A reported academic paper has examined whether businesses can use Google search results or OpenAI’s API output as a proxy for the sources cited by ChatGPT. According to the summary of the paper, the answer is only partly yes: the tested systems were more likely to match the same domains cited by ChatGPT than the exact pages referenced in its answers.

For companies investing in SEO, content marketing and AI visibility, that distinction matters. Being present on a cited website is not the same as having the specific page that ChatGPT may surface and reference in an answer.

What happened

The report describes a paper that tested whether Google results and responses from OpenAI’s API could reliably stand in for ChatGPT’s citations. The researchers reportedly found partial overlap, but not a one-to-one match.

Based on the summary, the overlap appeared stronger at the site level than at the page level. In practical terms, a brand might see that ChatGPT tends to cite a familiar publisher or company website, while the exact article, product page or resource selected by ChatGPT may differ from what appears in Google results or in API-based testing.

The source summary does not establish that OpenAI’s API is designed to reproduce ChatGPT citations exactly, and businesses should be careful not to assume that different OpenAI products or interfaces behave identically.

Why it matters for European businesses

Many businesses are now trying to understand how they appear in AI-assisted search and answer engines. Marketing teams increasingly test prompts across search platforms, LLM tools and APIs to measure brand visibility, referral potential and content performance.

If API outputs or standard Google rankings do not consistently reproduce the exact sources cited by ChatGPT, then businesses may face several practical issues:

• AI visibility measurement may be incomplete. Teams using API tests alone may miss which exact pages are being surfaced to end users.
• SEO reporting may need adjustment. Traditional rank tracking and domain-level visibility may not explain why some pages are cited and others are not.
• Content strategy may need to go deeper. It may not be enough to have authority at the domain level; page structure, clarity and source usefulness may influence which pages are referenced.
• Attribution remains difficult. Businesses looking for traffic or leads from AI-generated answers may struggle to connect citations, visibility and downstream performance.

For European SMEs in particular, this matters because AI search optimisation is becoming part of mainstream digital marketing, yet many smaller companies do not have the budget for large-scale experimentation across multiple models and interfaces.

Who may be affected

• Marketing teams tracking brand mentions, citations and organic visibility in AI tools.
• E-commerce businesses trying to understand whether product, category or editorial pages are likely to be surfaced by AI assistants.
• Publishers and content-heavy businesses measuring whether their articles or resources are cited at page level.
• Digital agencies and SEO consultants building reporting frameworks for AI search performance.
• Founders and SMEs making decisions about where to invest limited content and optimisation budgets.

What companies should consider

• Avoid relying on a single proxy. If AI citation visibility matters to your business, compare findings across live consumer interfaces, API tests and traditional search results where possible.
• Measure at both domain and page level. A strong site presence does not guarantee that the most commercially important page will be cited.
• Review content structure. Clear headings, factual accuracy, strong topical focus and well-organised pages may improve the chances that a specific page is useful to AI systems, although this study summary does not prove a direct ranking method.
• Update SEO reporting. Consider adding AI citation checks and prompt-based monitoring alongside standard keyword rankings and analytics.
• Be cautious with claims. Vendors or internal teams should avoid presenting API-based tests as a precise reflection of what all ChatGPT users will see.

The broader takeaway for European businesses is that AI search visibility is still difficult to measure with confidence. Domain-level authority may still matter, but page-level outcomes can differ across interfaces, which means marketing teams should treat AI citation tracking as an emerging practice rather than a settled measurement standard.