When AI names a brand, it usually cites the brand’s own website
Tilio analysed 44,587 AI answers for four UK brands, collected between 5 October and 3 November 2026. Brand websites made up 3.5% of all the citations in those answers, but when an answer named one of the brands, it cited that brand’s own website 80% of the time.
- AI answers analysed
- 44,587
- Citations in those answers
- 270,861
- UK brands, each in a different industry
- 4
- AI engines tracked
- 5
In this article
The first figure is in line with other published research, which finds most sources AI answers link to are sites a brand doesn’t own. The second looks only at the answers where the brand actually appears, and it tells a different story.
How often AI cites brand websites
What did the research find?
Brand websites earned a small share of AI citations overall, but were usually cited when AI named the brand.
- Brand websites made up 3.5% of the 270,861 citations across 44,587 UK AI answers, leaving 96.5% pointing to other sites.
- When an answer named one of the four brands, it cited that brand’s own website 80% of the time, with individual brands ranging from 71% to 90%.
- Most answers (86%) didn’t name the brand at all, and in those answers the brand’s website was cited in fewer than 4 in every 100.
- AI sometimes cited a brand’s website without naming the brand: 21% of the answers that cited a brand’s site didn’t name it, ranging from 3% to 45% by brand.
- In 20% of the answers that named a brand, AI didn’t cite the brand’s own website.
What percentage of AI citations come from brand websites?
Brand websites got 3.5% of AI citations in Tilio’s research. Across 44,587 AI answers for four UK brands, the brands’ own sites made up 3.5% of the 270,861 citations, leaving 96.5% pointing to other sites.
Brand websites’ share of citations was small for each of the four brands, ranging from 1.1% to 7.7%. Citations that didn’t go to the brand’s own site went to competitors’ websites, marketplaces, review sites, directories, publications and Google’s own pages. Together, those sites make up the wider set of sources AI draws on when it answers questions about a category.
How often does AI cite a brand’s website when it names the brand?
When AI named one of the four brands, it cited that brand’s own website 80% of the time. Of the 6,340 answers that named a brand, 80% included the brand’s own site among their sources.
The share of brand-naming answers that cited the brand’s own site was high for each of the four brands, ranging from 71% to 90%.
| Brand | Answers analysed | Answers that named the brand | Brand site’s share of all citations | Answers naming the brand that cited its site |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand A | 11,034 | 693 | 2.3% | 73% |
| Brand B | 7,778 | 2,343 | 7.7% | 71% |
| Brand C | 17,573 | 2,913 | 3.6% | 87% |
| Brand D | 8,202 | 391 | 1.1% | 90% |
| All four | 44,587 | 6,340 | 3.5% | 80% |
Why can both figures be true at once?
The 3.5% figure and the 80% figure measure different things. The 3.5% counts every source in every answer about a brand’s category, and 86% of those answers didn’t name the brand at all. The 80% looks only at the answers that named the brand, and asks whether the brand’s own site was among the sources.
Across the four brands, in the 38,247 answers that didn’t name the brand, its website was cited in fewer than 4 in every 100. In the 6,340 answers that did name it, the brand’s website was cited in 8 in every 10.
Does AI cite brand websites without naming the brand?
Yes, AI sometimes uses a brand’s website as a source without naming the brand. Of the 6,414 answers that cited one of the four brands’ websites, 21% didn’t name that brand anywhere in the answer text.
How often AI cited a brand’s site without naming the brand varied a lot by brand, from 3% to 45%.
| Brand | Answers that cited the brand’s site | Of those, answers that didn’t name the brand |
|---|---|---|
| Brand A | 917 | 45% |
| Brand B | 1,710 | 3% |
| Brand C | 3,354 | 25% |
| Brand D | 433 | 19% |
| All four | 6,414 | 21% |
An answer that cites a brand’s page without naming the brand is using that page as a source while naming other businesses, or none at all. The reverse happens too: 20% of the answers that named one of the four brands didn’t cite its website. We explain the difference between mentions and citations in AI search in a separate guide.
How does this compare with other research?
Tilio’s 3.5% figure for brand websites’ share of all citations sits alongside other studies that count every citation. Scrunch’s analysis of more than 442 million citations found brands’ own sites accounted for 5.95%, and AirOps found that about 85% of brand mentions in early brand discovery come from third-party pages rather than brands’ own domains.
Results depend on what’s counted. Yext counts listings, reviews and social profiles as brand-managed, and on that basis found 86% of 6.8 million AI citations came from sources brands own or manage, with brand websites alone accounting for 44%.
The closest comparison to Tilio’s 80% figure comes from Shero Commerce, which looked at AI answers to shopping questions across 60 product categories. Of the 159 brand recommendations in its sample, the brand’s own page was cited in 31%. Tilio’s figure on a similar measure is 80%, from 6,340 UK answers for four brands in different industries, and more data from other categories and markets will show where each pattern holds.
| Study | What it measured | Sample | Headline figure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tilio | Brand websites’ share of all citations | 270,861 citations | 3.5% |
| Tilio | Answers naming a brand that cited its website | 6,340 answers | 80% |
| Scrunch | Brands’ own sites’ share of all citations | More than 442 million citations | 5.95% |
| AirOps | Brand mentions in early discovery that came from third-party pages | Not stated | About 85% |
| Yext | Brand websites’ share of all citations | 6.8 million citations | 44% |
| Shero Commerce | Brand recommendations that cited the brand’s own page | 159 recommendations | 31% |
How we did the research
Tilio analysed 30 days of AI answers for every client brand it tracks that AI named in at least 100 answers in that time. Five brands met that bar. Four are included here, with names and industries anonymised. The fifth isn’t included, because its information is split between its own website and its group’s main website, so there’s no single own site to measure.
| Detail | What we used |
|---|---|
| Period | 5 October to 3 November 2026 (30 days) |
| Market | UK |
| Brands | Four UK client brands, each in a different industry, anonymised |
| Engines | ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode for all four brands, Gemini for three, and Claude for one, on a smaller sample |
| Questions | Questions that don’t mention the brand by name, asked daily on each engine |
| Answers analysed | 44,587, after excluding 1,217 answers that came back empty |
| Citations analysed | 270,861 |
An answer counts as naming a brand when the brand’s name appears in the answer text, so a link to its website on its own doesn’t count. An answer counts as citing the brand’s site when at least one of its sources links to the brand’s own website.
This is an analysis of tracking data we already collect, so it describes what AI answers did rather than why. You can read more about how we measure AI visibility on our site.
How should I cite this research?
Please credit Tilio and link to this page when you use these findings. A suggested citation is:
Tilio, “When AI names a brand, it usually cites the brand’s own website”, November 2026.
https://www.tilio.co.uk/research/how-often-ai-cites-brand-websites
Frequently asked questions
What percentage of AI citations come from a brand’s own website?
In Tilio’s research, 3.5%. Across 44,587 AI answers for four UK brands, the brands’ own websites made up 3.5% of 270,861 citations, which is in line with other published studies. The figure counts every source in every answer, including answers that never mention the brand.
How often does AI cite a brand’s website when it names the brand?
In Tilio’s research, 80% of the time. Of 6,340 UK AI answers that named one of four brands, 80% cited that brand’s own website as a source. The figure ranged from 71% to 90% across the four brands.
Does this contradict research showing most AI citations go to third-party sites?
No, both findings appear in the same answers. In Tilio’s research, sites other than the brand’s own made up 96.5% of all citations, while 80% of the answers that named a brand also cited the brand’s own website. The first figure describes every answer about a category, and the second describes only the answers where the brand appears.
Why do studies give different figures for how often AI cites brand websites?
Mostly because they measure different things. Some count a brand’s share of every citation in a category, which gives low figures such as 3.5% or 5.95%, while others look only at answers that name or recommend the brand, which gives higher figures. Studies also differ in what counts as brand-owned: Yext, for example, includes listings, reviews and social profiles alongside brand websites.
Can AI cite a website without naming the brand behind it?
Yes. In Tilio’s research, 21% of the UK AI answers that cited one of four brands’ websites didn’t name that brand in the answer text. The figure ranged from 3% to 45% depending on the brand.
What’s the difference between a mention and a citation in AI search?
A mention is when an AI answer names a brand in its text. A citation is when the answer links to a page as one of its sources. The two can happen separately, so an answer can name a brand without linking to its site, or link to the site without naming the brand.
Which AI engines did this research cover?
ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode. ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode were tracked for all four brands, Gemini for three, and Claude for one brand on a smaller sample. All answers were collected in the UK market between 5 October and 3 November 2026.
How many AI answers did this research analyse?
Tilio analysed 44,587 AI answers containing 270,861 citations. The answers were collected for four UK brands between 5 October and 3 November 2026, after excluding 1,217 answers that came back empty.
Which brands are in this research?
Four UK brands Tilio tracks for clients, each in a different industry. Tilio included every client brand that AI named in at least 100 answers over the 30 days, leaving out one whose information is split across two websites. The four brands’ names and industries are anonymised.
Who carried out this research?
Tilio, a UK answer engine optimisation agency, carried out this research using the AI answers it tracks for clients. The data covers 5 October to 3 November 2026.