Google ranks the reviewers, AI names the winners: what 28 AI answers about earbuds reveal
The usual GEO pitch goes like this: "You rank #1 on Google, but ChatGPT doesn't know you exist." We wanted to see what that looks like in real data, so we picked one crowded consumer category — wireless earbuds — and asked the same ten buying questions to ChatGPT, Gemini and Google's AI Overviews, while recording Google's top ten results for each question.
The result wasn't the story we expected. It was a more useful one: Google ranks the reviewers. AI names the winners. And the reviewers are how the winners get picked.
What we did
- Ten US-English buying questions, such as "What are the best wireless earbuds under $100?", "What are some cheaper alternatives to AirPods Pro?" and "Which earbuds brand is the best value for money?"
- Three AI surfaces: ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, plus Google's top ten organic results for the same query.
- 28 usable AI answers: 10 from ChatGPT, 9 from Gemini (one run failed), and 9 AI Overviews (Google showed none for one question).
- Collected on 22 October 2026, logged out, one run per question per platform. More on what that means for the results at the end.
Finding 1: Google's first page is reviewers, not brands
Across the ten questions, Google's top ten results contained 74 identifiable sites. 58 were review or media sites (RTINGS, SoundGuys, CNET, TechGearLab, What Hi-Fi?, PCMag and others), 12 were retailers such as Best Buy and Amazon, and only 4 were brand websites. RTINGS alone held the #1 spot for 5 of the 10 questions.
For a "best X" question, a brand's own site almost never ranks. The page that ranks is someone else's list.
Finding 2: AI answers name brands — and quote the reviewers
The AI answers flip the format. Instead of ten articles, you get a shortlist of products. But the reviewers didn't disappear; they moved inside the answer:
| Mentioned by name in the answer | ChatGPT | Google AI Overviews | Gemini |
|---|---|---|---|
| RTINGS | 8 / 10 | 7 / 9 | 0 / 9 |
| SoundGuys | 7 / 10 | 1 / 9 | 5 / 9 |
So the site ranking #1 on Google wasn't invisible to AI at all. It was being used as evidence — and it shaped which brands made the shortlist.
Finding 3: one brand showed up almost everywhere
The brand that dominated was Anker's Soundcore line:
| Brand | ChatGPT | Google AI Overviews | Gemini |
|---|---|---|---|
| Soundcore (Anker) | 9 / 10 | 9 / 9 | 6 / 9 |
| Sony | 4 / 10 | 6 / 9 | 7 / 9 |
| Nothing / CMF | 5 / 10 | 5 / 9 | 7 / 9 |
| EarFun | 2 / 10 | 5 / 9 | 5 / 9 |
| Apple | 3 / 10 | 4 / 9 | 6 / 9 |
Soundcore was also ChatGPT's first recommendation in 5 of 10 answers. That's what a category leader in AI search looks like: not a single #1 ranking, but presence in nearly every answer, on every platform.
Finding 4: ChatGPT sends clicks to brand sites, not to the reviewers
Here is the part that matters for traffic. When ChatGPT (logged out) showed links next to its recommendations, 26 of the 30 links pointed to brand websites — mostly product pages such as Soundcore's US store — 3 to retailers, and just 1 to a review site.
That's close to the mirror image of Google's first page. Review sites earn the ranking; brands with clear product pages earn the click from the AI answer.
Finding 5: the three AIs rarely agree on #1
For the 9 questions where all three AIs answered, they agreed on the same first recommendation only 3 times. Gemini, for example, led with Apple in three answers; ChatGPT led with Apple only once and with Soundcore five times. "We're recommended by AI" is not one fact; it's a different fact on each platform.
What this means if you're a brand
- Stop trying to outrank the reviewers for "best X". You usually won't, and you don't need to. You need to be in their lists — that's the evidence AI repeats.
- Find out which reviewers your AI answers quote. In earbuds it's RTINGS and SoundGuys. In your category it might be a trade publication, G2, or a niche forum. Ask your buyers' questions and read which names appear inside the answers.
- Make your product pages worth linking. When the AI does link, it links to a specific product page with clear specs and price. A homepage or a slow, vague product page is a wasted recommendation.
- Measure per platform. Soundcore's rate ranged from 6 of 9 to 9 of 9 across platforms; the #1 pick disagreed two times out of three. Averaging hides exactly what you need to fix.
Limits of this test
- One category, ten questions, one run each. AI answers vary between runs; a single run shows a pattern, not a precise rate. Repeated runs would tighten the numbers.
- Logged-out versions. Logged-out ChatGPT and Gemini may use different models or settings than paid, logged-in accounts.
- Perplexity, Grok and Copilot weren't included; they required signing in at the time of testing. We also dropped Bing's results because the logged-out results we received were clearly off-topic.
- "Mentioned" means named in the answer text, matched by brand and product-line names, and checked against the raw answers.
We'll repeat this with more runs and more platforms. If you want the same audit for your category, the contact form on this site is the fastest way to reach us.