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My name is Garrett Susman. I am the
director of marketing at IPole Rank. Um,
we are going to go through this local
visibility in AI search. You're in for a
treat. If you haven't been paying
attention, a few months ago, uh,
Christian, who I will introduce in a
moment as well, will uh, walk us through
all the data he's been sifting through
and analyzing at Yex. Yeah, we we always
chat and we're always kind of
speculating and discussing um everything
that's going on in AI search, obviously
in a local context, but in the bigger,
you know, search ecosystem context. And
AI-generated overview
Christian Susman, Director at Yext, presents research analyzing 6.9 million AI citations across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity to understand local business visibility in AI search. The study reveals that when location context is included, websites and directories dominate citations (comprising the majority), while Reddit and Wikipedia represent only single-digit percentages. MapQuest emerged as the number one cited directory across models, excluding Google (which doesn't cite its own Business Profile). The research demonstrates that AI models use location automatically for business queries, making hyper-local competitive analysis essential. Susman argues citations serve as trust signals in AI responses, with verification across multiple sources increasing probability of inclusion. The study shows citation patterns vary significantly by query type (branded vs. unbranded, objective vs. subjective) and business category, with reviews and social media citations declining over three months as platforms block AI crawlers.
Location-based queries show websites and directories account for the vast majority of AI citations, while Reddit and news forums each represent less than 5% when geographic context is included.
MapQuest is the number one cited directory across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity combined, despite being rarely used by consumers, due to its highly structured, easily crawlable data format.
Google does not cite Google Business Profile in Gemini results, instead incorporating the data without attribution, making directories appear less important in Google's AI than in competing models.
AI citations operate on probabilistic verification—businesses mentioned across multiple structured sources (website, directories, reviews) have higher likelihood of being cited than those with single-source mentions.
AI visibility shaped by location and structured data. Brand-managed sources preferred. Review signals influence recommendations