Content Formats That Earn AI Citations (HubSpot State of AEO)
Published August 7, 2026 · Adam Rock
Key Findings (HubSpot State of AEO, 2026)
HubSpot analysed which content formats earn citations across ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews and Perplexity. The per-engine leaders:
- Google AI Overviews: blog posts lead, at a 42% citation rate.
- Gemini: blog posts lead, at 76%.
- ChatGPT: comparison content leads, at 95% (narrowly edging out press releases at 92%).
- Perplexity: product listings and landing pages lead, at 84%.
Source: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/content-format-types-that-earn-citations
The findings also identify structural elements correlated with citation: statistics and data, visible last-updated dates, author bios, and FAQ sections with schema. Every content type measured on ChatGPT scored highly, so read the 95% as a relative ranking rather than an absolute ceiling.
What This Means
- Publish informative, answer-first articles for AI Overviews and Gemini visibility.
- Build comparison pages (your product vs. alternatives) for ChatGPT visibility.
- Give product pages and listings real depth for Perplexity visibility.
- Structure every page with clear definitions, FAQ Q&A, labelled data and a visible last-updated date so AI can extract a direct answer.
Frequently Asked Questions
What content format gets cited most by AI?
It depends on the engine. Per HubSpot's analysis, blog posts lead in Google AI Overviews (42% citation rate) and Gemini (76%), comparison content leads in ChatGPT, and product listings and landing pages lead in Perplexity.
Should I write separate AEO content?
Generally no. Most AEO work is restructuring and strengthening existing content with answer-first structure, FAQ sections and schema, rather than creating a parallel content set.