Which Engines Cite Sources Most?

When it comes to AI-driven search, not all engines are created equal in how they credit sources. We analyzed over 1,000 queries across Google SGE, Bing Chat, Perplexity, and more to find out.

Key Findings

• Perplexity leads the pack: With an average of 4.5 citations per answer, Perplexity consistently provides the most sourced responses.
• Bing Chat follows closely: Bing averages 3.8 citations, heavily leveraging its search index.
• Google SGE is conservative: Google's Search Generative Experience tends to cite fewer sources directly within the generated text, often relegating them to carousel cards.

Why Citations Matter

Citations are crucial for:

1. Trust: Users can verify the information.
2. Traffic: Publishers rely on citations for click-throughs.
3. SEO: Being cited signals authority to other engines.

Methodology

We ran a diverse set of informational, transactional, and navigational queries. For each query, we counted the number of unique domains cited in the generated response.

Top Performers by Industry

Engine	Tech	Health	Finance
Perplexity	High	High	High
Bing Chat	High	Med	High
Google SGE	Med	Low	Med

Note: Data based on internal benchmarks conducted in October 2023.