BRIGHTONSEO 2026
Why AI Recommends Some Businesses and Ignores Others
In April 2026, I presented original research at brightonSEO, analyzing 1.2 million citations across ChatGPT, AI Mode, and Perplexity to answer one question: what actually makes AI recommend one services business vs another?
About the STUDY
Squarespace partnered with Peec AI to analyze 1.2 million citations across ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, and Perplexity — running repeated prompts from the United States throughout February and March 2026. Our goal was to see what sources were relied on by AI platforms, while also looking for differences in how each model sourced their answers.
Our prompts covered a range of verticals across Health & Beauty, Business Services, and Training & Education to look for industry nuances as well.
Most SEO advice for AI search is still guesswork borrowed from traditional rankings. Our study set out to isolate what drives brand recommendation in AI answers for professional services businesses, an area consistently overlooked in an SEO industry built around traditional ecommerce.
We traveled to Brighton, UK to present this research to 500+ search marketers, designers, and developers who run these sites, and connect with the Squarespace Circle community .
Highlights From the Stage