Key Takeaways
- Electricity is the most review-site-driven industry. Review and comparison sites make up 74% of the non-brand sources AI cites there, against 44% in software.
- Three Red Ventures comparison sites dominate electricity answers. They appear in 62% of AI answers about choosing an electricity provider.
- Google’s top 10 explains little of what AI cites. In electricity, 75% of citations come from sites outside Google’s top 10 for the same question, and the figure is 73% in a typical industry.
- Your own website is rarely the source. Only 12.6% of electricity recommendations cite the provider’s own site.
- Which brands AI recommends depends on the engine. Payless Power appears in 29% of Google AI Mode answers and 6% of ChatGPT answers.
We measured 16 industries to see whether brands or the sites that review them have more say in what AI recommends.
What We Measured
We asked buyer questions in 16 industries on five AI engines: ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, and Perplexity. That produced about 10,000 answers. For each industry, we checked:
- How concentrated the recommendations are, meaning whether a few brands take most of the mentions.
- How often AI cites sites outside Google’s top 10 results for the same question.
- Whether the cited sources are the brand’s own site, a review site, or a comparison site.
Electricity: Comparison Sites Decide the Winners
Retail electricity was where outside sites held the most power. We asked 72 buyer questions, such as “cheapest electricity providers in Texas” and “compare electricity providers Houston.” We asked each one twice on five engines, which produced 718 answers.
Three comparison sites owned by Red Ventures (ChooseTexasPower.org, ChooseEnergy.com, and SaveOnEnergy.com) appeared in 62% of AI answers about choosing an electricity provider.
Review and comparison sites made up 74% of the non-brand sources AI cited in electricity. That was the highest of the 16 industries. In software, it was 44%.
Only 12.6% of electricity recommendations cited the provider’s own website:
- Choosetexaspower.org. 514 citations, run by Red Ventures
- Chooseenergy.com. 504 citations, run by Red Ventures
- Electricityplans.com. 290 citations, run by Cypress Capital Ventures
- Electricchoice.com. 197 citations, a comparison site
- Energybot.com. 174 citations, a comparison site in Dallas
A Few Brands Took Half the Mentions
Thirteen brands made up half of all electricity recommendations, about a third as many as in a typical industry (42). In software, it took 39.
The top five electricity brands, by share of all brand recommendations across 718 answers, were:
- Gexa Energy at 7.0%.
- APG&E at 6.9%.
- 4Change Energy at 6.4%.
- Payless Power at 5.4%.
- TXU Energy at 4.8%.
Google Rankings Explained Little of What AI Cited
In electricity, 75% of citations came from sites outside Google’s top 10 for the same question. In a typical industry the figure was 73%. Ranking well on Google isn’t enough to get cited.
One Brand, Five Different Results
Payless Power was the fourth most-recommended electricity brand and appeared in 19.5% of answers, about one in five.
Here’s how many of each engine mentioned them, by percentage of answers:
 Google AI Mode 29% |  Google AI Overviews 27% |  Gemini 21% |  Perplexity 15% |  ChatGPT 6% |
Paylesspower.com was also the most-cited provider website in the whole electricity category, with 106 citations.
How All 16 Industries Compared
The share of non-brand citations that went to review or comparison sites, by industry, were:
 Retail electricity 74% |  Financial services 58% |
 B2B marketing 50% |  Software 44% |
 Automotive 40% |  Smart home 39% |
 Travel 36% |  AI tools 35% |
 Online education and consumer electronics 30% each |  Home and kitchen 29% |
 Pet supplies 27% |  Food and beverage 25% |
 Sporting goods, apparel, and footwear 23% each |  Beauty 16% |
What This Means for Your Brand
The sites AI cites most differ by industry, and they aren’t always review sites. In financial services, AI cited nerdwallet.com (601 citations) and bankrate.com (399) the most. In automotive, it cited youtube.com (589) and caranddriver.com (397). In beauty, it cited allure.com (398) and youtube.com (305).
Use Fractl Agents to track which AI engines mention your brand and which sources they cite.
Map Which Sites AI Points to in Your Industry
Start with the sources AI cites for your top buyer questions, then build the credibility those sources look for. Fractl can get you there. Reach out to get started today.
Methodology
We asked buyer questions in 16 industries on five AI engines (ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, and Perplexity) and collected about 10,000 answers in July and October 2026. In retail electricity, we asked 72 questions, which produced 718 answers. The figures describe U.S. English-language answers only, and we excluded Copilot.
For each industry, we measured how concentrated brand recommendations were, how often AI cited sites outside Google’s top 10 results for the same question, and whether the cited sources were brands’ own sites or review and comparison sites.
Electricity questions leaned toward Texas. Perplexity’s electricity answers came from its API, which cited comparison sites slightly more often. Without Perplexity, comparison sites made up 68% of electricity’s non-brand citations instead of 74%.
