Measure brand presence across grounded Gemini answers.
Compare brand mentions, source annotations and market-level differences where Gemini uses Google Search grounding.
How Gemini actually answers buying questions
From our own benchmark: 228 answers this engine produced for brand-free buyer questions across 12 categories, alongside the other engines on the same questions.
| Answers analysed | 228 | across 12 categories |
|---|---|---|
| Answers naming at least one provider | 73% | the rest gave guidance or pointed to a directory |
| Providers named per answer | 3.50 | more than the 2.70 average across all engines measured |
| Answers carrying citations | 100% | engine average 96% |
| Citations per answer | 5.89 | counted only from markers inside the answer text |
| Answers ordered as a ranked list | 27% | a ranked list is harder to enter than an unordered one |
| Answers pointing to a directory or review site | 13% | where this is high, a directory listing is a precondition |
| Model queried | google/gemini-3.5-flash | disclosed so the figures can be reproduced |
Where Gemini names brands, and where it stays generic
Sorted by how many providers this engine names per answer. Categories at the bottom are open ground: the engine currently answers them without naming anyone.
| Category | Answers | Name ≥1 provider | Providers / answer | Most-named by this engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Restaurants | 18 | 89% | 4.67 | Cafe Flora |
| Project management software | 20 | 80% | 4.15 | monday.com |
| Furniture brands | 18 | 67% | 3.78 | IKEA |
| Hotels | 19 | 84% | 3.58 | Faena Hotel Miami Beach |
| HVAC & plumbing services | 20 | 70% | 3.55 | Parker & Sons |
| Real estate agents | 20 | 75% | 3.55 | Compass |
| Skincare brands | 20 | 80% | 3.30 | La Roche-Posay |
| Pet supplies | 20 | 70% | 3.20 | Purina |
| Gyms & fitness studios | 17 | 71% | 3.12 | Planet Fitness |
| Law firms | 18 | 61% | 3.06 | Regas & Dallas P.C |
| Dentists | 20 | 55% | 3.05 | Toothbar |
| Electric bikes | 18 | 72% | 2.94 | Aventon |
What Gemini cites
The domains this engine cited most across the benchmark. Engines differ here more than they differ on which brands they name, which is why source work has to be planned per engine.
| Domain | Type | Citations | Categories |
|---|---|---|---|
| reddit.com | Communities (Reddit, Quora…) | 49 | 10 |
| alibaba.com | Other sites | 15 | 3 |
| tripadvisor.com | Directories & review sites | 6 | 2 |
| povison.com | Named providers' own sites | 6 | 1 |
| ones.com | Other sites | 6 | 1 |
| ebikeoracle.com | Named providers' own sites | 5 | 1 |
| engwe.com | Named providers' own sites | 5 | 1 |
| petmd.com | Named providers' own sites | 5 | 1 |
| homelight.com | Named providers' own sites | 5 | 1 |
| rickjanson.com | Named providers' own sites | 5 | 1 |
Letting Gemini read your site
Google-Extended is a usage control for Google's AI products rather than a separate crawler; the fetch itself is Googlebot. Blocking Google-Extended keeps you in search while removing you from grounded answers.
Google-Extended · Googlebot
Test your site against these agents · Read the crawler access guide
Google documents that Grounding with Google Search can connect Gemini to current web content and return citations.
Google Search grounding ↗What to inspect in Gemini.
Keep a shared core framework, then add the engine-specific evidence needed to explain differences.
A repeatable Gemini visibility workflow.
The goal is evidence-led improvement, not guaranteed placement.
Keep exploring
Questions about GEO for Gemini
Why separate Gemini from other engines?
Gemini can use Google Search grounding and returns source annotations in grounded experiences, so search visibility, entity consistency and cited evidence deserve their own analysis.
Should markets and languages be combined?
No. Measure them as separate segments because search results, available sources and wording can vary by locale.
Does ranking in Google guarantee Gemini citations?
No. Traditional search visibility helps discoverability, but grounded answers still select and synthesize sources differently.
How often should Gemini be re-measured?
Often enough to separate a real change from sampling variance. A single run is a baseline, not a trend.
Why does Gemini name a competitor instead of us?
Usually because the evidence it can read about them is clearer or more corroborated. That gap is what the knowledge base and content work are for.
Do results from Gemini transfer to other engines?
Partly. The underlying evidence is shared, but retrieval behaviour and citation formats differ, so each engine is still measured on its own.
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