand's own website 65.4% of the time, so 34.6%, about one in three, leave it out. The rate depends heavily on the engine and the question. ChatGPT cites the brand's site in 84.8% of its answers and Gemini in 40.5%. On "Is it good?" questions Gemini cites the brand's site in 28.4% of answers, leaving it out of **72%**, and turns to review sites instead. ## What we measured On September 23, 2026 we asked ChatGPT and Gemini two questions about each of 500 brands, "What is [brand]?" and "Is [brand] good?", twice each. The brands are the 500 whose websites appear most often in Google results for 20,000 common searches across industries such as law, insurance, banking, home services, higher education and software. Of the 4,000 answers, 3,523 listed at least one source, and those are the answers this study measures. A brand's own website counts as cited when at least one of the answer's sources is on the brand's domain or one of its subdomains, such as a blog or help center. We also recorded the other websites each answer cited and grouped the brands by industry. Every figure is a share of answers with sources. ## One in three AI answers about a brand skips its website 65.4% of AI answers about a brand cite the brand's own website. Two answers in three cite the brand's own website, the natural source for basic facts: what the company does, where it operates, what it charges. The other third describe the brand entirely through third parties. For a company, that third is the part of its AI presence it does not write. The engine makes the biggest difference. ChatGPT cites the brand's own website in 84.8% of its answers about that brand, more than twice Gemini's 40.5%. Gemini is also more likely to give no sources at all: 22.8% of its answers to these questions came with none, against 1.1% for ChatGPT. ## Gemini rarely cites the brand when asked if it is good 72% of Gemini's answers to "Is [brand] good?" leave out the brand's own website. ChatGPT treats a brand's website as the basic reference. It cites the brand's site in 91% of "What is [brand]?" answers and still in 78.6% of "Is [brand] good?" answers. Gemini cites the brand's site in 60.6% of "What is" answers, and the rate falls to 28.4% when the question asks for a judgment. "What is [brand]?" by AI engine ChatGPT 91% Gemini 60.6% Source: Suff Digital analysis of 3,523 AI answers about 500 brands · answers from ChatGPT and Gemini, September 2026 | AI engine | "What is [brand]?" | "Is [brand] good?" | | --- | --- | --- | | ChatGPT | 91% | 78.6% | | Gemini | 60.6% | 28.4% | The drop makes sense: a company's own website is a reliable source for what it does, not for whether it is any good. Gemini goes to outside opinion for that judgment, which means a brand's reputation on Gemini is written almost entirely by customers and reviewers. ## Review sites answer "Is it good?" When AI judges a brand, it reads what customers say. Trustpilot is cited in 17% of answers to "Is [brand] good?" questions, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) in 14.6%, Reddit in 13.4% and ConsumerAffairs in 11%. Wikipedia follows at 5.6%. Share of "Is [brand] good?" answers citing it by source trustpilot.com 17% bbb.org 14.6% reddit.com 13.4% consumeraffairs.com 11% en.wikipedia.org 5.6% forbes.com 4.2% apps.apple.com 3.4% wallethub.com 3.2% bankrate.com 3% play.google.com 2.5% App store listings show up too: Apple's App Store in 3.4% of answers and Google Play in 2.5%, where app ratings stand in for customer reviews. Financial comparison sites such as WalletHub (3.2%) and Bankrate (3%) cover the banks and card issuers. Whatever your customers write on these platforms is the text AI summarizes when someone asks whether you are any good. ## Law firms and care providers get their own site cited most Local service businesses get their own website cited most often. Personal injury law firms have their site cited in 78.3% of AI answers about them, senior care providers in 76.9% and moving companies in 73.6%. For these businesses the website is the main public record of what they offer and where, so AI engines use it. AI answers citing the brand's own website by industry Personal injury law 78.3% Senior care 76.9% Moving companies 73.6% Pest control 72.5% Accounting 71% HVAC 66.5% Insurance 63.2% Banking and loans 60.9% Solar 58.5% Higher education 56.5% Software 45.8% Banks, solar companies, colleges and software companies see their own site cited less, as AI turns to rate tables, reviews and comparison sites instead. Software brands sit near the bottom at 45.8%, the category where comparison and review sites do most of the talking. At the brand level, 19 of the 500 brands never had their own website cited in any answer, several of them large banks, card issuers and insurers. ## What this means for brand and marketing teams Make your website the easiest source for the facts about you. A clear About page, plain descriptions of each product or service, current pricing and the locations you serve give an AI engine something to cite when it explains who you are. If an engine cannot find those facts on your site, it takes them from someone else's. Treat review platforms as part of your website. For "Is it good?" questions, Trustpilot, the BBB, Reddit and ConsumerAffairs carry more weight than your homepage, especially on Gemini. Claim your profiles, ask happy customers to review you there, and reply to complaints, because that is the text AI reads. Then test it. Ask ChatGPT and Gemini what your company is and whether it is good, and note which sources they cite. Working with an ai seo company (https://www.suffdigital.com/seo/ai-seo-services) that tracks how AI engines describe your brand shows you which sources shape that description. ## Embed this research Paste this on your site to embed the charts. It links back to the source automatically.

Source: Asked If a Brand Is Good, Gemini Leaves Out the Brand's Website 72% of the Time - Suff Digital

## Cite this study APA Suff Digital. (2026). Asked If a Brand Is Good, Gemini Leaves Out the Brand's Website 72% of the Time. https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ai-cites-brand-own-website Plain link Asked If a Brand Is Good, Gemini Leaves Out the Brand's Website 72% of the Time - Suff Digital - https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ai-cites-brand-own-website ## Frequently asked questions ### Does AI cite a company's own website when asked about it? ### What sources does AI use to judge whether a brand is good? ### Which AI engine is least likely to cite a brand's own website? ### Which businesses get their own website cited most by AI? ## Related studies - AI SEO Ask Gemini if a Brand Is Good and 21.3% of Answers Cite a Competitor's Website: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ai-answers-cite-competitor-sites - AI SEO Gemini Uses Negative Words About 72.6% of Brands vs 57.2% for ChatGPT: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/chatgpt-negative-words-about-brands - AI SEO AI Confuses 1 in 14 Top Brands at Least Once When Asked What They Are: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ai-confuses-brand-names - AI SEO AI Legal Answers: Gemini Cites No Source 52.5% of the Time vs 1.4% for ChatGPT: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ai-sources-legal-questions ## Structured data ```json [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#organization", "name": "Suff Digital", "alternateName": "Suff Digital Marketing", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#logo", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/logo.png", "contentUrl": "https://www.suffdigital.com/logo.png", "caption": "Suff Digital" }, "image": { "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#logo" }, "description": "Suff Digital is a full-stack digital marketing agency that turns websites into predictable revenue engines, SEO, paid media, content, CRO, and web design built around revenue, not vanity metrics.", "slogan": "Digital marketing built for what's next.", "email": "hello@suffdigital.com", "telephone": "+1-629-236-0099", "foundingDate": "2022", "founder": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Matt Suffoletto", "jobTitle": "Founder & CEO" }, "contactPoint": [ { "@type": "ContactPoint", "telephone": "+1-629-236-0099", "email": "hello@suffdigital.com", "contactType": "sales", "areaServed": "US", "availableLanguage": [ "en" ] } ], "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "addressLocality": "Nashville", "addressRegion": "TN", "postalCode": "37219", "addressCountry": "US" }, "areaServed": { "@type": "Country", "name": "United States" }, "sameAs": [ "https://www.linkedin.com/company/suff-digital/", "https://www.instagram.com/suffdigital/", "https://www.youtube.com/@suffdigitalmarketing", "https://www.tiktok.com/@suffdigital" ], "knowsAbout": [ "Search Engine Optimization", "Pay-Per-Click Advertising", "Paid Social Advertising", "Conversion Rate Optimization", "Web Design", "Digital PR", "Link Building", "Website Migration", "Website Maintenance and Support", "Technical SEO", "Local SEO", "AI Search Optimization" ], "hasOfferCatalog": { "@type": "OfferCatalog", "name": "Suff Digital Services", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Search Engine Optimization (SEO)", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/ppc" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Paid Social Advertising", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/paid-social" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/cro" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Web Design", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/web-design" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Digital PR & Link Building", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/digital-pr" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Website Migration", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/website-migration" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Website Maintenance & Support", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/website-maintenance" } } ] } }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#website", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/", "name": "Suff Digital", "inLanguage": "en-US", "publisher": { "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#organization" } } ] }, { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Article", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ai-cites-brand-own-website#article", "headline": "Asked If a Brand Is Good, Gemini Leaves Out the Brand's Website 72% of the Time", "description": "Ask Gemini whether a brand is any good and 72% of its answers do not cite the brand's own website, leaning on review sites instead. 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ChatGPT does so in 84.8% of its answers and Gemini in 40.5%." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "What sources does AI use to judge whether a brand is good?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Review platforms. Trustpilot is cited in 17% of AI answers to \"Is [brand] good?\" questions, the BBB in 14.6%, Reddit in 13.4% and ConsumerAffairs in 11%." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Which AI engine is least likely to cite a brand's own website?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Gemini. Gemini cites the brand's own website in 40.5% of its answers about a brand, and when asked \"Is [brand] good?\" it leaves the brand's website out of 72% of answers, against 21.4% for ChatGPT." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Which businesses get their own website cited most by AI?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Personal injury law firms, whose own website is cited in 78.3% of AI answers about them, followed by senior care providers at 76.9% and moving companies at 73.6%. Software companies get their own site cited in 45.8% of answers." } } ] } ] } ] ```