AI search reshapes how websites are discovered online, analysis suggests

Ignite iGaming, a Dubai-based agency offering gambling link building services to iGaming operators and affiliates, has commented on newly released AI citation research showing that AI-generated answers no longer reward the signals traditional SEO has optimised for. A business can rank at the top of Google and still never appear when an AI assistant answers the same question, or the reverse.

"There's no ranking factor left to reverse-engineer here, because the newest AI engines aren't ranking pages the way Google does," said Josh Yates, Founder of Ignite iGaming. "What's left is the slower thing: real positioning, genuine expertise, and a reputation that shows up across the web. That's brand-building, not a checklist, and it's a genuine opening for a smaller, specialised name to get recommended ahead of a bigger one that has only ever invested in ranking."

Ignite's commentary draws on four independent studies. Ahrefs analysed 15,000 prompts across ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot and Perplexity and found only 12% of the links these assistants cite also appear in Google's top 10 for the same query, and 80% don't rank in Google at all.

A separate CiteLens benchmark of 320 buyer queries found Google's AI Mode pulled 93% of its citations from Google's top 10, and Perplexity 89%, but ChatGPT pulled just 30%.

A second CiteLens study of 500 AI Overviews found 60% of cited domains didn't rank in Google's top 10 either. A further Ahrefs analysis of 75,000 brands found unlinked brand mentions were roughly three times more predictive of AI visibility than backlinks.

"The implication for any brand's marketing budget is that a single AI SEO checklist doesn't exist," Yates said. "Google's AI Mode still rewards traditional ranking work. ChatGPT rewards what earns a person's trust: being written about and recommended across the wider web."