High Visibility: How AI Search Engines Determine Which Brands Get Mentioned

Ever wonder why some AI search results are brand-heavy and others aren’t?

BrightEdge used its AI Catalyst to analyze brand mentions, citations, prompt patterns, and more, concluding that ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI mode, and Google AI Overview each have “a distinct personality that determines brand visibility.”

“Google AI Overview complements existing search results,” the research found, “while ChatGPT and Perplexity ARE the results — explaining why standalone engines mention 15x more brands.”

A full 99.3% of ChatGPT eCommerce responses included brands, followed closely by Perplexity’s 85.7% and Google AI Mode’s 81.7% but far and away more than Google AI Overview’s 6.2%. The topic that triggered brand mentions the most was queries with “budget/affordable” (6.3 to 8.8 brands), followed by “deals/sales” (6.2 to 8.3 brands) and “buy/shop” (5.8 to 7.8 brands).

  (Source: BrightEdge)

“ChatGPT references retailers 10 times more than Google AI Overview, which favors social media 30 times more,” the research found. “The significant ‘Other’ category (48-77%) indicates AI engines draw from numerous specialized sites, utilizing thousands of long-tail sources beyond major platforms.”

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