Is Your Business Ready for the AI Revolution? 🤔

Hi there, I’m Linda Donnelly, and for over a decade, my team at Business Solutions Marketing Group has been helping small businesses grow. We’ve seen a lot of changes in marketing, but none as fast or as big as the rise of AI. When I talk to business owners, they’re all asking the same questions: “How does my website stand a chance against AI answers?” and “What’s the secret to making my content show up?”

Well, my team recently did some digging. We looked at 25,000 prompts given to ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews to see where they get their information. The results were not what most people would guess. It’s not about who has the fanciest website; it’s about who has the trust of the internet itself.

Here’s a simple truth I want you to remember: The content AI spits out is only as good as the content it was trained on. And what we found shows that most AI tools are getting their answers from a small, predictable group of sources. This isn’t just a fun fact; it’s the biggest clue for how you can make your business stand out in the age of AI.

Why Are AI Tools Pulling Answers from the Same Old Places?

Think of a student studying for a test. They have a few trusted textbooks and they keep going back to them for the right answers. That’s how AI models work. They don’t just “know” everything; they get their information from a massive data library. When you ask them a question, they search that library and pull the best answer they can find.

Our analysis of 25,000 prompts across the big three AI tools—ChatGPT, Perplexity, and AI Overviews—found something amazing: there’s a small group of sources that shows up again and again. While these AIs try to seem like they know everything, they’re really just good at summarizing information from the same places.

For a long time, the number one rule of SEO was to rank number one in Google. But with AI Overviews taking up almost half the screen on a mobile phone, that’s not enough anymore. Your new goal is to be a source that the AI trusts.

What Makes Reddit So Important to AI?

This one surprised a lot of people, but Reddit is the only source that consistently showed up as a top citation across all three AI tools we studied. And it’s not a small number. According to one study, Reddit is cited in Google’s AI Overviews more often than any other single source, making up over 5% of all citations.

Why Reddit? Because it’s a place for real talk. Unlike a polished company blog post or a news article, Reddit is where real people have honest, unfiltered conversations. It’s a goldmine for understanding what people really think and say about a topic. AI models need this to sound more human and less like a robot. They pull from these forums to get a feel for a topic, find unique perspectives, and answer questions that a simple encyclopedia entry can’t.

This is where your business’s reputation becomes more important than ever. If people are talking about your business on Reddit—good or bad—the AI is listening. Your brand’s reputation isn’t just about what you say; it’s about what others say about you. That’s why having a strong reputation management strategy is not a luxury, it’s a necessity. We’ve been helping businesses with this for years, and it’s even more crucial now that AI is paying attention.

Are YouTube and Wikipedia the New Digital Encyclopedias?

Our research showed that beyond Reddit, the other sources that dominated depended on the AI tool.

YouTube: Perplexity and Google’s AI Overviews love YouTube. This tells us that people are asking for visual, “how-to” answers. People want to see how to fix a leaky faucet, not just read about it. A recent study found that searches with more words or full sentences were 53% more likely to get an AI summary. And those summaries often pull from videos. For example, if you ask “how to fix a clogged sink,” the AI might give you a step-by-step summary and then link to a great YouTube video. This shows just how important video marketing has become. If you’re not making helpful videos for your business, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity. At Business Solutions Marketing Group, we specialize in helping businesses use video to answer these kinds of questions.
Wikipedia: ChatGPT loves Wikipedia. It’s a quick, easy, and reliable source for basic facts. It’s a highly organized “textbook” for the AI. When someone asks for a definition or a basic historical fact, Wikipedia is a top source because it’s clean and easy for the AI to understand. This is why having a strong presence on Wikipedia, or getting your business mentioned on other credible, authoritative websites, is so important for building your authority in the eyes of AI.

So, What Do These AI Sourcing Trends Mean for Small Businesses?

The old way of doing SEO was about keywords and getting to the top of a search page. But the game is changing. Now, it’s about being a trusted source. If the AI doesn’t trust your content, it won’t show it to people, no matter how much you want it to.

This is a big deal for small businesses. A recent Pew Research Center study found that when an AI summary shows up in search results, users are much less likely to click on any of the links below it. This means your website might get pushed down, and people may never even see it. Your goal is no longer just to rank; it’s to have your content be the answer itself.

The key takeaway here is that you must focus on E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness). This is a principle that Google has been talking about for years, and it’s the foundation of what AI trusts.

How Can My Business Become a Trusted AI Source?

Here are some simple, actionable things you can do right now:

Create Un-AI-able Content: Don’t just write a blog post that an AI could have written. Write content that is full of your real-world experience. Use your own stories, case studies, and unique data. Show your expertise, don’t just tell people you have it. The AI is looking for this stuff.
Build Your Authority with Video: As we saw, AI loves YouTube. Start creating helpful, clear video content that answers your customers’ questions. A simple “how-to” video can be a game-changer. We’ve helped many small businesses develop video marketing strategies that get them seen by both people and AI.
Mind Your Reputation (Especially on Reddit): AI is scraping Reddit for real human insights. What are people saying about your industry, or even your business? This is where reputation management becomes a secret weapon. You want to make sure the honest conversations about your brand are positive. We also help with review removal when someone posts something that is not true.
Optimize Your Local Presence: When someone does a local search, like “best plumber near me,” the AI is pulling from your Google Business Listing. If your listing is incomplete or has no reviews, the AI is not going to trust it. Making sure your Google Business Listing is fully optimized is one of the most powerful things you can do to get your business in front of local customers.

What Should I Be Doing to Prepare for the Future of Search?

The future of search isn’t a scary, unpredictable place. It’s a place that rewards real, authentic, and helpful content. The same things that have always made for a great business—expertise, experience, and a focus on the customer—are now the keys to success in the age of AI.

At Business Solutions Marketing Group, we’ve been helping small businesses with these exact things for over a decade. We believe that your unique experience is your most valuable asset, and our job is to help you share it with the world.

Key Takeaways:

AI tools like ChatGPT and Google’s AI Overviews get their answers from a small, predictable group of sources.
Reddit is the only consistent source across all of them, showing that AI values real, unfiltered human conversations.
YouTube and Wikipedia are also dominant sources, but their influence depends on the type of question being asked.
The old SEO goal of just ranking #1 is changing. Your new goal is to become an authoritative source that the AI trusts.
To succeed, focus on creating content that shows your real expertise and experience.
Use video marketing to answer “how-to” questions and build your authority.
Pay close attention to your online reputation, as AI is listening to what people say about you.

For more information on how to build a strong online presence and prepare for the future of search, visit us at https://businesssolutionsmarketinggroup.com/ or check out our services on reputation management, Google Business Listing Optimization, or video marketing.