Report shows Google AI response tools citing different sources

Luke Meredith

A new study from Ahrefs shows that Google’s AI Mode and AI Overviews often give answers that mean the same thing but cite different sources.

For website owners, this matters because it will affect how their site might appear in search results. The report looked at hundreds of thousands of queries and found that the two systems only cited the same URLs about 13% of the time. Even when comparing the top three citations, overlap was just 16%. Despite this, the answers were still very similar in meaning, with an average semantic similarity score of 86%.

The study also revealed differences in the types of sources each system prefers. AI Mode cited Wikipedia more often, along with sites like Quora and health-related pages. AI Overviews leaned more toward video content, with YouTube being the most common source. Both systems liked article-style pages, but AI Overviews cited videos and homepages almost twice as often as AI Mode. This means that depending on which system a user sees, your site’s visibility could change.

Another key finding is that AI Mode responses were longer and included more mentions of brands and entities. On average, AI Mode mentioned 3.3 entities per response compared to 1.3 in AI Overviews. However, many responses from both systems contained no brand or person mentions at all, especially for purely informational queries. AI Mode was also more likely to include citations, with only 3% of its answers missing sources compared to 11% for AI Overviews.

Therefore, being cited in one system does not guarantee visibility in the other. The longer responses of AI Mode may include more competitors, but AI Overviews may highlight video content instead of text. Google has explained that both systems use different models and techniques, which is why they vary in sources and style. This means that optimising your site for visibility may require paying attention to both text-based and video content, as well as ensuring your pages are structured in ways that AI (artificial intelligence) systems can easily reference.

However, this development may be viewed as offering greater opportunity for websites to be cited and discovered via methods of Google’s AI Overview SEO (search engine optimisation). For more specialist support on succeeding in the everchanging online world, speak to our team at Engage Web today.

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Luke Meredith

Content Editor at Engage Web

At home in both the digital sector and the world of communications, Luke thrives on deadlines and has held roles in healthcare, retail and digital marketing, gaining a sound knowledge of a wide range of sectors. He’s a massive swot as well, holding a first-class degree in BA Communication and Media, and now uses his writing skills and keen editorial eye in his role as Content Editor here. Luke helps to oversee our clients’ content requirements, while also looking after a pool of freelance writers across three continents.