Original data · Citation tracker
What AI engines actually cite
A living record of which tools and sources ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity name for the query “best GEO tools 2026” — updated run over run. The point is the honesty: it's published in the open, my own site included.
2 runs3 enginesLatest: September 3, 2026
But on a branded query, the picture inverts
“who is Marco Diversi” on Perplexity (IT) cites marcodiversi.com first of 6 sources, and builds its description from this site’s own About page.
These are two different systems. Entity recognition — “who is X” — needs a canonical description, and your own site is the natural authority. Source citation — “what’s the best X” — is the engine choosing evidence from everyone writing on the topic, where being a known entity counts for nothing. Reporting a single “cited: yes/no” would misrepresent both.
How often each tool is named (September 3, 2026)
Across 3 engines, from the July 12, 2026 run — the one captured with per-engine tagging. The later run was recorded as a union only, so blending it in here would present an aggregate as a measurement.
Where the engines agreed — and didn't
1
named by all 3
Profound
4
named by 2
AthenaHQ, Peec, Scrunch, Semrush
7
named by just 1
Bluefish, BotRank, BrightEdge, Geoptie, Otterly, RankScope, Writesonic
More than half the tools appeared on only one engine's list — the AI "consensus" is far less settled than the confident tone implies.
What kind of source got cited
The cited sources this run: ismybrandinai.com, geoptie.com, developers.openai.com, help.openai.com, developers.google.com, otterly.ai, ahrefs.com, semrush.com. Note how many are vendor blogs ranking themselves — worth weighting down.
What changed between runs
Two dated runs, eight weeks apart, same prompts and engines. This compares the union of tools named — the one thing both runs record with equal confidence.
75%
of July’s tools were named again in September
10
new names entered in eight weeks
3
dropped out
- Persisted
- Peec AI, Geoptie, Profound, Otterly.AI, Semrush AI Toolkit, Writesonic, Bluefish AI, AthenaHQ, Scrunch AI
- Entered
- HubSpot AEO Grader, Gauge, Brandi AI, Goodie AI, Ahrefs Brand Radar, Rankscale, Trakkr.ai, SE Ranking, Brand24, BrandViz.AI
- Dropped
- BrightEdge, RankScope, BotRank
Names are normalised before comparing, so “Otterly” and “Otterly.AI” count as one tool. RankScope (July) and Rankscale (September) are different products and are deliberately not merged — they count as one leaving and one entering. If the July capture was a transcription slip, the churn is one lower in each direction; the ambiguity is flagged rather than hidden.
The AI Citation Tracker records which tools and sources ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity name when asked the same question, run after run, including whether the engines agree with each other and how often they cite vendors ranking themselves. It is original first-party data collected by manual single-pass queries with browsing enabled.