The Sources AI Trusts When Recommending Dental Clinics (Q3 2026)
AI Search Data Studies•7 min read

The Sources AI Trusts When Recommending Dental Clinics (Q3 2026)

We analyzed over 30,000 AI source citations in the dental clinic industry.

Temso AI Search Desk
Temso AI Search Desk•Last updated October 01, 2026
View Temso's live AI industry rankings for Dental clinics, updated monthly.View rankings →

Highlights

  • The dataset: Industry-specific prompts produced over 30,000 AI source citations across 5 models and 12 countries during Q3 2026.
  • google.com makes up 53% of Google AI Overview's citations, the largest share for a single domain in that model's list.
  • 81% of Google AI Overview's citations are from commercial domains, its leading source category.
  • Netherlands has a 78% local-domain citation rate in non-English prompts, using country-domain endings as the measure.
  • About 12% average top-domain overlap: the models draw on different combinations of sources, measured by Jaccard similarity.

Which sources should you target to get cited as a dental clinic brand?

Reddit accounts for 16% of ChatGPT's citations, ahead of Jameda and starworks.com.au. Google AI Overview is more concentrated on its leading domain: google.com accounts for 53%. Gemini's first three sources are TopDoctors Mexico and two Doctoralia domains.

ModelTop five sourcesLeading source's share
ChatGPTreddit.com, jameda.de, starworks.com.au, reviews.birdeye.com, doctoralia.com.mx16%
Microsoft Copilotfacebook.com, molarcity.com, doctoraliar.com, instagram.com, yably.com.ar1%
Google AI Overviewgoogle.com, instagram.com, wimpolestreetdental.clinic, consultoriosdelsol.com.ar, cmdentalrosario.com.ar53%
Google AI Modegoogle.com, reddit.com, m.yelp.com, tandlakare.se, instagram.com47%
Geminitopdoctors.mx, doctoraliar.com, doctoralia.com.mx, nexunom.com, opencare.com3%

A dental practice should check its details on the directories actually cited in its market, then compare those listings with the information on its own treatment and practitioner pages.

How have AI source rankings changed over time in the dental clinic industry?

pagesjaunes.fr rose from #69 to #14, while vindtandarts.nl fell from #20 to #337. These are ChatGPT's domain ranks in the first and second halves of Q3 2026.

pagesjaunes.fr rises as vindtandarts.nl falls
ChatGPT domain ranks; six largest absolute moves involving a top-20 domain
July 1–August 15August 16–September 30vindtandarts.nl · #20#337 ▼avispatientsverifies.fr · #4#96 ▼docdental.es · #3#78 ▼pagesjaunes.fr · #69#14 ▲topdoctors.es · #14#68 ▼reviews.birdeye.com · #52#2 ▲
AEO data study of over 30,000 AI source citations in the dental clinic industry (Q3 2026).Temso

The change is suggestive rather than proof of a lasting shift. Follow your priority sources in the live industry rankings, checking the period shown before comparing results.

What type of content do AI models cite for dental clinics?

Google AI Overview has the largest commercial share, at 81% of citations, compared with 32% for ChatGPT.

Google AI Overview has the largest commercial share
Share of cited sources by domain category
AEO data study of over 30,000 AI source citations in the dental clinic industry (Q3 2026).Temso

The user-generated content share also differs: 46% for ChatGPT, compared with 4% for Microsoft Copilot. UGC includes community and review content; Other retains unclassified sources.

Do AI models cite local-language content for dental clinics?

Netherlands has the highest local-domain citation rate among this study's non-English markets, at 78%. Mexico has the lowest, at 36%. We count domains with an ending that matches the prompt's country.

Netherlands has the highest local-domain citation rate
Matching country-domain endings; non-English markets only
AEO data study of over 30,000 AI source citations in the dental clinic industry (Q3 2026).Temso

The country ending is a proxy for local sourcing, not a measurement of language. Locally relevant pages on .com domains are outside this count.

Which AI model relies most on local sources for dental clinics?

Gemini has the highest overall local-domain share, at 71% of citations in the reportable non-English market cells. Google AI Overview has the lowest, at 22%.

Gemini has the highest pooled local-domain share
Matching country-domain citation share; non-English markets only
Netherlands
Sweden
France
Germany
Italy
Spain
Argentina
Mexico
ChatGPT
66%
62%
74%
70%
69%
61%
31%
54%
Microsoft Copilot
96%
93%
92%
75%
64%
30%
40%
31%
Google AI Overview
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
22%
n/a
Google AI Mode
45%
60%
35%
36%
38%
23%
30%
21%
Gemini
95%
87%
80%
84%
71%
72%
64%
47%
AEO data study of over 30,000 AI source citations in the dental clinic industry (Q3 2026).Temso

Netherlands shows why the country-level comparison matters: Microsoft Copilot cites local domains at 96%, compared with 45% for Google AI Mode. Compare models within your target country; overall rates also reflect the mix of countries each model covers.

Should dental clinics optimize for each AI model separately?

Yes. Their top-source lists overlap by 12% on average, measured as shared domains divided by all distinct domains across each pair's lists (Jaccard similarity). doctoraliar.com appears in all five models' top 20. This shared source offers a starting point for work across models, alongside the sources specific to each one.

Top-domain overlap is about 12% on average
Pairwise Jaccard similarity of top-20 domain sets
ChatGPT
Microsoft Copilot
Google AI Overview
Google AI Mode
Gemini
ChatGPT
n/a
3%
5%
21%
18%
Microsoft Copilot
3%
n/a
14%
8%
3%
Google AI Overview
5%
14%
n/a
18%
8%
Google AI Mode
21%
8%
18%
n/a
21%
Gemini
18%
3%
8%
21%
n/a
AEO data study of over 30,000 AI source citations in the dental clinic industry (Q3 2026).Temso

Gemini and Google AI Mode have the highest observed overlap, at 21%; Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT have the lowest, at 3%. Both figures compare domain sets; they do not measure brand visibility.

How many sources does each AI model cite per answer?

Google AI Overview cites the most sources per answer, averaging 11.9 among answers with at least one citation. Google AI Mode averages 2.8, the lowest of the five.

Google AI Overview cites the most sources per answer
Mean cited sources per answer with at least one citation
AEO data study of over 30,000 AI source citations in the dental clinic industry (Q3 2026).Temso

Microsoft Copilot follows at 7.3 sources per citing answer. Several cited pages can belong to the same website; the chart counts cited source records rather than distinct websites.

Context

We used Temso's AI visibility monitoring data to examine industry-specific prompts across 12 countries during Q3 2026. The study includes ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google AI Overview, Google AI Mode and Gemini. It covers citations in observed answers, not traffic, conversions, brand recommendation rates, or the quality of the organizations mentioned.

The findings describe the monitored prompts and markets and may not generalize to every buyer question. The industry rankings are a separate view; check their displayed period before comparing them with this quarterly study.

Methodology

How we measured this

The observation window is July 1 through September 30, 2026, using UTC dates and an exclusive October 1 cutoff. We recorded 12,918 responses and 39,670 cited source records across 91 of 92 calendar days. July 9 has no observations. The country set is Argentina, Australia, Canada, Germany, Spain, France, United Kingdom, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Sweden, United States.

We rank domains by cited source count, with alphabetical ordering to break ties. Shares use each model's cited sources as the denominator. Category labels come from the domain registry and describe domains rather than individual page formats; unclassified citations remain in Other. The overlap figure is the unweighted average across 10 model pairs, each comparing its top-20 domain sets.

For movement, we split the window on August 16 and rank all cited domains separately in each half for ChatGPT. The chart selects the six largest absolute rank changes among domains present in both halves and in the top 20 of at least one half. Labels show true ranks; line spacing shows relative order among the selected domains. Model coverage varied across the observation window, so the movement finding is read as suggestive rather than proven re-ranking. Prompt and country mix may also affect ranks.

Local-source rates count citations whose domain ending matches the prompt's country, excluding English-language prompts. Country and prompt language remain separate cells; markets that share a language are not merged. Cells require at least 30 citing responses and 50 citations; missing cells are not zero. Overall model rates weight eligible country cells by citation count. The proxy cannot determine content language or capture all locally relevant .com sites.

ModelObserved daysAnswers with citationsMean cited sourcesNominal 95% CI
ChatGPT912,6162.792.70–2.88
Microsoft Copilot912,0327.287.20–7.35
Google AI Overview8620211.8810.74–13.02
Google AI Mode832,8532.762.74–2.78
Gemini881,5704.664.58–4.74

Source-breadth means exclude answers with no citations. Their intervals use the response as the unit of observation. Repeated prompts and citations within responses are correlated, so these nominal intervals may understate uncertainty. We make no causal or statistical-significance claims. Rounded chart labels are for readability; the underlying calculations retain precision.

Frequently asked questions

Do AI models cite different sources for dental clinics?

Yes. Their top-20 lists have an average Jaccard similarity of 12%. Gemini and Google AI Mode are the closest pair at 21%. These percentages compare sets of domains, rather than the proportion of citations shared.

Which AI model cites the most sources per answer for dental clinics?

Google AI Overview, averaging 11.9 cited source records per answer with at least one citation, compared with 2.8 for Google AI Mode.

What kinds of websites do AI models cite for dental clinics?

Google AI Overview has the largest commercial share, at 81% of citations, compared with 32% for ChatGPT. The user-generated content share also differs: 46% for ChatGPT, compared with 4% for Microsoft Copilot.

Our data measures country-domain endings, so it cannot establish the effect of publishing in a particular language. Netherlands has a 78% local-domain rate and Mexico has a 36% rate. Inspect the cited pages themselves when planning language-specific content.

Which AI model relies most on local sources for dental clinics?

Gemini has the highest pooled share, at 71% across reportable non-English market cells. The ordering can differ by country; use the market-by-model table for a local comparison.

Did AI source rankings change during the quarter?

pagesjaunes.fr rose from #69 to #14, while vindtandarts.nl fell from #20 to #337. That comparison is within ChatGPT between July 1–August 15 and August 16–September 30. It describes the observed change, rather than predicting what happens next.

Is one AI ranking enough to plan for dental clinics?

No. Average top-20 overlap is 12% across model pairs. doctoraliar.com appears in all five models' top 20. This shared source offers a starting point for work across models, alongside the sources specific to each one.

About the Author

Temso AI Search Desk

Temso AI Search Desk

The Temso AI Search Desk is Temso's research team for AI search. It analyzes close to 10 million AI source citations every quarter and draws on more than 1 billion proprietary AI search datapoints.

About the Author

Temso AI Search Desk

Temso AI Search Desk

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