AI Visibility Index Malaysia (October 2026): who ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode cite

The AI Visibility Index records which websites the three AI answer engines cite when a buyer in Malaysia asks about AI, chatbot, automation and SEO vendors. For 40 common questions in October 2026: Google's AI Overview could be read on 31 and cited 174 distinct domains, led by bixtech.co (7 answers), mampuai.com, ximnet.com.my and forwardchat.my (6 each); Google AI Mode answered all 19 questions it was asked and cited bixtech.co in 8, with 34 reference slots, more than any other domain; ChatGPT, asked 27 of the questions, linked Google Maps listings in 12 answers and named or linked BixTech in 9, seven of those through our Maps listing. This is our own measurement, run with the same method we use for clients, so read our standing with that in mind; the per-question table lets you check every row.

How to read this

• Google AI Overview is the AI answer box at the top of an ordinary Google search. A citation there means Google wrote its answer from your page. The reader usually stays on Google, so the value is being the source, not the click.
• Google AI Mode is Google's conversational answer (the AI tab). It lists references beside the answer; one domain can hold several slots in one answer, so the index counts both answers and slots.
• ChatGPT was asked with web search on, so it looked the question up rather than answering from memory. Its sources are shown as links the reader can open, so a citation there tends to send traffic. For local vendor questions it often links a Google Maps listing and names the vendor in the text.
• A domain is counted once per answer it appears in. The leaderboards count answers; the per-question table shows the first three references in each answer.

Google AI Overview: domains cited in four or more answers

40 questions asked; an AI Overview appeared on 34 and could be read on 31. Six questions showed no AI Overview at all, and three boxes had not finished rendering when read.

Domain	Answers citing it (of 31)
bixtech.co	7
mampuai.com	6
ximnet.com.my	6
forwardchat.my	6
youtube.com	5
ai.gov.my	5
dahreply.ai	4
facebook.com	4
my.udeskglobal.com	4
gritc.com.my	4
anchorsprint.com	4

youtube.com, facebook.com and ai.gov.my are not vendors: Google cites videos, Facebook pages and the national AI office's directory alongside company sites. The long tail is wide; 174 different domains were cited across the 31 readable answers, most of them once.

Google AI Mode: domains cited most often

19 of the 40 questions were asked in AI Mode, and every one returned an answer with references.

Domain	Answers citing it (of 19)
bixtech.co	8
mampuai.com	4
forwardchat.my	3

Cited in two answers each: ai.gov.my, dahreply.ai, iwsapp.my, lizard.global, malaysia.indeed.com, my.jobstreet.com, my.udeskglobal.com, revenuebase.ai, sortlist.com, thecrunch.io, yellow.ai, zenweb.my.

Counted by reference slots instead, the gap widens, because AI Mode often cites several pages from one site in a single answer:

Domain	Reference slots across 19 answers
bixtech.co	34
mampuai.com	11
forwardchat.my	11
thecrunch.io	8
iwsapp.my	8
zenweb.my	6
my.udeskglobal.com	6
yellow.ai	5
sortlist.com	5
sleekflow.io	5
isms.com.my	5

ChatGPT: sources linked in three or more answers

27 of the 40 questions were put to ChatGPT with web search on. The leaderboard counts linked sources; a vendor named in the text without a link is not counted here, except that we record it for our own brand so that our standing is stated fairly.

Source	Answers linking it (of 27)
Google Maps listings	12
staffbot.my	3
sleekflow.io	3

Linked in two answers each: ai-serviceagent.com, bixtech.co, chatflow.my, cleverus.com, forwardchat.my, gchat.my, mampuai.com, nuweb.com.my, onyxai.chat, ozo.my, pixelpro.com.my, proxi.my. BixTech was named or linked in 9 of the 27 answers: 2 linked bixtech.co directly and 7 showed our Google Maps listing with the company named in the text.

The 40 questions, engine by engine

Up to three references per answer, in the order the engine listed them. "Not asked" means the question was outside that engine's set for this edition. Scroll the table sideways on a phone.

What the three engines reward

The leaderboards point in two different directions, and a vendor who wants to be cited has to work on both.

• The two Google engines cite first-party vendor pages that answer the question directly. Most domains in the AI Overview and AI Mode tables are the vendors' own sites. The pages they cite tend to carry a plain definition, a price or a constraint near the top, in a form that can be lifted out as the answer. The same site is cited for several questions when it has one clear page per question rather than one page for everything.
• ChatGPT leans on corroboration: Maps listings, directories and third-party pages. Twelve of its 27 answers linked Google Maps listings, and the Google engines themselves cite directories such as sortlist.com, f6s.com, clutch.co and ai.gov.my for "AI company" questions. A vendor with a thin Business Profile and no directory presence is invisible to ChatGPT however good its website is.
• Non-vendor sources take real share. youtube.com, facebook.com, LinkedIn, Instagram, job boards and news sites all appear. A short demo video or a news mention can be cited where a service page is not.
• The engines disagree with each other. For the same question the three engines rarely cite the same set of sources, and ChatGPT is the least aligned with Google. Being cited by one is no guarantee of the others.

What a Malaysian vendor can do about it

Three things, in order. Put one extractable answer block on each service page: the question as a heading, the answer in the first two sentences, one number only you can state. Complete the Google Business Profile and list the business in the directories the engines already cite. Then measure: ask the engines your buyers' questions on a fixed cadence and watch the sources move. This is the work behind our AI SEO service, and the brand-monitoring section on that page shows how the checks are run. For a view of who the Malaysian AI vendors are in the first place, see our list of AI companies in Malaysia.

Method and limits

• Questions. 40 questions a buyer in Malaysia might type, covering AI agencies and agents, chatbots, customer service and call centres, WhatsApp, automation, AI consulting, AI SEO, AI pricing and AI companies. The same wording was used on every engine.
• Engines and dates. Google AI Overview and Google AI Mode were read on 10 October 2026 through the DataForSEO SERP API, Malaysia location, English, desktop. ChatGPT was asked on 4 October 2026 through OpenAI's API with web search forced, Malaysia location.
• Counting. A domain counts once per answer in which it is linked. For AI Mode the number of reference slots is also counted. For ChatGPT, a link to google.com is a Google Maps or Business Profile listing and is labelled as such.
• Limits. One day per engine, one location, English only, one phrasing per question. AI answers vary between runs; a repeat on another day would differ at the edges. Six questions had no AI Overview, three boxes could not be read, and ChatGPT was asked 27 of the 40, so the three leaderboards are not over the same set. The index measures citations, not traffic, revenue or quality.
• Independence. BixTech is one of the vendors in this market and is listed where the engines cited it. No vendor paid to be included or excluded; rival domains are reported as data only.

Next edition: January 2027, same questions, with Gemini added as a fourth engine.

Frequently asked questions

What is an AI citation?

An AI citation is a link or a named source inside an AI-generated answer. When Google shows an AI Overview, AI Mode writes an answer, or ChatGPT replies with web search on, each lists the pages it drew on. A domain that appears in that list for a question is cited for it. This index counts, for each engine and each question, which domains were cited on the day of measurement.

Does being cited by an AI engine bring traffic?

It depends on the engine. A Google AI Overview citation usually keeps the reader on Google, because the answer is already on the page; the value is being the source of the answer. A ChatGPT citation often sends the reader to the cited page, because ChatGPT shows the source as a link to open. AI Mode sits between the two. For a vendor the practical value is the same in all three cases: the engine presents you as the answer to a buyer's question.

How can I check what AI says about my own brand?

Ask each engine the questions your buyers ask, from a Malaysian location, and record which sources it cites. Google AI Overviews appear on ordinary Google searches; AI Mode is the AI tab on Google; ChatGPT needs web search switched on so that it looks things up rather than answering from memory. Repeat the same questions on a fixed cadence, because the answers change. We run this as a service for clients and will check a handful of questions for any Malaysian business free of charge.

Why does ChatGPT show Google Maps listings instead of websites?

For local vendor questions, ChatGPT's web search often returns Google Business Profile listings and presents them as the sources, with the vendor named in the answer and the link pointing to Maps. In this edition 12 of the 27 ChatGPT answers linked Google Maps listings. It means a complete, well-reviewed Business Profile matters as much as the website for being recommended by ChatGPT.

How often do these citations change?

Often. AI answers vary between runs, between locations and between phrasings of the same question, and the engines update their sources continuously. A domain cited today can be absent next week without anything changing on its site. That is why this index is dated, states a single measurement day per engine, and will be repeated quarterly rather than read as a permanent ranking.

Why are some questions marked "No AI Overview shown" or "Box could not be read"?

Google does not show an AI Overview for every search. On 6 of the 40 questions no AI Overview appeared at all, so there was nothing to cite. On 3 questions the AI Overview was present but had not finished rendering when it was read, so its sources are unknown; those are marked as unread rather than counted as empty. AI Mode returned an answer for all 19 questions it was asked.

Key takeaways

• In October 2026, Google's AI engines cited vendor websites directly, and ChatGPT cited Google Maps listings most of all. A vendor who wants to be recommended by all three needs an extractable answer on its own pages and a complete Business Profile, not one or the other.
• No single domain dominates. The most-cited site appears in 7 of 31 AI Overview answers and 8 of 19 AI Mode answers; 174 different domains were cited in the AI Overviews alone. Being cited for the one question your buyers ask matters more than any overall rank.
• The engines disagree, so measure all three. For the same question they rarely cite the same sources, and ChatGPT's set is the least like Google's.
• Directories and non-vendor pages take real share. ai.gov.my, sortlist.com, f6s.com, YouTube, Facebook and job boards all appear; a listing or a demo video can be cited where a service page is not.
• Citations move. This is a dated measurement, repeated quarterly; use the per-question table to check the question that matters to you rather than the headline.

Measured on 10 October 2026 (Google AI Overview and AI Mode) and 4 October 2026 (ChatGPT). Domains are reported exactly as the engines linked them on those dates and say nothing about any company beyond that. The dataset on this page may be reused with attribution to BixTech.