Gemini local search favors business websites: Study
▼ Summary
– Business websites accounted for nearly 60% of Gemini’s local AI search citations, surpassing directories, review platforms, and forums combined.
– Reddit ranked second with 13.7% of Gemini citations, outperforming the entire local-service directory category.
– Gemini’s AI answers were highly inconsistent, with overlapping cited sources only about 40% of the time and the same top business recommended just 7% of the time.
– Gemini and ChatGPT cited the same domains only 8% of the time and recommended the same top business just 4.2% of the time, with ChatGPT relying more on Reddit and directories.
– The study analyzed 14,472 citations from 1,487 local search queries across 50 U.S. metro areas, highlighting that monitoring only one AI platform can misrepresent visibility.
Business websites are dominating Gemini local search citations, capturing nearly 60% of all references in a new analysis of AI-driven queries. Steady Demand examined 14,472 citations generated from 1,487 local search prompts across 50 major U.S. metropolitan areas, and the results reveal a clear preference for direct business sources over third-party platforms.
The study found that business websites outperformed all other citation categories combined. Direct links to company domains accounted for more citations than directories, review sites, and community forums put together. This marks a significant shift in how AI search engines prioritize information for local queries.
Reddit emerged as the second-largest citation source, representing 13.7% of all references. The platform’s performance outpaced the entire local-service directory category, which includes established names like Angi, Thumbtack, and HomeAdvisor.
Perhaps the most striking discovery in the report is what Steady Demand co-founder Ben Fisher terms “Grounding Drift.” When researchers repeated identical queries in Gemini, the cited sources overlapped only about 40% of the time. This inconsistency stands in sharp contrast to traditional search behavior. In a control test, Google’s local pack returned the same top listing roughly 90% of the time, while Gemini recommended the same leading business just 7% of the time.
Fisher cautioned that a single AI search result should be viewed as a momentary snapshot rather than a dependable indicator of sustained visibility.
The research team also ran the same 1,487 queries through ChatGPT to compare how different AI platforms handle local search. The divergence was stark. Both platforms cited the same domains only 8% of the time and recommended the same top business just 4.2% of the time. Gemini leaned heavily on business websites, whereas ChatGPT showed a much stronger reliance on Reddit and business directories.
For marketers and business owners, the implications are straightforward. Success in one AI engine does not guarantee visibility in another. Since Gemini and ChatGPT rarely agree on sources or top recommendations, monitoring a single platform could provide a dangerously incomplete picture of your AI search presence.
The methodology behind the study was comprehensive. Steady Demand analyzed citations across 10 service categories in the 50 largest U. S. metro areas, then replicated the same queries in ChatGPT to map citation patterns across different AI systems.
If AI platforms cannot locate your business, potential customers will not find you either. Tracking your visibility across multiple AI search engines is essential to identifying gaps and strengthening your presence where consumers are actively seeking recommendations.
(Source: Search Engine Land)
