// AEO_STUDY

AEO & GEO Studies: Original Research by Novastacks

Our own original research. Two studies: 89 executive approved questions tracked daily for a month across three AI engines, and an earlier set of 500 buyer queries. What actually separates the pages AI cites from the pages it ignores.

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// AUGUST_2026

The AI Citation Study, August 2026

Every question in this study was chosen by a chief executive or business owner as one their company needs to monitor. We put all 89 to ChatGPT, Google AI Overview and Perplexity every day for a full month, then visited and stored every page they quoted. Read the full study overview.

89

questions tracked

6,601

AI answers

61,536

sources quoted

9,702

pages crawled

31

consecutive days

Which Page Type Wins Which Question

Ask about price and AI quotes a pricing page 10.6 times more often than usual.

Not Every AI Engine Shows Its Sources

One in four ChatGPT answers names no source at all. Perplexity names one every time.

When AI Links to Your Company Instead of Your Answer

Google AI Overview points at a bare website three times more often than the others.

What Structured Data Actually Does for AI Visibility

Having markup changed nothing measurable. One type was the exception.

What Actually Earns an AI Citation

The pages AI ignores are longer and carry more markup than the ones it quotes.

The Format That Wins Comparison Questions

Comparison pages are 3.2x more likely to carry a real data table. Bullet lists separate nobody.

How Wide Should One Page Be

16% of pages earn half of all citations, by answering a cluster of related questions.

Does AI Quote the Original, or a Republished Copy?

AI cited the original 99.8% of the time. A long standing worry the data does not support.

Being Quoted Is Not the Same as Being Known

The most quoted brand earns just 5.6% of its recognition independently.

Broken Pages Cost Citations. Redirects Do Not.

A redirect keeps 94% of a page's staying power. A broken page keeps 59%.

Proprietary Study

The Pages That Win Everywhere

Only 15% of pages win both Google rankings and AI citations. Their defining habit: citing sources at twice the typical rate. Novastacks AEO Study, Part 1.

Proprietary Study

One Deep Page per Question

89.6% of AI-cited pages win for exactly one query, and no page won more than 8 out of 500. The pillar-page era is over. Novastacks AEO Study, Part 3.

Proprietary Study

AI Search Isn't One Channel. It's Three.

We tracked what Google AI Overview, ChatGPT, and Perplexity cited across 500 queries. 94.2% of cited pages appear in exactly one engine, and zero pages appeared in all three. The Novastacks AEO Study flagship report.

Proprietary Study

Every AI Engine Plays by a Different Rulebook

ChatGPT's cited pages carry schema markup at 81%. Google AI Overview's at 48%. What that gap changes about structured data. Novastacks AEO Study, Part 2.

Proprietary Study

The Pages That Win Everywhere

Only 15% of pages win both Google rankings and AI citations. Their defining habit: citing sources at twice the typical rate. Novastacks AEO Study, Part 1.

Proprietary Study

One Deep Page per Question

89.6% of AI-cited pages win for exactly one query, and no page won more than 8 out of 500. The pillar-page era is over. Novastacks AEO Study, Part 3.

Proprietary Study

AI Search Isn't One Channel. It's Three.

We tracked what Google AI Overview, ChatGPT, and Perplexity cited across 500 queries. 94.2% of cited pages appear in exactly one engine, and zero pages appeared in all three. The Novastacks AEO Study flagship report.

Proprietary Study

Every AI Engine Plays by a Different Rulebook

ChatGPT's cited pages carry schema markup at 81%. Google AI Overview's at 48%. What that gap changes about structured data. Novastacks AEO Study, Part 2.

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