What Claude Cites: 379,321 Citations Reveal How AI Chooses Its Sources

In June 2026, AI search analytics platform OtterlyAI published a landmark study analysing 379,321 Claude citations across 16,406 domains, sorted into 11 source categories. It is the largest publicly available dataset on what Claude actually reaches for when it composes an answer — and the findings upend several widely held assumptions about how to earn AI citations.

For Singapore businesses investing in Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO), this study is required reading. It reveals that Claude behaves fundamentally differently from ChatGPT, that your own website matters far more than your social media presence, and that the playing field is far more open than most marketers assume.

Below, we break down the five most important findings from the study and translate each one into a concrete action for Singapore SMEs.

The Study at a Glance

OtterlyAI tracked which domains Claude cited in its answers across a continuously monitored set of SaaS and technology queries throughout June 2026. Each citation was classified by domain and source category — Brand, News/Media, Social Media, Encyclopedia, Government, and others. The dataset covers 379,321 citation instances, 16,406 unique domains, and 11 source categories over the entire month.

The study is descriptive rather than experimental — it shows what Claude cited, not a proven causal mechanism for why any single page was chosen. But with nearly 380,000 data points, the patterns are robust enough to guide strategy.

Finding 1: Brand Websites Dominate — 64% of All Claude Citations

The headline finding is that brand domains — company, product, and service websites — account for 64.0% of all Claude citations. That is more than four times the next largest category, News and Media, at 14.9%. Blogs and personal sites follow at 5.4%, with everything else in the low single digits.

This means that when Claude explains a product category, compares options, or answers a "how does X work" question, it overwhelmingly reaches for first-party content published by companies themselves — not third-party reviews, not social media, not community forums.

The full source category breakdown:

Crucially, that brand dominance is diffuse, not concentrated. The Brand category spans 10,842 distinct domains, and the single most-cited brand domain accounts for under 3% of brand citations. The top 10 brand domains together make up only about 13% of the category. No single brand owns Claude's attention.

What this means for Singapore SMEs: Your own website is your most important GEO asset for Claude. Treating your product, solution, and comparison pages as authoritative, well-structured reference material — rather than thin marketing copy — is the most direct path to Claude citations. This aligns directly with our GEO content strategy framework: invest in depth, structure, and factual clarity on your own domain.

Finding 2: Reddit Is Completely Absent from Claude

This is where Claude diverges most sharply from conventional AI-visibility advice. Social media accounted for just 0.9% of Claude citations — roughly 3,558 out of 379,321. And within that tiny slice, the most striking absence is Reddit, which was cited zero times across the entire dataset.

This is a complete reversal from ChatGPT, where Reddit is one of the most-cited social sources. If your GEO strategy was built around encouraging Reddit discussions or community mentions — a common tactic for ChatGPT optimisation — that work has essentially no citation value on Claude.

The social platform breakdown within Claude's 0.9% social share:

LinkedIn does carry some weight — it accounts for 43.1% of Claude's tiny social slice — but that is 43.1% of 0.9%, which is negligible in the broader picture. The takeaway is clear: social media is not a meaningful citation source for Claude. Your time is better spent on your own website content and earned media coverage.

What this means for Singapore SMEs: If a GEO agency is telling you to invest in Reddit threads, Quora answers, or social media engagement as a primary Claude strategy, the data does not support it. Claude rewards first-party content and credible news coverage — not social chatter. Reallocate that effort to structured content on your own domain.

Finding 3: Claude and ChatGPT Barely Overlap — Only 13% of Domains Shared

Perhaps the most strategically important finding for multi-platform GEO: when OtterlyAI compared Claude and ChatGPT citations, only 13% of cited domains overlapped, and just 4.2% at the URL level. ChatGPT leans on community content like Reddit; Claude leans on brand and product pages.

This means that optimising for ChatGPT does not optimise for Claude. They are two separate channels with two different sets of winners. A business that is visible in ChatGPT may be entirely invisible in Claude, and vice versa.

"Two separate channels, two different sets of winners. Watching ChatGPT alone leaves you blind to Claude."

— OtterlyAI Claude Citation Study, June 2026

Claude also skews towards a different user profile. According to the study, Claude users tend to be in research, comparison, and B2B decision-making contexts. If your buyers are professionals evaluating vendors — which is the case for most Singapore B2B services — Claude visibility matters disproportionately for you.

What this means for Singapore SMEs: If you have only been tracking your visibility in ChatGPT, you are seeing half the picture. A proper GEO visibility audit must check all four major engines — Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity — because each rewards different signals. This is why our guide to how AI engines decide recommendations emphasises multi-platform optimisation as a core GEO pillar.

Finding 4: The Long Tail Is Wide Open — Top 10 Domains Are Just 9.5%

The second surprise after brand dominance is how widely Claude distributes citations beneath it. This is not a system that recycles the same few authority sites for everything.

The top 10 domains account for just 9.5% of all citations. You need roughly 500 domains to reach 60% of citations, and 32.9% of all cited domains were cited only once. Claude's sourcing is unusually distributed compared with traditional search, where a small set of high-authority sites tend to dominate.

What this means for Singapore SMEs: Distribution is opportunity. Because Claude pulls from thousands of sources, you do not need to be a top-10 domain to be cited. A focused page that answers a specific question clearly can earn a citation even if your domain has modest authority. The flip side is that breadth of well-structured content matters — each additional page you publish is another chance to match a query. This is why we recommend a hub-and-spoke content model in our GEO content hub and spoke guide.

Finding 5: Citation Patterns Are Stable — What Works Today Works Next Month

Across multiple weeks of data, no source category shifted by more than roughly one percentage point. The mix of sources Claude cites today should still hold next month. This stability is important because it means your GEO investment has durable value — you are not chasing a moving target.

This contrasts with traditional SEO, where Google algorithm updates can overnight reshape what types of content rank. Claude's citation behaviour is consistent enough that a well-structured content and authority programme built today will continue to produce citations for months.

"The mix you optimise for today should still hold next month. Citation behavior doesn't change often."

— OtterlyAI Claude Citation Study, June 2026

What this means for Singapore SMEs: GEO is not a speculative bet on a volatile algorithm. The patterns are stable, the signals are knowable, and the work you do now compounds. This is one of the strongest arguments for starting a GEO programme immediately rather than waiting for the landscape to "mature" — the rules are already clear enough to act on.

What This Means for Singapore SMEs: The Full Picture

Pulling the five findings together, the strategic picture for Singapore businesses is clear:

For B2B and professional services firms in Singapore — accounting firms, law firms, IT providers, consultancies — Claude is particularly relevant because its user base skews toward research and vendor comparison. A single Claude-sourced contract for a high-value B2B service can deliver 10× or more return on a year of GEO investment. Learn more in our guide to GEO for B2B companies in Singapore.

Your Claude Optimisation Checklist

Based on the OtterlyAI study findings, here is a practical checklist for improving your Claude citation rate:

Not sure where your business stands in Claude today? Run our free GEO visibility audit — we will check your citation rate across Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity, benchmark you against your top competitors, and identify the highest-impact opportunities for improvement.

Study Source and Methodology

This article is based on the OtterlyAI Claude Citation Study, published June 2026, which analysed 379,321 Claude citations across 16,406 unique domains and 11 source categories over the month of June 2026. The study tracked SaaS and technology queries and classified each cited domain by source category. The original research is available at otterly.ai/blog/claude-ai-citation-study.

Note: The study is descriptive of Claude's citation patterns for SaaS and technology queries. Citation behaviour may vary for other industries. OtterlyAI notes that a short data collection dip from June 9–13 was treated as a sampling artifact, and category shares were stable regardless.

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