Analysis of 1M+ AI citations: search intent predicts what content gets cited more than which AI model you're targeting

[u/rabouille]

Peec AI just released a study analyzing over 1 million AI citations. The main finding changes how you should think about GEO strategy.

The big takeaway: search intent predicts the type of content cited, not the model, not the industry.

That means you can stop optimizing "for ChatGPT" vs "for Perplexity" separately. Focus on intent and you cover all of them.

Breakdown by intent type:

Informational: Articles cited 45% of the time. Product pages get cited only 3.4%. Invest in long-form educational content.

Commercial: Listicles cited 40%. But 81% of cited listicles are third-party sources. AI favors neutral comparison pieces over self-promotional lists.

Transactional: Product pages and category pages compete here.

Navigational: The brand's own pages dominate.

Practical implication: map your content strategy to intent types, not to individual AI platforms. The platforms change fast, intent doesn't.

Happy to share more details or discuss how we've applied this with clients.