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Which Websites Does AI Trust in Your Industry? How to Find Them and Get Listed
Kyle Vogt, Founder, Groow GroupPublished · 6 min read
Sites AI trusts vs. Oakline
HVAC questions
| Website AI cites | You | Oakline | Answers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google reviews | ✓ | ✓ | 31 |
| Angi | ✗ | ✓ | 24 |
| Yelp | ✓ | ✓ | 18 |
| Des Moines Register “best of” | ✗ | ✓ | 12 |
| Nextdoor | ✗ | ✓ | 9 |
3 sites list Oakline but not you, in 45 answers
AI assistants build answers from a handful of sites in every industry. How to find the ones that name your competitors but not you, and how to get onto each.
On this page
Key takeaways
- AI assistants read a set of websites before they answer, and recommend the businesses those sites talk about.
- The same kinds of sites come up again and again: review sites, directories and associations, and local “best of” lists.
- Find yours by asking AI the questions your customers ask and noting every source it cites, and whether it mentions you.
- Pick the two or three sites that come up most and work on those first. They're trusted because they're hard to fake.
When someone asks ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google's AI for the best business for a job, the answer isn't made up on the spot. The assistant reads a set of websites first, then writes its answer from them. If those websites talk about your competitors and not you, the answer usually does too.
So one of the most useful questions you can ask is a simple one: which websites does AI read in my industry, and am I on them?
What kinds of sites AI leans on
It changes by industry and city, but the same few types come up again and again:
- Review sites: Google reviews, Yelp, and the ones specific to your industry, like Healthgrades for clinics or G2 for software
- Directories and associations: trade bodies, chambers of commerce, certification lists
- “Best of” lists and roundups: local news, magazines and blogs that rank businesses in a category
- Articles and guides that explain a topic and name examples
- Forums and communities, like Reddit threads where people ask for recommendations
- Your own website, when it answers the question clearly
How to find the ones in your market
- Write down five questions your customers really ask, like “best HVAC company in Des Moines” or “who installs heat pumps near me”.
- Ask each one in ChatGPT (with search on), Perplexity and Google, and open the sources each answer links to.
- Note every website that appears, and whether it mentions you, your competitors, or both.
- Count how often each site comes up across all your questions. The ones that keep appearing are the ones AI trusts in your market.
Start with the sites that name your competitors and not you. Those are the clearest gaps: AI is already reading them for your kind of business, and you're missing.
How to get onto each kind of site
- Directories: claim or create your listing, with exactly the same name, address and phone as your website and Google profile.
- Review sites: complete your profile, then ask every customer for a review with a direct link. Never offer anything in return.
- Best-of lists: check how businesses are chosen, make sure you qualify, and send the author the facts they'd need. If a list only includes paid placements, it should say so.
- Articles and guides: offer something useful, like a quote, data or an explanation the writer is missing.
- Forums: answer questions honestly under your own name when you can genuinely help. Don't post ads.
None of this is quick, and that's the point: AI trusts these sites because they're hard to fake. Pick the two or three that come up most often and work on those first.
How Groow does this for you
Groow asks your customers' questions on ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity and Google AI every week and records every site each answer cites. The Sources page shows which sites AI reads in your market and which ones mention you. Get cited here turns the gaps into a list: each site that names your competitors and not you, how to get onto it, how much work it takes, and a status you move from to-do to listed.
Want to see which sites AI reads for your business? Run the free AI scan.
About the author
Kyle Vogt, Founder, Groow Group
Kyle founded Groow Group to help businesses show up when customers ask ChatGPT, Google and the other AI assistants who to call. He writes about what actually moves AI and Google visibility, from the checks Groow runs every week.