Do You Know How Your Brand is Cited in AI Search?

TL;DR: AI search has changed how customers find and interact with brands. Yext Scout introduces AI Citations so you can see what factors lead to your brand being mentioned. No more guessing — just clear insight, so you can take action.

The new discovery reality

When was the last time you asked ChatGPT a question? What about clicking into an AI Overview?

For a lot of us, the answer is… today: 43% of people now use AI search tools daily or more. But amidst this shift in search behavior, marketers have ended up in the dark.

For years, teams had playbooks: optimize content, run paid ads, win clicks. But AI platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity don't rank — they cite in order to generate direct answers. And in that shift, the pathway to driving brand visibility has changed.

Today, most marketers can't see how (or if) their brand is being mentioned in AI-generated answers. And they definitely don't know exactly which sources or signals are influencing that visibility.

Marketers need visibility

AI platforms summarize and cite from diverse sources, and if they mention your brand, it's likely without linking to your site. (Take a look at this experiment on how AI models get their information and generate different answers.)

Unlike legacy rankings, these citations aren't easy to trace. The result? Blindspots. Teams are expected to act without knowing the full picture:

• How are we showing up in AI search?

• What sources are influencing the response?

• What actions can we take to improve?

That's why we built AI Citations.

Scout is already there to show you brand visibility gaps in AI and traditional search. But with AI Citations, you can now go a level deeper — and see exactly where AI is sourcing your information from when it references your brand in search results. Then, you can take action to improve. (Hint: your local pages play a major role.)

4 ways to improve brand visibility with AI Citations

Once you understand where AI sources your information from, you can optimize visibility. Here's how you can put AI Citations to work:

1. Understand and improve sentiment

It's not just about whether your brand appears; it's about how it appears.

AI Citations let you see the tone of AI search results (positive, neutral, or negative) your brand appears in, trace that sentiment back to specific sources, and act accordingly. If one of your locations is getting negative attention, for example, you can find out which review sites that sentiment is coming from — and then build a plan to improve your reputation on those platforms.

2. Boost your visibility score

Your visibility score measures how often your brand shows up in AI search compared to competitors.

Now, with AI Citations, you can see which sources are contributing to that score and which ones aren't pulling their weight. If a location is underperforming, you can quickly pinpoint gaps — like missing or outdated listings, under-optimized local pages, or low-volume reviews on key sites — and take targeted steps to improve.

What does this look like in practice? For example, you might add more relevant words and images to local pages that are likely to be cited, as well as improving page speed or mobile optimization.

3. See how location impacts performance

Trends can vary by region. AI Citations let you zoom out and compare locations by geography, helping you spot whether AI search relies more heavily on certain sources in certain areas — and tailor your strategy to match.

For example: If your customers are searching for warm jackets in the north in the month of December, you can make sure your local pages in that region have the right information.

4. Optimize for the AI platforms that matter to you

Different brands might care about driving visibility via different AI platforms… but the different AI platforms all cite from different sources. In fact, recent Yext Research found AI models share as little as 4.5% of citing domains.

For example, maybe you want to prioritize showing up in ChatGPT. With AI Citations, you can see which sources ChatGPT is uniquely pulling from — and focus your efforts on strengthening your presence there. It's a smarter way to align your strategy with your goals.

From insight to impact — with the Yext platform

When it comes to AI search visibility, understanding the problem is one thing. Acting on it is another.

The good news? Yext gives you the tools you need to do both.

Scout identifies where your brand is (or isn't) showing up in AI search — and then AI Citations shows which sources are influencing those mentions. Then, you can take targeted action with the rest of the Yext platform:

• Pages to strengthen the content AI relies on — especially at the local level

• Listings to fill in gaps across directories and data sources

• Reviews to manage sentiment and improve what's being cited

• Social to amplify relevant content across channels

No need to stitch together extra tools or reports. Scout closes the loop, giving you a clear path from insight to action — and back again.

AI search isn't a future trend. It's already fundamentally reshaping customer behavior. Platforms like ChatGPT and Gemini are handling everything from product recommendations to local business lookups. If your brand isn't being cited in those moments, you're invisible.

And yet, most marketers have no way to measure this shift. Traffic patterns change, search volumes fluctuate — and teams are left guessing why.

Now, you don't have to guess. You can get clarity on how AI platforms see your brand, what's working, and where to improve. It's not about chasing the algorithm. It's about understanding what matters — and acting fast.

Get started with Scout to see where you're showing up in AI search.