Citations come from earned media

AI Search (AEO/GEO): Get Found by Machines That Answer — lesson 8 of 20 (STAT)

84%

About 84% of AI citations point to earned, third-party media — not brand-owned pages. Brands mentioned across publishers, reviews, and communities earn ~6.5× more AI citations than brands who only publish on their own domain. PR is now a technical SEO channel.

Source: Muck Rack (2026); University of Toronto (arXiv:2509.08919)

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