Blog · Answer Checkup team · Last checked October 15, 2026

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Which sites AI answers cite when people ask about email marketing tools

When we asked AI answer engines 25 questions about email marketing platforms, the most cited site was the brand's own, mailchimp.com, with 23 citations. Next came a review publisher, techradar.com, with 18, and then a competitor, klaviyo.com, with 11.

That mix is the useful part. AI answers in this category lean on three kinds of source: vendor sites, review and comparison publishers, and general reference sites. If you want to be part of these answers, you need to know which of those your buyers' questions pull from.

About this example. This is an independent sample we made with public API answers on Oct 15, 2026. Answer Checkup is not affiliated with Mailchimp or with any other brand or site named in this post, and none of them asked for or reviewed it.

What we asked

25 buyer-style questions about email marketing platforms, 19 that don't name Mailchimp and 6 that do. Each was asked once on the OpenAI API with web search and once on the Perplexity API, for 50 answers. For each answer we kept the source URLs the engine attached and grouped them by domain.
<!-- source: .json methodology[0] (25 prompts, 19 unbranded, 6 branded, 50 answers) and methodology[5] ("Cited domains are the source URLs each engine attached to its answer, grouped by domain") -->

The 15 most cited domains

<!-- source: .md "Top cited domains" table (Domain, Citations, Answers); .json module3.citedDomains. The report's own Type column says own / competitor / other; the finer labels here (review publisher, reference, other email tool) are our editorial description of each site, not a field in the file. -->

"Citations" counts every link to that domain. "Answers citing it" counts how many of the 50 answers linked to it at least once.

What stands out

The brand's own site was the top source. mailchimp.com was cited 23 times, in 15 answers. It was cited for factual questions like free plans, integrations and switching providers, where the vendor's own pages hold the facts, and for questions about the brand itself. The answers to "How much does Mailchimp cost?" cited mailchimp.com and nothing else.
<!-- source: .md citedDomains row mailchimp.com 23 / 15; .json module3.ownDomainCitedAnswers = 15; .md "Prompts and answers" rows 47 and 48 cited domains "mailchimp.com" only; rows 15, 17, 33 (free, integrations, switching) and branded rows 40, 42, 49, 50 list mailchimp.com among cited domains -->

A review publisher was close behind. techradar.com was cited 18 times in 12 answers, more than any competitor's site. For questions like "most affordable", "easiest for beginners" and "pros and cons", answers cited this third-party review site.
<!-- source: .md citedDomains row techradar.com 18 / 12, vs klaviyo.com 11 (highest competitor); techradar.com appears in cited domains for rows 6 (affordable), 13 (beginners), 31 (pros and cons) -->

Competitors' own pages count as sources too. klaviyo.com, activecampaign.com and brevo.com all made the top 15, plus Brevo's help site. When an answer recommends a competitor, it often links to that competitor's own pages.
<!-- source: .md citedDomains rows klaviyo.com 11, activecampaign.com 9, brevo.com 6, help.brevo.com 5 -->

Some sources belong to tools nobody was tracking. mailerlite.com and getresponse.com were cited too. MailerLite and GetResponse were not on the tracked competitor list, yet the engines both named them and linked to them.
<!-- source: .md citedDomains rows mailerlite.com 9, getresponse.com 5; v2 .md other names list: MailerLite (11), GetResponse (3) -->

Not every answer cites anything. One answer, to "What should I look for in an email marketing platform?", had no cited domains at all.
<!-- source: .md "Prompts and answers" row 9, cited domains "-" -->

How this compares with what we saw before

This pattern matches our earlier research. When we checked our own previous domain, the answers made 510 citations to 294 different pages on 199 domains, led by a software review site. In both cases, third-party review and comparison pages carried a lot of weight.
<!-- source: count rule, exact wording "510 citations to 294 different pages on 199 domains" (as in does-chatgpt-recommend-my-business-v3.md, which also says "led by g2.com with 26") -->

What to do with this for your own category

1. Find your category's cited domains. Ask the questions your buyers ask and log the sources, or let a tool do it. The list will differ by category.
2. Make your own pages citable. The brand's own site was cited where it had the facts: prices, plans, integrations, how to switch. Put those facts on plain pages, in the raw HTML, with clear headings. Our guides on whether AI crawlers can see your site and JavaScript and AI crawlers cover the technical side.
3. Be accurately represented on the review sites that get cited. If a review publisher is the top outside source for your questions, check whether it covers you and whether what it says is current. Ask real customers for real reviews where it fits. Never fake them.
4. Don't block the search crawlers. A page an engine can't fetch can't be cited. See robots.txt for AI crawlers.

For the broader approach, see AI SEO and GEO.

Limits of this example

• One run is a snapshot. Each question was asked once per engine. The sources will shift from run to run.
• The API is not the app. We measured through the OpenAI API with web search and the Perplexity API, which approximate the consumer apps but are not identical.
• Only one category. Email marketing has many review sites. Other categories will cite a different mix.
• The site types are our reading. The report marks each domain as own, competitor or other. The finer labels in the table above are our description.

FAQ

Which sites do AI answers cite most?

It depends on the category and the question. In this sample about email marketing tools, the top three were the brand's own site, a review publisher and a competitor's site.

Do AI answers cite a company's own website?

Yes, often for factual questions like pricing and plans. In this sample the brand's own domain was cited in 15 of the 50 answers.

Why do review sites show up so often?

"Best" and "compare" questions ask for a judgment across several products. A review or comparison page already has that, so engines tend to use it as a source.

Does being cited mean being recommended?

Not always. An answer can cite your page and still recommend someone else, or name you while citing only a review site. Track citations and mentions separately.

How do I find which sites AI cites for my category?

Ask 10 to 25 of your buyers' questions, record the source links in each answer, and count by domain. Repeat with the same questions later to see what changes.

Sources

• Answer Checkup Lite sample for mailchimp.com, run Oct 15, 2026 at 12:18 PM ET: 25 questions, 50 answers through the OpenAI API with web search and the Perplexity API. An independent sample, not affiliated with or reviewed by Mailchimp or any site listed.
• Our earlier research on our own previous domain, Oct 15, 2026, described in Does ChatGPT recommend my business?

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Answer Checkup is not affiliated with OpenAI, Perplexity, Mailchimp, Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign, Brevo, MailerLite, GetResponse, Mailjet, Mailercloud, TechRadar, Hostinger, Forbes, Email Tool Tester, G2 or Wikipedia.

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