Across 450 queries spanning 15 industries, we compared the top 10 Google search results with the URLs actually cited in responses from ChatGPT and Gemini. Under the overlap-rate definition used in this study, the rate was 13.9% for ChatGPT, 29.0% for Gemini, and 25.0% when the two AIs were combined.
ChatGPT overlap rate
13.9%
Gemini overlap rate
29.0%
ChatGPT + Gemini combined
25.0%
Study Overview
Industries: Cosmetics, supplements, home appliances, apparel, food and beverages, English conversation, insurance, moving, real estate, recruitment, healthcare, professional services, SaaS, used cars, and travel
Number of queries: 30 per industry, 450 in total, covering categories such as recommendations and candidate selection, comparisons and differences, selection criteria, problems and troubleshooting, and ingredients and usage
Method: For each query, we (1) recorded the top 10 Google search results, (2) submitted the same query to ChatGPT and Gemini and extracted every URL actually cited in the response, and (3) compared the domains to calculate the number of matches and the overlap rate
Period: August 2026
Definitions Used in the Analysis
Domain matching: Matches were determined by root domain rather than exact URL, ignoring the presence or absence of www..
Total citations: The total number of citation occurrences actually shown in AI responses. If different pages from the same domain were cited multiple times within the same query, each citation was counted separately.
Number of matches: For each query, we compared the set of domains in Google's top 10 with the set of domains cited by the AI and counted the overlapping unique domains. Whether a domain was cited once or multiple times, it counted as one match.
Overlap rate: Number of matches divided by total citation occurrences.
Google Top 10: Positions 1 through 10 in Google search results for each query. In a small number of cases, fewer than 10 search results were available; in those cases, the actual number of results was used as the SEO-ranking set.
All figures in this report were calculated consistently across all 15 industries and 450 queries using the definitions above. Recalculating the data with different rules—for example, counting repeated domains multiple times or deduplicating at the URL level—may produce different overlap rates.
Overall Results
Total citations, matches with Google's top 10, and overlap rates across 450 queries in 15 industries
Metric
ChatGPT
Gemini
Combined
Total citations
2,142
5,864
8,006
Matches with Google's top 10
298
1,703
2,001
Overlap rate
13.9%
29.0%
25.0%
Gemini's overlap rate was 29.0%, higher than ChatGPT's 13.9%. Google provides a grounding mechanism that allows Gemini to use Google Search, but this study did not examine whether that mechanism was responsible for the difference observed here.
Results by Industry
Overlap rates between Google's top 10 and ChatGPT/Gemini across 15 industries
Industry
ChatGPT overlap rate
Gemini overlap rate
Apparel
23.0%
31.3%
Insurance
20.8%
30.8%
Used Cars
17.6%
31.9%
SaaS
15.5%
33.7%
Cosmetics
15.0%
29.9%
Supplements
13.6%
25.2%
Recruitment
13.0%
29.5%
Food & Beverages
13.0%
35.0%
Professional Services
12.8%
25.6%
Travel
11.6%
31.1%
Home Appliances
11.8%
24.1%
Moving
11.4%
30.6%
Real Estate
10.0%
29.0%
Healthcare
9.7%
23.3%
English Conversation
9.6%
27.3%
ChatGPT's overlap rate ranged from 9.6% in English conversation to 23.0% in apparel. Gemini ranged from 24.1% in home appliances to 35.0% in food and beverages. In all 15 industries, the overlap rate remained below 50% for both ChatGPT and Gemini.
Trends by Query Type
We grouped the 450 queries into five broad categories based on their wording: recommendations and candidate selection, comparisons and differences, selection criteria, problems and troubleshooting, and other.
Number of queries and overlap rates by query type
Query type
Queries
ChatGPT overlap rate
Gemini overlap rate
Recommendations / candidate selection
72
11.4%
33.4%
Comparisons / differences
99
16.2%
29.8%
Selection criteria
72
14.3%
25.3%
Problems / troubleshooting
85
15.3%
29.6%
Other
122
14.0%
28.3%
By query type, ChatGPT's overlap rate ranged from 11.4% to 16.2%, while Gemini ranged from 25.3% to 33.4%. Recommendation and candidate-selection queries had the lowest ChatGPT overlap rate at 11.4%, but the highest Gemini overlap rate at 33.4%. Comparison and difference queries produced ChatGPT's highest overlap rate at 16.2%.
This classification is a simplified grouping based on wording patterns and should not be treated as a strict intent classification.
Three Queries That Clearly Showed the Difference
1. Gemini cited 20 URLs, but none matched Google's top 10: SaaS
For the query, "Is it better to use multiple business systems or consolidate everything into one?", ChatGPT returned no citation URLs, while Gemini cited 20. None of those 20 Gemini citations matched Google's top 10. Google's results included comparison articles and tool-introduction sites such as genee.jp and cloudsign.jp, while Gemini cited a completely different group of corporate sites, including casio-human-sys.co.jp and co-well.jp.
2. Gemini cited 32 URLs, but only two domains matched: Home Appliances
For "What should I look at besides applicable floor area when choosing an air purifier?", Gemini cited 32 URLs, yet only two domains matched Google's top 10. Google's top results included major media sites such as Kakaku.com and All About, while Gemini cited vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com three times along with multiple appliance manufacturers' websites.
3. An exception where SEO and AI strongly overlapped: Recruitment
Not every query produced a large difference. For "What is the difference between large and small recruitment agencies?", four domains out of six ChatGPT citations and eight domains out of 12 Gemini citations matched Google's top 10. Comparison sites appearing in Google's top results, including axxis.co.jp and miraif.co.jp, were also cited by both ChatGPT and Gemini. This was one of the higher-overlap queries among the 450 examined, although such cases were a minority overall.
Observations
At the individual-query level, there were multiple cases where comparison sites ranking highly in Google were not cited by AI, while official or specialist sites outside Google's top 10 were cited instead.
ChatGPT and Gemini differed substantially in their overlap rates with Google's top 10: 13.9% versus 29.0%.
Some AI responses displayed no citation URLs at all. Across the 450 queries, zero-citation responses appeared in multiple industries. SEO always produces a ranking, but an AI response does not necessarily provide a cited source.
Across these 450 queries, there were many cases where Google's top 10 results and AI citation sources did not match. Search rankings alone therefore do not reveal which sources AI systems actually cite; AI citation sources need to be checked separately.
Future Research
We plan to continue this work as an ongoing study of AI citation behavior. Future analysis may include additional industries, more AI models such as Claude and Perplexity, analysis by search-ranking range, and citation patterns by domain type, including official websites, media, comparison sites, and government sources.
Optimization for generative AI is also referred to by terms such as “GEO,” “AIO,” and “LLMO.” Although the definitions of these terms vary, Genview uses GEO to describe efforts aimed at helping AI systems correctly understand a brand and appropriately mention or recommend it in their responses.
Separately from Google search rankings, Genview's “Query Improvement” feature allows companies to continuously track mentions and citations across multiple AI systems, primarily ChatGPT and Gemini, using actual counts rather than a proprietary visibility score. Query Improvement corresponds to what the industry often calls citation tracking or brand-mention tracking. Rather than relying on sentiment analysis or a proprietary visibility score, it continuously tracks actual mentions and citations. It also automatically identifies potential misrepresentations in AI-generated answers so they can be reviewed and improved.
Individual Results for All 15 Industries
Detailed examples and results for each industry are available in the individual articles below.
We do not publicly disclose the full individual data for all 450 queries. If you would like to learn more about the detailed results, please contact us here.