According to a recent analysis by Profound, an AI‑visibility platform that helps brands monitor their presence in AI search results, Google.com now ranks as the second most‑cited domain within Google’s AI Mode.
The data reveals that the citation share for Google.com jumped nearly 8.4 times between April 15 and June 30, and the bulk of that surge is attributed to two Google‑owned features: Business Profile cards and Product Knowledge Panels.
What The Data Shows
Citation share measures how often a particular domain is referenced in the answers produced by AI Mode. During the period from April through June, Google.com climbed to the second spot, driven primarily by two sub‑endpoints: the Business Profile card and the Product Knowledge Panel. The most significant growth appears in queries that focus on local information and product comparisons.
When the query is local in nature, the Business Profile card supplies the citation, and our analysis identified five industries that saw the greatest shift: hospitality and travel, home services, restaurants and dining, real estate, and healthcare. In the realm of product searches, the Product Knowledge Panel plays a comparable role. Users looking to compare items, verify compatibility, or view specifications are frequently shown the panel rather than a direct link to a retailer or brand site.
A Pattern SEJ Has Tracked
Google’s AI output has been citing its own pages for more than a year. In March, SE Ranking reported—citing SEJ—that Google accounted for roughly 17% of 1.3 million AI Mode citations, a figure that rose to about 20% when YouTube was included. Profound’s own metric, based on a distinct data set and timeline, reaches a similar conclusion: Google‑owned properties dominate the citation landscape.
May 2025 data from SEJ indicated that 43% of AI Overview responses cited Google’s own results—a form of self‑citation that registers as a google.com domain citation regardless of the specific card content. The surge is largely driven by the Business Profile and Product Knowledge Panel features, not by links to Google’s organic search results.
Product Panels And Google’s Checkout Plans
Profound interprets the growing citations of Product Knowledge Panels as an early sign of Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), though it does not definitively verify that the panels in its dataset are UCP‑enabled. Google characterizes UCP as an open standard that enables direct purchases within AI Mode and Gemini, positioning retailers as the Merchant of Record. This link remains Profound’s analysis, not an official statement from Google.
Why This Matters
Citation share tells us which sources AI Mode references, not where users ultimately click. An uptick in Google.com citations does not automatically mean that traffic to your site has been supplanted; rather, it signals that for local or product queries AI Mode may surface a Google‑hosted card—showing your hours, photos, reviews, or product specs—instead of linking directly to your own page.
From a trustworthiness standpoint, understanding where citations land helps protect your brand’s online equity, especially as AI‑driven search evolves.
Looking Ahead
Most of the content that AI Mode surfaces for local and product searches comes from Google’s own properties, leaving fewer opportunities for independent publishers and brands. While this concentration can feel limiting, the cards themselves rely on data you control—your Business Profile for local details and your product feed for shopping information—making it relatively straightforward to optimize for these queries.
Based on my experience optimizing for local SEO, leveraging your Business Profile is a practical step forward, yet it only secures a spot in the citation, not a guaranteed click or sale.
