Baden Bower tracks 12,040 AI citations across six engines to rank top publications for AI visibility

Baden Bower's AI Visibility Index 2026 analyzed 12,040 citations across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, and Microsoft Copilot to determine which publications AI engines cite most in buyer-intent queries. Forbes ranked first with 13.8% of all citations, followed by Business Insider and TechCrunch. Three key patterns emerged: editorial coverage is cited 2.3x more than wire-distributed content, flagship publications vastly outperform regional editions, and content published within the past 12 months is cited 2.9x more than older material. Notably, Wikipedia ranked 5th and Reddit 9th, both outperforming Yahoo Finance and major wire services like PR Newswire. The findings support the emerging practice of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), where brands plan media placements specifically to appear in AI-generated answers.