Observatory · Source type
Reviews and directories: a steady second-tier AI source
Review sites and directories make up 4.0% of the sources AI engines cite on buying questions, with Perplexity highest at 5.3%. Data: 406,626 answers from six engines, July 12 to October 11, 2026.
Updated
4%
of all cited sources
5%
for Perplexity
6%
in travel and leisure
Review platforms and business directories are the second-largest third-party source in the Observatory, after rankings: 4.0% of cited sources across six engines.
By engine: 5.3% for Perplexity, 4.0% for ChatGPT, 2.6% for Claude and Copilot, 2.1% for Google AI Overviews and 0.5% for Gemini. The share declined on several engines over the period: from 5.3% to 3.2% on ChatGPT and from 8.0% to 3.0% on Perplexity between July and October.
Sector makes a big difference: 6.2% in travel and leisure, 4.9% in real estate, 4.7% for marketing agencies and 4.3% in B2B software, but 0.1% in finance and retail. The highest engine-sector values are ChatGPT in real estate (9.4%) and Perplexity in B2B software (8.1%).
Complete, current profiles on the platforms your sector uses remain a cheap way to give engines facts about you.
Method
406,626 AI answers collected every day from July 12, 2026 to October 11, 2026 on over 1,700 purchase-intent questions tracked by Archipel (mostly in French, plus the United States and the Netherlands). ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and Copilot: Profound data. Claude and Gemini: Peec AI data. Sources are classified automatically from their address and title. Figures are aggregated: no brand or client is published. Free to reuse with a link to this page.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
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