26 August,2026 01:49 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Representational image. File pic
As artificial intelligence reshapes how people search for information online, marketers are increasingly focusing on Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), a practice aimed at improving a brand's visibility in AI-generated answers. However, changing citation patterns are raising questions about whether strategies built around a handful of popular platforms can remain effective in the long term.
Shubham Kumar Agrawal, leading AI brand growth expert and founder of Taptwice Media, argues that AEO strategies need to move beyond simply targeting websites such as Reddit and Quora because their visibility in AI-generated responses can change over time.
The issue has similarities with earlier developments in search engine optimization (SEO), where tactics that initially provided an advantage eventually became widely adopted and, in some cases, lost effectiveness after being used at scale.
Recent data cited in the discussion highlights how quickly AI search citation patterns can change. An analysis by Promptwatch found that Reddit accounted for an average 3.83 per cent of citations returned by ChatGPT Search between July 18 and August 7, 2026.
Between August 14 and August 17, the figure averaged 0.52 per cent, representing an 86.4 per cent relative decline. Promptwatch also cautioned that a data-collection issue could not be completely ruled out.
Highlighting about the figures and data, Shubham Kumar Agrawal said that the figures do not necessarily indicate that Reddit has lost its value as an information source. Instead, they highlight the difficulty of treating the visibility of any individual platform as a permanent feature of AI search.
Shubham further said that simply identifying a frequently cited platform may not provide a lasting competitive advantage if thousands of marketers begin pursuing the same opportunity.
The development echoes earlier changes in SEO. Backlinks remain an important part of search visibility, but several methods of acquiring links became less effective after widespread manipulation and large-scale adoption.
The broader lesson for AEO is that an easily replicated tactic can lose its strategic value when it becomes a standard industry practice.
Shubham, while further citing some examples, said that if marketers identify Reddit as a source frequently cited by AI systems, large numbers may attempt to create or promote content there. The same process could occur with Quora or other platforms if their citation frequency increases.
Rather than focusing solely on where AI systems are currently finding information, AEO practitioners may need to examine why particular sources are being selected and whether their relevance is likely to persist.
AEO strategies are increasingly being built around monitoring the answers generated for questions relevant to a particular industry.
This can involve tracking hundreds of prompts covering products, competitors, services and consumer questions across AI systems including ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot and Google's AI search experiences.
The objective is to identify which companies appear in responses, which sources are repeatedly cited and how those patterns change over time.
Such analysis can then inform decisions about where a company should seek visibility. Depending on the findings, opportunities could include specialist publications, news organisations, industry websites, research reports or expert-led platforms rather than only large public discussion forums.
Another emerging consideration is the growing volume of AI-generated content available online.
Shedding light on the use of AI, Shubham said, "As businesses and publishers increasingly use generative AI to create or rewrite material, similar information can appear across multiple websites."
"This creates a potential challenge for AI search systems: distinguishing between genuinely useful information and repeated versions of existing material," he further added.
Original research, proprietary data, expert analysis, technical documentation, product testing and specialist reporting can provide information that is harder to reproduce through automated content generation.
This does not mean community platforms such as Reddit will become irrelevant.
Discussions on such platforms can remain useful for questions involving personal experiences, opinions and community knowledge. However, their importance may vary depending on the nature of the query and how AI systems select sources.
The changing landscape could push AEO agencies towards more research-driven strategies rather than fixed lists of websites.
A platform-focused approach might begin with the assumption that a particular website is important and then attempt to secure visibility there. A broader strategy would first examine the questions users are asking, the sources influencing AI-generated answers and the information gaps within a particular market.
That could lead to opportunities in niche industry publications, research organisations, specialist websites, technical resources or established media outlets.
The central challenge for AEO is therefore shifting from simply identifying where AI systems cite information to creating or placing information that is sufficiently relevant, credible and distinctive to be cited.
Highlighting the evolving artificial intelligence, Shubham said, "As AI search systems continue to evolve, citation patterns are likely to change alongside them. For marketers, this could make adaptability and original expertise more important than relying on any single platform or repeatable visibility tactic."
