---
title: "Map which source types each AI engine cites for buyers"
description: "Write ten buyer-intent questions, run each through ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Gemini with web search on, and record the URLs each engine cites. Then group those URLs by source type to see which engines favour Reddit, review sites, listicles or your own pages, so content effort goes where citations already come from."
url: "https://seo-mcp.io/t/map-which-source-types-each-ai-engine-cites-for-buyers"
---

# Map which source types each AI engine cites for buyers

Write ten buyer-intent questions, run each through ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Gemini with web search on, and record the URLs each engine cites. Then group those URLs by source type to see which engines favour Reddit, review sites, listicles or your own pages, so content effort goes where citations already come from.

## Prerequisites

- Access to ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Gemini with web search enabled
- A list of your brand name and two or three competitors

## Steps

1. **Write ten buyer questions** — Draft ten questions a buyer would ask before choosing a product like yours, using the tweet's three phrasings: "what's the best [category] for [type of company]", "[your brand] vs [competitor]", and "is [your brand] worth it for a team of [size]".
   Check: Ten questions are written down, each matching one of the three phrasings and naming your category, brand or a competitor.
2. **Collect cited sources in ChatGPT** — Run each question in ChatGPT with web search enabled. Open the Sources button under the answer, or the three-dot menu and View sources if the button is absent, and copy every cited URL.
   Check: For each question the Sources panel lists at least one URL copied into your notes.
3. **Repeat the run on Claude, Perplexity and Gemini** — Ask the same ten questions in each remaining engine with web search on and copy the cited URLs, keeping them separated by engine.
   Check: The log has a row for every question-engine pair (40 rows) with at least one cited URL.
4. **Record the citations in a log** *(general best practice)* — Store the results in one table with columns for engine, question, cited URL and source type so later classification and re-runs are comparable.
   Check: The log opens with the header row engine, question, cited_url, source_type, run_date.
5. **Classify citations by engine and source type** — Paste all cited URLs into Claude with the instruction to sort by engine and then by type (own site, competitor site, review site, Reddit, listicle, news or blog), and to state which types each engine cites most.
   Check: The output names each engine separately and lists its most-cited source types.
6. **Pick the source types to invest in** — Use the per-engine ranking to choose the one or two source types you will pursue for the engines that matter most, for example Reddit threads if Perplexity dominates that list or review-site presence if Gemini does.
   Check: A written shortlist names the chosen source types and the engine each is meant to influence.

## Source

@denohawari on 2026-10-18: https://x.com/denohawari/status/2111808283220820356

Canonical: https://seo-mcp.io/t/map-which-source-types-each-ai-engine-cites-for-buyers