What AI assistants quote from business websites
AI assistants quote passages that carry a specific, self-contained fact: a price, a rating, a service in a named place, or a clear comparison. In NRLC.ai's October 2026 studies, a third of Perplexity's Dubai clinic answers repeated a published AED price, and business sites with a page per treatment or per city were the ones cited directly.
Where the data comes from
NRLC.ai asked ChatGPT and Perplexity 395 customer questions across three markets in October 2026 and recorded every site each answer cited and what it repeated. Full method and data: Singapore tuition, Dubai aesthetics, California HVAC.
Most citations went to directories and booking apps (see which sources AI cites). The patterns below are about the business websites that were cited anyway.
Four kinds of passage that got quoted
| Passage | What the data showed |
|---|---|
| A price next to a service | 33% of Dubai clinic answers quoted a clinic's AED price; 16% of California HVAC answers quoted a price. Symphony Clinic's site was cited 23 times, with answers repeating prices such as PRP for hair at AED 449 a session. |
| A rating or review count | 23% of California HVAC answers repeated star ratings or review counts. |
| One service in one place | Aire Serv's city pages were cited in 17% of California answers, and branches were named by city. The most-cited clinic sites had a page per treatment. |
| A fair comparison | ancourage.academy published a local guide to choosing tuition and was cited in 20 ChatGPT answers, 8 of which recommended a different centre. |
How to write chunks that carry these facts
Put the fact and its subject in the same sentence. "HydraFacial at our Business Bay clinic starts at AED 650 for 60 minutes" survives being retrieved alone. "Prices start at AED 650" under a heading three paragraphs up does not.
One service and one place per page. A page about AC repair in Pasadena produces chunks that all match "AC repair in Pasadena". A page covering every service in every city produces chunks that each half-match many questions.
Write the rating as text. A star widget rendered by JavaScript may not be read. "Rated 4.8 from 312 Google reviews (October 2026)" is a sentence that can be quoted, and dated so it stays honest.
If you compare, be fair. The comparison guide that earned citations named other providers. A page that only praises you reads as an advert and gives an assistant little it can use.
Paste a page into Prechunk to check that each chunk names its subject, opens with a direct statement and carries a specific fact.
Limits
AI answers vary between sessions and between the apps and their APIs. These are three markets at one point in time, and correlation is not proof that a given change will get you cited.
Frequently asked questions
- What content do AI assistants quote from business websites?
- Specific, self-contained facts. In NRLC.ai's studies, answers repeated published prices, star ratings and review counts, and quoted pages dedicated to one service in one place.
- Should I publish prices for AI search?
- If you can. 33% of Perplexity's Dubai clinic answers quoted a clinic's AED price, and 16% of its California HVAC answers quoted prices. A price written in plain text next to the service name is easy to quote.
- Does writing a comparison guide help a business get cited?
- It can. A Singapore tuition centre that published a local comparison guide was cited in 20 ChatGPT answers, more than any other centre's site, including 8 answers that recommended a different centre.