AI search in the United Kingdom
How ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and other AI engines answer, cite and recommend brands for questions asked in the UK.
Winning AI visibility in the United Kingdom
Brand websites supply a smaller share of citations in the UK than in any other large market in the benchmark, and UK answers draw on more sources per answer than anywhere else. Focus brands are named in fewer than one in five unbranded UK answers, the lowest rate of the large markets. Competition for a place in the answer is crowded, and it is decided mostly off your own site.
Public institutions and consumer champions carry unusual weight. In healthcare, the NHS, NICE, GOV.UK and patient charities sit alongside medical research; in personal finance, MoneySavingExpert, Which? and Forbes shape the answer, and AI engines are notably cautious about financial brands. Being accurately described by these independent bodies is part of UK AI visibility.
The engines differ sharply in the UK. Google AI Overviews cites YouTube in a third of answers and ChatGPT barely at all; Google AI Mode and Perplexity cite LinkedIn far more than ChatGPT does; and the OpenAI API leans on Wikipedia for almost half its UK answers. Plan by engine, not just by market.
Local sources. UK answers lean on public institutions and consumer champions: the NHS, GOV.UK, NICE and health charities in healthcare; MoneySavingExpert, Which? and Forbes in personal finance; TechRadar, Tom’s Guide and The Independent in consumer tech.
AI adoption in the United Kingdom
- About 30% of UK Google searches now show an AI Overview, and 53% of adults say they often see them (Ofcom, 2025). Source: Ofcom, From apps to AI search: how the UK goes online in 2025
- ChatGPT had 1.8 billion UK visits in January–August 2025, up from 368 million in the same period of 2024. Source: Ofcom, From apps to AI search: how the UK goes online in 2025
- Only 4% of UK respondents use AI chatbots for news weekly, the lowest of any market in the Digital News Report (2026). Source: Reuters Institute, Digital News Report 2026: executive summary
Figures compare the United Kingdom with all 24 markets in the benchmark. They reflect the industries studied for the United Kingdom, so differences partly reflect sector mix. Languages in the the United Kingdom sample: English. Filter the explorer to the United Kingdom to go deeper.
What AI engines cite in the United Kingdom
Share of all cited sources, by type of source
| Measure | United Kingdom | All markets |
|---|---|---|
| Brand & corporate | 21%31% | |
| Earned media | 18%20% | |
| Social & UGC | 6.6%8.0% | |
| Reference | 2.5%3.6% | |
| Government & public sector | 6.3%5.4% | |
| Academic & research | 6.3%8.8% | |
| Institutions & associations | 9.4%7.6% | |
| Marketplaces & aggregators | 1.9%2.6% |
Community and reference platforms
Share of answers with sources that cite each platform
| Measure | United Kingdom | All markets |
|---|---|---|
| 13%9.5% | ||
| YouTube | 15%16% | |
| Wikipedia | 4.3%5.9% | |
| 9.3%8.7% |
Are brands recommended?
In questions that do not name the brand a study was built around
| Measure | United Kingdom | All markets |
|---|---|---|
| Focus brand named (unbranded questions) | 18%27% | |
| Focus brand’s own site cited (unbranded questions) | 6.7%12% |
Most-cited sites in the United Kingdom
Share of answers with sources that cite each site. Focus brands’ own sites are grouped and masked.
- nih.gov 17% · Government & public sector
- Focus brands’ own websites 15% · Brand & corporate
- youtube.com 15% · Social & UGC
- reddit.com 13% · Social & UGC
- nhs.uk 10% · Government & public sector
- linkedin.com 9% · Social & UGC
- gov.uk 7% · Government & public sector
- diabetes.org.uk 5% · Institutions & associations
- facebook.com 5% · Social & UGC
- techradar.com 5% · Earned media
- wikipedia.org 4% · Reference
- sciencedirect.com 4% · Academic & research
- healthline.com 3% · Earned media
- forbes.com 3% · Earned media
- europa.eu 3% · Government & public sector
Most-cited sites by industry in the United Kingdom
Industries whose data draws on studies from at least two organisations. Share of answers with sources that cite each site.
Financial Services
- Focus brands’ own websites 16%
- moneysavingexpert.com 12%
- reddit.com 11%
- forbes.com 11%
- which.co.uk 8%
- youtube.com 7%
- linkedin.com 6%
- gov.uk 4%
Consumer
- techradar.com 30%
- youtube.com 27%
- reddit.com 20%
- tomsguide.com 17%
- independent.co.uk 8%
- nytimes.com 7%
- businessinsider.com 3%
- Focus brands’ own websites 3%
Energy & Industrials
- Focus brands’ own websites 33%
- wikipedia.org 21%
- mongabay.com 13%
- nih.gov 12%
- wwf.org.uk 12%
- zsl.org 11%
- gov.uk 11%
- greenpeace.org 10%
Healthcare
- nih.gov 36%
- nhs.uk 20%
- youtube.com 15%
- Focus brands’ own websites 11%
- diabetes.org.uk 10%
- linkedin.com 10%
- gov.uk 9%
- sciencedirect.com 8%
How each AI engine answers in the United Kingdom
Engines with enough answers that cite sources. Shares of cited sources and of answers with sources.
| Engine | Sources / answer | Brand sites | Earned media | YouTube | Wikipedia | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | 11.1 | 18% | 21% | 17% | 1% | 5% | 2% |
| Perplexity | 9.1 | 18% | 21% | 12% | 15% | 2% | 15% |
| Google AI Overviews | 10.2 | 25% | 15% | 12% | 33% | 1% | 9% |
| Google AI Mode | 13.0 | 27% | 14% | 19% | 24% | 5% | 23% |
| Microsoft Copilot | 7.7 | 15% | 13% | 3% | 9% | 7% | 13% |
| Gemini | 4.6 | 32% | 18% | 1% | 1% | 4% | 0% |
| Grok | 7.3 | 13% | 10% | 13% | 2% | 8% | 15% |
| Claude | 7.8 | 30% | 20% | 0% | 1% | 18% | 4% |
| OpenAI API | 7.0 | 29% | 21% | 2% | 0% | 45% | 1% |
AI engines tracked
Answers collected in the United Kingdom
| ChatGPT | 25k |
| Perplexity | 25k |
| Google AI Overviews | 25k |
| Google AI Mode | 4,416 |
| Microsoft Copilot | 2,641 |
| Gemini | 2,567 |
| Grok | 1,938 |
| Meta AI | 1,938 |
| DeepSeek | 1,932 |
| Claude | 1,787 |
| OpenAI API | 1,787 |
Industries covered
Industries with enough answers in the United Kingdom to report
- Healthcare · 42k answers
- Financial Services · 20k answers
- Government · 15k answers
- Consumer · 13k answers
- Energy & Industrials · 2,841 answers
- Travel & Tourism · 789 answers
- Technology · 616 answers
Frequently asked questions
- Which AI engines were tracked for the UK?
- All eleven in the benchmark: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Microsoft Copilot, Gemini, Grok, Meta AI, DeepSeek, Claude and the OpenAI API.
- Which UK sources do AI engines cite most?
- Across the UK sample, nih.gov, YouTube, Reddit, the NHS, LinkedIn and GOV.UK lead, reflecting the large share of healthcare questions. By industry, MoneySavingExpert and Which? lead in financial services and TechRadar in consumer.
- Why are brands cited less in the UK?
- UK answers draw on more sources per answer than any other market in the benchmark, with public institutions, consumer bodies, publishers and community platforms taking a larger share. Brands’ own sites supply about a fifth of citations, against a third on average.
Other markets: Australia · Singapore · Malaysia · Indonesia · India · Germany · Europe
How is your brand showing up in AI answers?
We benchmark how ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, Claude and Copilot describe, cite and recommend brands, then build the content and earned-media plan to change it.
Want to understand your brand opportunities and risks on AI search? Contact We AI & Data Advisors for a sample audit: AIAdvisors@wecommunications.com