Your website is one input among many when AI decides which brands to recommend. In most cases, it is not even the most influential one. Goodie's analysis of 5.7 million AI citations found that over 35% come from just 10 domains, and those domains are not brand websites. They are platforms like Reddit, G2, Wikipedia, Forbes, and PCMag. Profound's citation analysis found Wikipedia is the most cited source in ChatGPT at 7.8%, followed by Reddit at 1.8%, then Forbes and G2 each at 1.1%.

The implication is clear. If your brand exists only on your own domain, you are invisible to the systems that increasingly determine which brands get recommended. AI platforms build confidence through cross-referencing. When they see your brand mentioned consistently across multiple trusted external sources, using similar language to describe what you do, they become more willing to cite you. Wellows' citation trend research found that brands appearing simultaneously on sources like Wikipedia, Reddit, and G2 show a 2.8 times higher likelihood of being cited by both ChatGPT and Perplexity.

This article is a prioritization guide. Not every third-party platform matters equally, and the platforms that matter vary by industry. Here is where to invest and how.

Wikipedia: The Foundation Layer

Wikipedia remains the single most influential citation source across AI platforms. Profound's data places it at number one for ChatGPT, and Ahrefs found it dominates across multiple models. The reason is structural. Wikipedia articles are factual, well-sourced, extensively cross-referenced, and updated by a global community. AI platforms treat Wikipedia as a ground-truth verification layer.

If your brand is notable enough for a Wikipedia page, having one that is accurate and current is not optional for AEO. If you already have a page, audit it for outdated information, missing citations, and incomplete descriptions. If you do not have one, assess whether your brand meets notability guidelines and begin building the sourcing (press coverage, industry recognition, third-party references) that would support a future page. Contributing accurate, well-sourced information to related topic pages is also valuable, as AI platforms absorb entity associations from the broader Wikipedia graph.

Equally important is your Wikidata entry. Wikidata underpins Google's Knowledge Graph, and Wellows' research found it significantly influences cross-platform AI citation behavior. Complete entries with accurate metadata, aliases, industry classifications, and links to your website create the entity infrastructure AI relies on.

Review Platforms: Vertical-Specific Authority

Review aggregators function as sector-specific authority signals. Goodie's B2B SaaS citation analysis found that G2 and Reddit dominate cross-platform citations, with G2 alone generating over 6,000 citations across the models studied. SE Ranking's research reinforces this: domains with profiles on platforms like Trustpilot, G2, Capterra, and Yelp have three times higher chances of being cited by ChatGPT compared to sites without such presence.

The platform that matters depends on your vertical. Goodie's research shows G2 and Capterra dominate B2B SaaS citations. TripAdvisor commands near-monopolistic visibility in travel and hospitality. Clutch leads for agencies and professional services. Identify the one or two review platforms that AI most frequently cites in your category and concentrate there.

Quality matters more than volume. Semrush's LLM seeding framework recommends encouraging customers to describe how they use your product, what problem it solves, and what stood out. Even a short paragraph in real customer language gives AI models clearer context than a five-star rating with no detail.

Reddit and Community Forums

Semrush's AI Visibility Study found that community-managed sources like Reddit are cited more frequently than official brand marketing. Reddit content surfaces especially in early-stage discovery queries where buyers are crowdsourcing opinions before narrowing options.

The approach here is reputation work, not promotional posting. eAccountable's analysis frames Reddit strategy as documentation and support rather than volume. When your brand comes up in relevant threads, the question is whether the conversation is dominated by unresolved complaints and incorrect assumptions, or by clarifications and credible experiences. Monitoring and participating constructively in relevant subreddits shapes how AI absorbs your brand narrative.

Industry Publications and PR

Press coverage creates new pages on domains that AI retrieval systems consider credible. eAccountable notes that PR helps AI visibility through document creation: each earned mention becomes a potential citation source. The compounding effect matters. When multiple reputable publications describe your brand consistently, AI platforms gain confidence in those entity signals.

Target publications AI already cites in your category. Goodie's B2B analysis found Forbes, TechCrunch, and Gartner appearing consistently across Claude and Perplexity responses. For hospitality, travel trade publications and lifestyle editorial carry weight. The key is aligning your PR targets with the specific sources AI platforms draw from in your vertical.

Prioritization Framework

You cannot build authority everywhere simultaneously. Start by auditing where AI currently pulls citations in your category. Run your prompt library from the visibility audit and log every third-party source that appears. This reveals the exact platforms where investment will compound fastest.

Then prioritize: Wikipedia and Wikidata for entity foundation, the dominant review platform in your vertical for commercial authority, Reddit for community-level credibility, and one or two industry publications for earned media. Build presence sequentially. Each platform strengthens the cross-referencing signals that make AI platforms more confident in recommending your brand.