ChatGPT & Perplexity Hit Top Scraped Sites – Impact for Marketers

What Happened

In the latest Decodo report – the industry’s most‑watched ranking of the most‑scraped websites – two generative‑AI platforms have entered the top‑ten for the first time. ChatGPT now sits at #3 and Perplexity at #5, trailing only TikTok, Google, and Naver. The list, compiled from anonymised scraping activity across Decodo’s global customer base, shows a dramatic reshuffle: seven of the previous year’s top‑ten sites have vanished, leaving only TikTok, Google, and Amazon as hold‑overs.

> “Two years ago, businesses scraped the web to see what people were searching for. Now they scrape AI platforms to see what people are being told.” – Vaidotas Juknys, CEO, Decodo

The ranking reflects a growing appetite for public data harvested from AI answer engines – a practice now dubbed Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO). Marketers are no longer satisfied with traditional search‑engine rankings; they want to know how their brand appears in the answers that AI models surface.

---

Key Details

• Positions:

- #1 TikTok (holds spot for second year)

- #2 Google

- #3 ChatGPT

- #4 Naver

- #5 Perplexity

- #6 Make.com, #7 Target, #8 Amazon, #9 GitHub, #10 Stack Overflow

• Biggest churn: 7 of the previous top‑10 dropped out, including YouTube, Walmart, and eBay.
• Why the shift? Companies are now scraping AI platforms to:

- Track how their products are described in AI‑generated answers.

- Identify which external sources are being cited.

- Benchmark against competitors for AI‑first visibility.

• GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation): The emerging discipline of optimizing content so that AI models surface your brand as a trusted source in their responses.
• Industry voices: Vaidotas Juknys (Decodo CEO) and Gabriele Vitke (Product Marketing Lead) stress that the move reflects a broader change in where customer decisions are influenced – from search SERPs to AI‑driven answer snippets.

---

What It Means For Your Business

1. AI Answers Are Now a Ranking Factor

If your brand isn’t showing up in ChatGPT or Perplexity responses, you’re invisible to a growing segment of shoppers who rely on conversational AI for product recommendations, troubleshooting, and research. This is comparable to the early days of Google SEO – but the playground has moved from web pages to AI‑generated text.

2. Content Must Be *AI‑Friendly*

Traditional SEO tactics (keyword stuffing, backlink volume) still matter, but prompt‑ability and structured data have become critical. AI models prioritize:

• Clear, concise answers (think FAQ‑style content).
• Rich snippets (Schema.org markup, JSON‑LD).
• Credible citations – the more reputable sources you’re linked to, the higher the chance the model will quote you.

3. Monitor How AI Cites You

Tools like VisibilityAI let you track when and where your brand is mentioned in AI responses. By analysing citation patterns you can:

• Spot gaps where competitors are being quoted instead of you.
• Adjust your content strategy to become the default source for specific queries.
• Detect emerging topics that AI is surfacing faster than traditional search.

4. Leverage GEO as a Competitive Edge

Just as early adopters of SEO outranked rivals in Google, businesses that optimise for AI answer engines will capture the next wave of organic traffic. Practical steps include:

• Create AI‑ready FAQs that answer common customer questions in 1‑2 sentences.
• Publish authoritative guides and link to them from reputable industry sites.
• Use structured data to surface product specs, pricing, and reviews directly to the model.
• Audit your digital footprint for duplicate or low‑quality content that could dilute AI trust.

5. Re‑think Attribution and ROI

Traditional web analytics won’t capture the full impact of AI‑driven referrals. Incorporate AI‑attribution models that credit conversions originating from ChatGPT, Perplexity, or other conversational agents. This will help you justify GEO spend to stakeholders.

---

Quick Action Checklist

• Audit your content for clear, concise answers to top‑of‑mind questions.
• Implement Schema markup for products, FAQs, and reviews.
• Set up monitoring with VisibilityAI to track AI citations.
• Identify competitor gaps – where are they appearing in AI answers that you’re not?
• Adjust your SEO budget to include GEO tools and AI‑focused content creation.

---

Bottom Line

The entry of ChatGPT and Perplexity into Decodo’s most‑scraped sites list is a clear signal: AI answer engines are becoming a primary discovery channel. For small and local businesses, this is both a challenge and an opportunity. By optimising for AI, you can secure a spot in the next generation of search results, stay ahead of competitors, and ensure your brand is the one AI chooses to cite.

---

FAQs

1. What is Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO)?

GEO is the practice of tailoring your content so that generative AI models surface your brand as a trusted answer source, similar to traditional SEO but focused on AI‑driven responses.

2. How can I track if my business appears in ChatGPT or Perplexity answers?

VisibilityAI offers real‑time monitoring of AI citations, letting you see which queries trigger your brand and how often you’re referenced.

3. Do I need to redesign my website for AI?

Not a full redesign, but you should add structured data, concise FAQ sections, and ensure your content is authoritative and easily digestible by AI models.

4. Will traditional SEO become irrelevant?

No. Traditional SEO still drives traffic, but AI‑first visibility is an additional layer you must address to stay competitive.

5. How soon will AI answer engines dominate search?

Adoption is already accelerating; analysts predict that by 2028, AI‑generated answers will account for 30‑40% of all organic discovery queries.