The Open Index · Case files
Ten industries, one question each: what does the data say?
Each case file gathers the published benchmarks for one industry, sources every figure, and adds our interpretation of what it means for a business like yours.
10
industry case files, every figure sourced
Edition 1
Written byKris GjorgjioskiKeyword research and industry benchmarks, Webtec Research
Checked byHristijan NajcheskiHead of SEO and AEO (technical and AI SEO), data verification
Updated October 15, 2026 · Edition 1Refreshed quarterly · next January 2027
Built from research on
Google
OpenAI
Perplexity
Gemini
Anthropic
Cloudflare
Semrush
HOW A CASE FILE WORKS
Facts first, interpretation clearly labelled.
Every case file has the same four parts, so you can compare industries side by side.
- 1The headline numberThe one figure that defines the industry’s exposure.
- 2The published factsEach with a numbered source you can open.
- 3Our interpretationWhat we think it means. Ours, not the studies’.
- 4What to doThree practical next steps, no guarantees.
Case file 01 · Health Care
48.75%
of Health Care searches show an AI Overview
The most exposed industry
What the published data says
- AI Overviews appeared on 48.75% of Health Care searches, against 25.11% across all industries.[1]
- The most-cited domains in Health Care AI answers were Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Healthline, GoodRx and WebMD.[1]
- Google’s AI summaries cite .gov sites 6% of the time, against 2% in standard results.[2]
- 60% of searches that begin with a question word produced an AI summary, against 8% of one- or two-word searches.[2]
Webtec Research
Our interpretation
- Kris GjorgjioskiKeyword research and benchmarks
- Hristijan NajcheskiTechnical SEO, data checks
- Figures: the cited studies
- Reading: ours
The figures on this page come from the cited studies. This reading of them is ours, and you may weigh it differently.
Health searches are question-shaped, and the sources AI leans on are institutions. For a clinic, exposure is high but the generic citation slots go to recognised authorities. The realistic goal is to be the best local and specific answer: conditions, procedures, costs and what to expect, written or reviewed by named clinicians. Click loss is likely greatest on general information queries and smallest on local, appointment-intent searches, which is why enquiries should be measured separately from clicks.
- Map the questions patients ask before, during and after a procedure
- Publish answers with named clinician authorship and review dates
- Track appointment enquiries apart from informational clicks
Go deeper:aeo by industry ai overviews by industry ai citations dental benchmarks medical practices benchmarks
Case file 02 · Financials
6.73%
of Financials citations go to one site
Citations concentrate in guidance publishers
What the published data says
- AI Overviews appeared on 25.79% of Financials searches.[1]
- The most-cited domains were NerdWallet, Bankrate, Kiplinger, Vanguard and Experian; NerdWallet alone took 6.73% of citations.[1]
- Copilot drove 5% of Financials AI traffic, second only to ChatGPT.[1]
- AI referrals to banking sites grew 1,200% between July 2024 and February 2025, and AI-referred banking visitors spent 45% more time browsing.[3]
Webtec Research
Our interpretation
- Kris GjorgjioskiKeyword research and benchmarks
- Hristijan NajcheskiTechnical SEO, data checks
- Figures: the cited studies
- Reading: ours
The figures on this page come from the cited studies. This reading of them is ours, and you may weigh it differently.
Money questions are answered by comparison and guidance publishers, so advisers compete for the question, not only for the client. The path in is specificity: local rules, specific life situations and clear explanations that a general publisher does not give. Trust and compliance weigh as heavily as content here, so claims need review before they are published.
- Pick the specific client situations you serve and answer them in depth
- Show credentials, process and regulatory status plainly
- Check that AI assistants describe your firm and fees correctly
Go deeper:aeo by industry ai citations ai referral traffic financial advisors benchmarks
Case file 03 · Information Technology
2.80%
of IT website visits come from AI assistants
Where AI traffic is already real
What the published data says
- AI assistants sent 2.80% of Information Technology website traffic, the highest of ten industries and more than twice the 1.08% average.[1]
- Semiconductors saw 4.09%, software and services 3.37% and hardware 0.99%.[4]
- ChatGPT accounted for 88.5% of IT AI referrals, and Perplexity nearly 5%.[4]
- In IT AI Overviews, blog content was cited from more than 300,000 pages, against just over 58,000 for product pages.[4]
Webtec Research
Our interpretation
- Kris GjorgjioskiKeyword research and benchmarks
- Hristijan NajcheskiTechnical SEO, data checks
- Figures: the cited studies
- Reading: ours
The figures on this page come from the cited studies. This reading of them is ours, and you may weigh it differently.
Technology buyers research with assistants before they talk to sales, and educational content is cited far more than product pages. For software companies that argues for explanatory content, honest comparisons and clear documentation as acquisition assets, and for tracking assistant referrals as a real channel rather than a curiosity.
- Publish explainers and comparisons that answer evaluation questions
- Make documentation and pricing pages easy to quote
- Report AI referral sessions monthly next to organic and paid
Go deeper:ai referral traffic aeo by industry ai citations saas benchmarks
Case file 04 · Consumer Staples and retail
6.82% vs 1.91%
AI Overview rate against AI referral share
Few AI Overviews, plenty of AI visitors
What the published data says
- AI Overviews appeared on 6.82% of Consumer Staples searches, yet AI assistants sent 1.91% of traffic, the second-highest share.[1]
- Amazon took 17.99% of Consumer Staples citations.[1]
- AI referrals to US retail sites grew 1,300% year on year over the 2024 holidays, but AI-referred visits were 9% less likely to convert (a gap that had been 43% in July 2024).[3]
- Desktop made up 86% of AI traffic against 34% of e-commerce visits overall.[3]
- Shopping keywords showed AI Overviews on under 3% of the keywords Semrush tracked.[5]
Webtec Research
Our interpretation
- Kris GjorgjioskiKeyword research and benchmarks
- Hristijan NajcheskiTechnical SEO, data checks
- Figures: the cited studies
- Reading: ours
The figures on this page come from the cited studies. This reading of them is ours, and you may weigh it differently.
Google rarely answers shopping searches with an AI Overview, but assistants send research-stage visitors, mostly on desktop. Treat AI traffic as top of funnel: measure assisted conversions and returning visitors, not only last-click orders, and make sure product facts (price, availability, specifications) are in the HTML.
- Put product facts in server-sent HTML and structured data
- Create buying guides that answer comparison questions
- Measure assisted conversions from AI referrals
Go deeper:ai referral traffic aeo by industry technical foundations ecommerce benchmarks
Case file 05 · Real Estate
4.48%
of Real Estate searches show an AI Overview
The least exposed industry
What the published data says
- AI Overviews appeared on 4.48% of Real Estate searches, the lowest of the industries Conductor reported.[1]
- The most-cited domains were Hines (11.62%), Public Storage (10.49%), CBRE (7.37%), Extra Space (7.28%) and Colliers (5.15%).[1]
- Semrush also found real estate, shopping and arts under 3% of tracked keywords.[5]
Webtec Research
Our interpretation
- Kris GjorgjioskiKeyword research and benchmarks
- Hristijan NajcheskiTechnical SEO, data checks
- Figures: the cited studies
- Reading: ours
The figures on this page come from the cited studies. This reading of them is ours, and you may weigh it differently.
Real estate searches are local and transactional, which is where AI Overviews are least common. The competition is still portals and maps, not AI summaries. Here the fundamentals (local presence, accurate listings, reviews) matter more than AI-specific work, though the commercial and storage firms that are cited show what authority looks like in this category.
- Keep listings and local profiles accurate and consistent
- Invest in reviews and neighbourhood expertise
- Watch assistants for local recommendation queries
Go deeper:ai overviews by industry aeo by industry ai citations
Case file 06 · Utilities
25.4% vs 0.35%
AI Overview rate against AI referral share
High exposure, almost no traffic
What the published data says
Webtec Research
Our interpretation
- Kris GjorgjioskiKeyword research and benchmarks
- Hristijan NajcheskiTechnical SEO, data checks
- Figures: the cited studies
- Reading: ours
The figures on this page come from the cited studies. This reading of them is ours, and you may weigh it differently.
People ask utilities “how do I…” and “what does this mean” questions that AI answers in place, so exposure is high and clicks are scarce. The measurable goals are brand impressions and the small share of visits that convert to account actions, rather than traffic.
- Answer the top service questions clearly and briefly
- Track brand searches and account actions, not only visits
- Include Gemini when testing how assistants describe you
Go deeper:ai referral traffic ai search click impact ai overviews by industry
Case file 07 · Travel, leisure and hospitality
+1,700%
growth in AI referrals to travel, Jul 2024 to Feb 2025
The fastest-growing referrals
What the published data says
- AI referrals to travel, leisure and hospitality sites grew 1,700% between July 2024 and February 2025.[3]
- AI-referred travel visitors bounced 45% less than other visitors.[3]
- 29% of surveyed US consumers had used generative AI for travel planning, and 84% of those said it improved their experience.[3]
Webtec Research
Our interpretation
- Kris GjorgjioskiKeyword research and benchmarks
- Hristijan NajcheskiTechnical SEO, data checks
- Figures: the cited studies
- Reading: ours
The figures on this page come from the cited studies. This reading of them is ours, and you may weigh it differently.
Trip planning is a long, comparative task that suits conversational search. Growth is steep from a small base. The opportunity is to be accurate and specific on the details assistants repeat: location, seasons, prices, policies and what makes a place different.
- Keep rates, policies and local details current and in plain text
- Write itinerary-style content around real visitor questions
- Check how assistants describe your property or tour
Go deeper:ai referral traffic aeo by industry ai citations
Case file 08 · Communication Services
0.25%
of traffic comes from AI, the lowest of the industries
Platforms get cited, publishers get crawled
What the published data says
- AI assistants sent 0.25% of Communication Services traffic, the lowest of the industries Conductor reported.[1]
- The most-cited domains were YouTube, Reddit, Google, Investopedia and Reuters.[1]
- In July 2025 Anthropic’s crawlers made 38,066 requests for every visit they referred, OpenAI’s 1,091 and Google’s 5.4.[6]
Webtec Research
Our interpretation
- Kris GjorgjioskiKeyword research and benchmarks
- Hristijan NajcheskiTechnical SEO, data checks
- Figures: the cited studies
- Reading: ours
The figures on this page come from the cited studies. This reading of them is ours, and you may weigh it differently.
AI answers lean on platforms and a few large publishers, and crawling is far larger than the visits sent back. For media businesses the commercial question is less about being cited and more about whether to allow training crawlers and how to be recognised as the original source.
- Decide your crawler policy deliberately, by purpose
- Publish original reporting and data that can be attributed
- Track referral and brand lift, not just clicks
Go deeper:ai crawlers and files ai citations ai referral traffic
Case file 09 · Industrials and professional services
5 domains
Deloitte, Indeed, McKinsey, Wolters Kluwer, Siemens
Authority publishers dominate
What the published data says
- The most-cited domains in Industrials were Deloitte, Indeed, McKinsey, Wolters Kluwer and Siemens.[1]
- Law and government keywords saw a large rise in AI Overview coverage during 2025, though Semrush gives no exact figure.[5]
- Researchers reported that adding citations, quotations and statistics can raise visibility in generative engine responses by up to 40%, with effects varying by domain.[7]
Webtec Research
Our interpretation
- Kris GjorgjioskiKeyword research and benchmarks
- Hristijan NajcheskiTechnical SEO, data checks
- Figures: the cited studies
- Reading: ours
The figures on this page come from the cited studies. This reading of them is ours, and you may weigh it differently.
In professional and industrial categories, the cited sources are firms that publish original research and reference material. Smaller firms rarely beat them on breadth, but can win on specific, well-sourced answers to narrow questions, backed by named experts. Original data, like a benchmark of your own market, is the strongest citable asset.
- Publish narrow, well-sourced answers with named experts
- Create original data or checklists others will reference
- Cite primary sources inside your own content
Go deeper:ai citations aeo by industry ai search click impact law firms benchmarks construction benchmarks engineering architecture benchmarks business consulting benchmarks
Case file 10 · All industries
60% to 10%
ChatGPT responses citing Reddit, Aug to Sept 2025
The citation shake-up of September 2025
What the published data says
- ChatGPT cited Reddit in close to 60% of responses in early August 2025 and around 10% by mid-September.[8]
- Wikipedia fell from roughly 55% of ChatGPT responses to under 20%, while its share stayed steady in AI Mode and Perplexity.[8]
- Only 37.9% of AI Overview citations came from top-10 pages in January 2026 data, down from about 76% in an earlier analysis, though the method changed.[9]
Webtec Research
Our interpretation
- Kris GjorgjioskiKeyword research and benchmarks
- Hristijan NajcheskiTechnical SEO, data checks
- Figures: the cited studies
- Reading: ours
The figures on this page come from the cited studies. This reading of them is ours, and you may weigh it differently.
Who gets cited can change within weeks. Strategies built on one platform’s current favourites are fragile. The durable work is to be the clearest, best-sourced answer to the questions your buyers ask, in formats any engine can read, and to test across assistants regularly.
- Test your key questions on several assistants every month
- Diversify where your expertise is published and referenced
- Avoid strategies that depend on one platform’s quirks
Go deeper:ai citations ai crawlers and files ai search click impact
Cite this page.
Please link back and credit Webtec Research.
CITE THIS PAGE
Webtec Research. (2026, October 15). Industry case files: what the AI search data says, one industry at a time. The Open Index by Webtec. https://www.trywebtec.com/resources/index/case-files/
QUESTIONS
About the case files.
What is an industry case file?
A case file collects every published figure we could verify for one industry, shows each with its source, then adds Webtec Research’s reading of what it means and what a business in that industry could do about it. Facts and interpretation are visually separate so you can tell which is which.
Are these case studies of Webtec clients?
No. They are built entirely from published, third-party studies: Conductor, Adobe, Semrush, Ahrefs, Pew Research, Cloudflare and others. We do not publish client data in the Open Index.
Why does a case file only cover some industries?
Public studies do not cover every industry equally. Conductor reports ten industries, Adobe reports retail, banking, travel and others. Where no credible public figure exists, we leave the industry out instead of estimating.
Is the interpretation a finding?
No. The numbers are findings from the studies. The interpretation is our reasoned reading, labelled as ours, and the studies’ own authors may read the same data differently.
Can I rely on one industry’s numbers for my own business?
Treat them as context. Industry averages hide large differences between businesses, locations and query types. They tell you how exposed a category is, not how your own site will perform.
How often do the case files change?
The Open Index is refreshed quarterly, in January, April, July and October. Each case file is re-checked against its sources, and any change is recorded in the correction log on the methodology page.
Which industries are not covered yet?
Education, accounting and tax, and agencies have thinner public data and are on the research list for the next edition. We would rather publish later than publish a weak number.
How do I cite a case file?
Use the cite box at the bottom of this page for APA, MLA, BibTeX or an HTML link. Please credit Webtec Research and link to the page.
SOURCES
Sources and notes
9 sources on this page: 3 independent or official (grade A) and 6 vendor or agency studies with a disclosed method (grade B). Numbers in brackets in the text match the numbers below. We read every figure on the source’s own page. How we grade sources.
- What we use:
- AI Overview prevalence and AI referral share by industry; ChatGPT’s share of AI referrals; most-cited domains by industry.
- Period:
- May to Sept 2025 (AI Overviews: Sept 15 to Oct 12, 2025)
- Sample:
- 13,770 enterprise domains in 10 industries; 17M AI responses and 100M+ citations; AI referral data from 1,215 domains (3.3B sessions, 35.7M AI sessions); 21.9M US Google searches for AI Overviews.
- Read with care:
- US data. AI Mode traffic is excluded because Google Analytics groups it with organic Google traffic. Some figures appear twice with different rounding; we use the more precise one.
- Independent researchGrade APublished 2025-07-22Read the source
- What we use:
- Click and session behaviour with and without AI summaries; share of searches with a summary; which sources summaries cite.
- Period:
- March 2025
- Sample:
- 900 US adults tracked in KnowledgePanel Digital; 68,879 Google searches.
- Read with care:
- A US panel; does not measure publisher revenue.
- Platform dataGrade BPublished 2025-03-17Read the source
- What we use:
- Growth of AI referral traffic by sector, and how AI-referred visits behave.
- Period:
- Nov 2024 to Feb 2025
- Sample:
- More than 1 trillion visits to US retail sites; a survey of 5,000+ US respondents.
- Read with care:
- Measures clicks on AI links only. Engagement and bounce are not defined on the page.
- Vendor studyGrade BPublished 2025-11-13Read the source
- What we use:
- Sub-industry AI referral share and AI Overview prevalence for technology.
- Period:
- May to Sept 2025
- Sample:
- The IT industry and three sub-industries, from the same dataset as the main report.
- Vendor studyGrade BPublished 2025-12-15Read the source
- What we use:
- AI Overview prevalence over time and by category.
- Period:
- January to November 2025
- Sample:
- 10M+ keywords for prevalence over time; industry figures are the share of each industry’s keywords that show an AI Overview.
- Read with care:
- The page gives exact figures for only some categories and contradicts itself on Health.
- Platform dataGrade APublished 2025-08-29Read the source
- What we use:
- Crawl-to-referral ratios by platform and the purpose of AI crawling.
- Period:
- January to July 2025 (purposes: past 12 months)
- Sample:
- Cloudflare Radar crawl and referral data; referral data comes from news-related customers.
- Read with care:
- Purpose classification relies on operator disclosures; referral data may not represent the wider web.
- What we use:
- The first formal study of optimizing for generative engines; reports visibility gains of up to 40%.
- Period:
- v3 revised June 28, 2024
- Sample:
- GEO-bench, a benchmark of diverse queries across domains.
- Read with care:
- The authors note efficacy varies across domains.
- Vendor studyGrade BPublished 2025-11-10Read the source
- What we use:
- Which domains AI assistants cite most, and how fast that mix changed.
- Period:
- July 14 to Oct 12, 2025 (13 weekly snapshots)
- Sample:
- 230,000+ prompts and 100M+ AI citations across ChatGPT search, Google AI Mode and Perplexity.
- Read with care:
- Most shares appear only in charts; we use the figures given in the text.
- Vendor studyGrade BPublished 2026-03-02Read the source
- What we use:
- How many AI Overview citations come from pages ranking in the top 10.
- Period:
- AI Overviews as of January 2026
- Sample:
- 863,000 keyword SERPs and 4M AI Overview URLs (Ahrefs Brand Radar).
- Read with care:
- Parsing method changed since the 2025 study, so the comparison is not like-for-like.
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A LIVING REFERENCE
Refreshed every quarter.
We re-check every source in January, April, July and October, add new studies and retire old ones. This is Edition 1 (October 15, 2026); the next is due January 2027. Changes are logged on the methodology page.
