TL;DR: AI answer engines don't rank — they cite. Yext Research shows ~86% of AI citations come from brand-managed sources (websites, listings, pages, reviews), reframing AI visibility as an operational challenge that requires shifting from national averages to location-level measurement and action.
Brand discovery used to be simpler: a user made a search, saw a list of links, and did a series of click-throughs before making a decision.
Now, discovery increasingly starts with a single, conversational answer built from many sources. AI creates that answer by "reading" and synthesizing snippets from websites, listings, and local pages — and the result varies based on where the user is, what they ask, and the situation they're in.
For example, two people near the same city searching "best urgent care" can get very different answers depending on ZIP code and phrasing — or even depending on which AI model is being used. (Take a look here.)
This isn't a technical SEO problem — it's a visibility strategy problem.
Winning in AI search doesn't come from trying clever hacks or chasing rankings. It comes from leadership-level strategy: investing in structured content for machines and reputation and social signals for humans.
The research that flips the script
Our recent citations study analyzed 6.8M AI citations and reached a clear conclusion: 86% of AI citations actually come from sources brands can manage — owned websites, individual listings, local pages, and reviews.
That finding directly dispels a common perception in the industry: that AI citations are dominated by forums like Reddit or Wikipedia. Instead, for multi-location brands, the engines overwhelmingly cite assets you manage or control.
This shows that AI visibility isn't a mystery; it's a measurable operational challenge that brands can address — but only if they act with speed and at the location level.
The real cost of waiting
A substantial share of search will move to AI answer engines within a few years, with Gartner predicting a ~25% shift in discovery to these systems.
That means more customer decisions are being shaped by platforms that generate answers (not results) and your brand's visibility depends on whether you're included in that answer set.
Because if you aren't in the answer, you're out of the consideration set. AI answers replace the browse-and-click journey with a single packaged answer. When that answer excludes your brand, customers never see you as an option, and competitors with fresher local signals become the default choice.
There is a second, compounding problem: AI systems build persistent memory. The sources they trust today shape the answers users see tomorrow. Once an AI engine repeatedly cites competitors instead of you, reclaiming that visibility isn't quick or cheap — it takes sustained investment across structured data, pages, listings, and reputation work, and often months to restore the same presence.
The executive implication is straightforward: this is a board-level risk, not a tactical test. The only response is to move from awareness to prioritized action this quarter: measure visibility at the location level – and in the context of your competition. Brands win or lose visibility one market at a time, and knowing where you outperform (or don't) is critical. Then, prioritize high-impact gaps first. Unlike automated "best practices," a competitive approach makes sure you focus effort where it actually shifts share.
How Yext makes visibility a capability (not a gamble)
The citations research validated the levers that move outcomes. Yext helps provide a solution: we analyze, prioritize, and automate execution for the highest-impact fixes at scale. The result: you can see where you're cited, close gaps at the source, and keep your authoritative brand data as the single source of truth for every engine.
Yext Scout — visibility as a competitive system
Scout reveals how your brand shows up across AI and traditional search, benchmarks you against competitors, and delivers precise recommendations to close visibility gaps. It's your visibility agent that prescribes prioritized fixes.
Knowledge Graph — the AI-ready source of truth
The Yext Knowledge Graph structures your brand data into an authoritative, AI-ready source of truth so traditional and AI engines produce accurate, trusted answers. Authoritative, structured data reduces noise and makes brand descriptions predictable.
Listings — publisher scale and data accuracy
Yext Listings keeps real-time business information accurate and consistent across the industry's largest publisher network – including top search engines, industry directories, and niche sites
Why does that matter? Because AI engines don't just cite Google. They pull from wherever they find trusted, consistent data — including lesser-known sources that humans rarely visit. Yext makes sure your brand stays consistent across all of them, automatically. No extra work, no extra risk, just broader coverage and stronger trust signals for both traditional and AI-driven search.
Pages — built for AI, built to convert
Yext Pages lets marketers scale thousands of AI-optimized local pages that capture high-intent demand and convert it. Local pages are among the top citation sources for unbranded objective queries according to Yext Research — they are the new front door for discovery in many categories.
A practical CMO playbook: three shifts to implement now
1. Make brand visibility a core brand KPI. Track visibility (in traditional and AI search) by location and question type. National averages hide local opportunities.
2. Diagnose, prioritize, execute. Use Scout to locate the highest-impact gaps, then fix Pages and Listings that AI actually uses as cited sources.
3. Build an operational engine for visibility. Make visibility repeatable and measurable by:
Assigning cross-functional ownership (marketing + data + operations)
Defining KPIs and SLAs for local page and listing health
Automating data flows into a flexible Knowledge Graph
Automating publishing across multiple channels
For CMOs who want a concrete plan, check out our Marketing Playbook Rewritten: A Strategic Guide for CMOs — a practical ebook that translates this narrative into organizational models, templates, and execution checklists for teams.
The payoff
First movers secure persistent recall inside AI, while laggards pay to rebuild. The Citations study proves the path: authoritative, structured content plus accurate publisher and reputation signals = AI visibility. Be sourced by AI — not just ranked by Google — and convert the market shift into a lasting advantage.
Check out our playbook and read the full Citations research to align your exec team and move fast.
