INDIA, 31 October 2026: A ranking on Google doesn't predict whether an AI engine will name a business, according to new first-party research from Rank in AI Overview, an AI search research team. The study, based on tests run in August 2026, found examples of every combination: ranked and cited, ranked and ignored, and cited without ranking at all.

The team began with its own website. Across six topics where the site ranks well on Google, ChatGPT cited it zero times. One page holds the #1 position for its exact question, yet ChatGPT answered that question using OpenAI's own help documentation. Rewriting the prompts in casual language produced the same result.

The pattern held beyond the team's own site. Of 15 local Indian businesses tested, ChatGPT named 8, and 3 of those 8 did not appear in Google's results for the matching search. In a separate compliance check, an Indian regulatory consultancy was the first cited source in a Google AI Overview while ranking outside the top 20 organic results.

"We assumed a top ranking would carry over, and our own site proved us wrong," said Aanchal Bhatia, founder of Rank in AI Overview. "The one article of ours ChatGPT did cite wasn't our best-written piece. It was the one with a specific number in it. Engines seem to lift checkable facts, not polished paragraphs."

Key findings:

0 of 6 well-ranked topics on the team's own site were cited by ChatGPT.
8 of 15 local Indian businesses were named by ChatGPT; 3 of the 8 were absent from Google's results.
87 of 124 local and service searches across India, the UAE and Qatar triggered a Google AI Overview (70%).
When AI Overviews quoted a clinic's equipment, the exact device or technique name appeared on the clinic's own page.

The study states its limits openly. It covers two snapshot dates, uses small and partly healthcare-focused samples, and tested ChatGPT and Google only. A re-run with citation and ranking logged as separate fields is scheduled, and results will be published as a dated update.

The full study, including methodology and tables, is available at: https://www.rankinaioverview.com/blog/we-tested-124-searches-15-local-businesses-and-our-own-site-ranking-and-ai-citation-are-separate-systems?utm_source=prfree&utm_medium=press-release&utm_campaign=124-searches-study

About Rank in AI Overview

Rank in AI Overview (rankinaioverview.com) is an India-based research and content team studying how ChatGPT, Perplexity, Grok and Google's AI Overviews choose which websites and businesses to cite. It publishes first-party tests with the date, sample size and caveats stated beside every figure. Its AI visibility tool is launching soon.

Media contact

Aanchal Bhatia, Founder
Rank in AI Overview
Website: https://www.rankinaioverview.com/