A new study found that maintaining an active presence on social media platforms can help brands increase their visibility in artificial intelligence-generated search results, with AI chatbots commonly citing links to social media posts within their answers to user queries.
The team from SE Ranking analyzed 100,000 keywords across a range of brand niches in order to understand which sources were most commonly displayed in both Google results and AI chatbot responses.
The data showed that social platform links appeared in 67.66% of Google AI overview responses, 32.39% of Google AI Mode replies and 8.4% of ChatGPT answers.
That means that maintaining an active presence on social media can have an impact on how brands are shown to users of AI chatbots. This could be a valuable consideration for overall brand visibility amid an increasing amount of AI usage.
Though the specifics here are also important.
Google-owned YouTube is the most commonly cited source in Google’s AI overviews, while Reddit and LinkedIn are the top social platforms referred to by ChatGPT.
As shown in this overview, Reddit, LinkedIn and Facebook citations are shown in fewer than 1% of ChatGPT answers to common queries, so social media is not a huge factor in this respect. Even so, social platform citations are being shown to users seeking out product information, with Reddit also seeing a relatively high rate of presence in Google AI responses.
Though Reddit has recently fallen out of favor with ChatGPT.
In August, Search Engine Land reported that Reddit’s share of ChatGPT search citations fell 86.4% in four days. It’s unclear why ChatGPT stopped referencing Reddit, but it shows that AI tools can change their approach, which could lead to volatility in using this as an exposure path.
Google, however, still has a commercial data-sharing deal in place with Reddit, which has thus far ensured that Reddit citations remain steady in Google’s AI responses.
Presumably, given the referral traffic that Google AI searches drive for Reddit, the two companies may be looking to maintain their link for as long as possible. However, the shift in which platform holds more value for the other in this deal could complicate matters.
SE Ranking also looked at the top 100,000 branded and non-branded queries in Google’s AI Mode.
As shown in this graphic, social media sources were referenced in 39.34% of branded query responses, and 48.58% of non-branded searches, with Facebook, YouTube and Reddit being the most commonly cited.
The data highlights the value of a social media presence in maintaining visibility in AI discovery. It also shows that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to optimizing for AI chatbot exposure.
Unlike SEO, which has been dominated by Google, optimizing for AI tools requires a variable approach tailored to each platform. However, overall social media references can help to enhance a brand’s presence in AI chatbot queries.
