Honey Badger SEO Releases New Study on AI Search Citations Across 22 U.S. Markets
Scottsdale firm logged every source cited across 176 real local-service AI searches; business websites took 73.8 percent of citations, and Google Maps beat every directory combined.
Cheyenne, Wyoming · September 2, 2026 · distributed via Newsfile Corp
Honey Badger SEO, a local SEO and AI search optimization firm, published a study of 1,189 AI citations showing that AI search cites individual business websites in 73.8 percent of local-service recommendations.
The firm ran 176 real local-service queries through AI search in August 2026, spread across 22 US markets and eight industries, and logged every source cited in every answer. Each of the 1,189 cited URLs was classified into one of six categories: individual business website, Google Maps, directory, editorial site, social media or news.
Individual business websites received 877 citations, or 73.8 percent of the total. Google Maps followed with 143 citations, or 12 percent, and was the single most cited source in the study. Directories combined received 94 citations, or 7.9 percent, led by Angi with 28 and HomeAdvisor with 27. Social media received 10 citations, or 0.8 percent of the total.
Google Maps alone, with 143 citations, out-cited Angi, HomeAdvisor, the Better Business Bureau and Thumbtack combined, which totalled 84. None of the 176 queries returned an empty answer, meaning AI search recommended a specific set of businesses every time.
"Everyone in local SEO has an opinion about AI search, and almost nobody has counted," said Anas Hasic, founder of Honey Badger SEO. "When someone asks AI who to hire, it quotes the business’s own website three times out of four. The unfashionable playbook wins: a clear, crawlable website, a complete Google Business Profile and a few quality directory listings."
Honey Badger SEO collected the data with its own citation-tracking tool and reclassified edge cases by hand so review platforms and large content sites did not inflate the business-website category. The firm notes the dataset covers one month, one methodology and mostly service industries, and describes the results as a strong signal rather than a final word.
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Media contact
Anas Hasic, founder, Honey Badger SEO
[email protected]
(480) 581-9306