We looked at 9 verticals, 23,396 research and consideration prompts and 3 AI answer engines: ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Google AI Overview. Data was collected in September 2026 via the Findrix platform.

How are citations counted?

To keep comparisons between niches and between engines as clean as possible, a website counts at most once per answer, however many times that answer links to it. An answer citing six different websites contributes six; an answer linking the same website six times contributes one.

What counts as a citation?

Only sources linked in the answer text. Not everything the engine looked at behind the scenes, and not a brand named in the prose without a link.

Why use .au to decide what is Australian?

Seven in ten Australian small businesses use .au as their primary domain, and 82% of small businesses that choose it say they do so to present the business as Australian and for Australians, per auDA's Why .au? report (2026). That makes .au a reasonable proxy for an Australian business, though only a rough one: the three in ten trading on a .com are counted here as international, so the real Australian share is higher than shown.

What do the categories mean?

Every cited site is sorted into one of these, in plain terms. The difference between a review site and a comparison site is who produces the judgement: users and independent testers on one, the publisher's own editorial on the other.

Google's links to its own Shopping results, because that is the engine citing itself rather than a publisher. Also the small share of sources our classifier could not type, which is a gap in the measurement rather than a kind of website.

Findrix is an action-based AI visibility and GEO platform that turns ongoing tracking and analysis of a brand's presence across AI answers and search into fast optimization, built for brand managers, marketing leaders, and agencies running AI search for their clients.

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Sep 2026 · 3 engines · For Australian brands and agencies

Australian AI Source Index in

Know how to boost your visibility in your niche by understanding which sites the engines cite when Australians ask about lawyers, firms and legal help, and which they ignore.

4,200Prompts

76,593Retrieval votes

52,321Citation votes

3AI platforms

The most comprehensive AI visibility study focused on the Australian market

The 100 domains the engines retrieved most in legal, not just the top 20
Compare how ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and AI Overview pick sources
Find out how much of what AI quotes is actually Australian

CSV · Legal only, not the whole study · Australia · Sep 2026

Research and methodology by Tom Wells, Lead Research Advisor at Findrix.

What three questions does this page answer?

Who gets cited the most?

Top 5 domains by share of citations (%)

1legal500.com5.6%
2chambers.com4.2%
3allens.com.au2.5%
4doylesguide.com2.5%
5mallesons.com2.4%

these five take 17.1% of all citations

What type of website gets cited most?

Share of citations by category (%)

Market player65.4%
Directory14.8%
Government6.8%
Other business5.4%
Trade press1.7%

65.4% are market players

What share of sources are .au?

Share of sources that are .au (%)

67.0%

of sources are .au

23K prompts · 3 engines

What we actually asked

Six of the 4,200 prompts we asked in legal. Every one is a buying question, and every one was asked on ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Google AI Overview.

Brand shortlist

“what are the best commercial litigation firms in Australia as of latest information?”

Provider shortlist (second)

“what are the best commercial property firms in Australia as of latest information?”

Criterion

“which corporate law firms are best on Takeovers Panel and regulatory relationship credibility in Australia as of latest information?”

Use case

“what are the best criminal defence firms for a first-time drink driving court appearance in Australia as of latest information?”

Audience

“which family law firms are best for high-net-worth divorce and complex property settlements in Australia as of latest information?”

Problem

“insurer delaying income protection payments injured husband cannot work. which personal injury firms can help in Australia as of latest information?”

Who gets cited the most?

The three most cited sources here are mostly international directories. Optimising for both local and international directories is critical in this niche, because that is where the engines look before they look at you.

Top 20 domains by share of citations (%)

1legal500.com

5.6%

Directory

2chambers.com

4.2%

Directory

3allens.com.auAU

2.5%

Other business

4doylesguide.com

2.5%

Directory

5mallesons.com

2.4%

Other business

6gtlaw.com.auAU

2.3%

Other business

7claytonutz.com

2.2%

Other business

8mauriceblackburn.com.auAU

1.4%

Market player

9hsfkramer.com

1.2%

Market player

10landers.com.auAU

1.1%

Other business

11minterellison.com

1.1%

Other business

12hallandwilcox.com.auAU

1.1%

Other business

13slatergordon.com.auAU

1.0%

Market player

14corrs.com.auAU

0.9%

Market player

15armstronglegal.com.auAU

0.9%

Market player

16bestlawfirms.com

0.7%

Directory

17nsw.gov.auAU

0.7%

Government

18lawpartners.com.auAU

0.6%

Market player

19legalvision.com.auAU

0.6%

Other business

20abl.com.auAU

0.6%

Other business

	Domain	What it is	Share (%)
1	legal500.com	Directory	5.6%
2	chambers.com	Directory	4.2%
3	allens.com.auAU	Other business	2.5%
4	doylesguide.com	Directory	2.5%
5	mallesons.com	Other business	2.4%
6	gtlaw.com.auAU	Other business	2.3%
7	claytonutz.com	Other business	2.2%
8	mauriceblackburn.com.auAU	Market player	1.4%
9	hsfkramer.com	Market player	1.2%
10	landers.com.auAU	Other business	1.1%
11	minterellison.com	Other business	1.1%
12	hallandwilcox.com.auAU	Other business	1.1%
13	slatergordon.com.auAU	Market player	1.0%
14	corrs.com.auAU	Market player	0.9%
15	armstronglegal.com.auAU	Market player	0.9%
16	bestlawfirms.com	Directory	0.7%
17	nsw.gov.auAU	Government	0.7%
18	lawpartners.com.auAU	Market player	0.6%
19	legalvision.com.auAU	Other business	0.6%
20	abl.com.auAU	Other business	0.6%

Only 11 of these 20 domains appear on all three engines. Nine of the twenty are engine-specific, so one audit does not cover the market.

Directory
Other business
Market player
Government

23K prompts · 3 enginesTile area is share of every citation in Legal on all three engines. Together these twenty take 33.4%.

Are you in the other 66.6%?

The top 20 above take 33.4% of every citation in legal. The rest is spread across the long tail of domains the engines cited. Check whether yours is one of the 193 the engines retrieved most.

Free · no signup · same September 2026 run as this page

What type of website gets cited most?

PR moves the needle less here than in other niches. The key to this niche is optimised service pages, a strong listing on legal500.com, content built around the subjects nsw.gov.au is quoted on and placements in trade press.

Share of citations by category (%)

Biggest type65.4%33,918 citations

Market playermarket players65.4%
Directoryintermediaries14.8%
Governmentinstitutions6.8%
Other businessmarket players5.4%
Trade presspublishers1.7%
Presspublishers1.5%
Everything else4.3%

23K prompts · 3 enginesEvery cited site in Legal on all three engines sorted into what it is. Hover a slice to name it.

This page measures legal. Findrix measures your brand inside it.

Findrix shows whether AI names your brand in legal, on which prompts, and which of these sources it reads to get there.

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“A pretty serious push that quickly changed our approach to how we fill our pages.”
Nikita Vikhrov · SEO/GEO specialist at Kinescope

Bonus: how Australian is legal compared to others?

Share of sources that are .au (%) · all three engines

Clinics88.4%

Home services87.5%

Finance & accounting85.2%

Pet care71.9%

Sports nutrition70.8%

Legal67.0%

Fashion53.3%

Beauty52.1%

B2B software32.8%

23K prompts · 3 enginesShare of sources on a .au domain in Legal on all three engines. A source counts once per answer, so this is every source the engines used, not a count of websites. Dashed line is every industry together.

Three numbers to take away

33.4%

of every citation goes to just 20 domains

Get on that list and you are in most answers in this niche.

67.0%

of cited sources are Australian

The other 33.0% of what the engines quote sits on international domains.

65.4%

of citations go to market players

Company sites in this market. The rest is mostly directories, government sites and other businesses.

Method

How we track the sources AI cites in Australia

Using the Findrix platform we collected data for 23,396 prompts in Australia across nine verticals on 15 and 16 September 2026, to find the top sources in ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and AI Overviews, reporting only citations, meaning in-answer text sources.

Research and methodology by Tom Wells, Lead Research Advisor at Findrix. Data collected and checked on the Findrix platform.

23,396 buying prompts

Research, consideration and decision questions only. No "what is" or "how does it work".

Nine Australian verticals

beauty, fashion, pet care, sports nutrition, clinics, home services, finance and accounting, legal and b2b software. Every prompt was asked on all three surfaces.

Every engine counted apart

Counted separately end to end. Every per-engine share is a share of that engine's own votes, not of the combined total. Only 11 of the top twenty domains in legal appear in the top twenty of all three.

Citations, not retrieval

A link in the answer text, not everything the engine read. One count per site per answer.

Australian means .au

A .com owned and run from Australia counts as international, so every Australian figure here is a floor.

Google's own links are off by default

Google linking to its own Shopping cards is 4.1% of retrieval across the study and the most-retrieved single source in 6 of nine markets. Not a publisher, so it is left out of the composition charts.

Get the top 100 sources retrieved in legal

The 100 domains the engines retrieved most in Australian legal, with what each site is, whether it is .au, how often it was retrieved and how many citations it took. The top 20 on this page are 33.4% of citations. The rest is where the placements you can still win are.

CSVLegal only, not the whole study · Australia · Sep 2026

Australian AI Source Index in Legal BeautyFashionPet careSports nutritionClinicsHome servicesFinance and accountingLegalB2B software

The most comprehensive AI visibility study focused on the Australian market

What three questions does this page answer?

Who gets cited the most?

What type of website gets cited most?

What share of sources are .au?

What we actually asked

Who gets cited the most?

Are you in the other 66.6%?

What type of website gets cited most?

What share of sources are .au?

This page measures legal. Findrix measures your brand inside it.

Bonus: how Australian is legal compared to others?

Three numbers to take away

How we track the sources AI cites in Australia

Get the top 100 sources retrieved in legal

FAQ

Australian AI Source Index in