Which sources do AI assistants cite about plumbers in Sydney?

Measured 2026-09-08 · Second collection

The top 3 cited sources, by engine

Sample: 53 prompts, responses collected 2026-09-08 to 2026-09-08 (53 from ChatGPT, 53 from Perplexity, 37 from Google AI Overviews). Google AI Overviews has a lower response count because some prompts returned no AI Overview, and those are excluded from that engine's denominator. Excluded from citation counts: 23 prompts naming a specific business, per the TOP Score rules, and 62 prompts that stated no location, per the method. Percentages are the share of that engine's responses containing at least one citation of the domain. Ties: on ChatGPT, third place is shared at 9 citations by localplumbingpatrol.com.au and wilco-plumbing.com.au. On Perplexity, fourth place is shared at 20 citations by hipages.com.au and jimsplumbing.com.au. On Google AI Overviews, second place is shared at 3 citations by nsw.gov.au and readysetplumb.com.au.

What the data says

Everyone assumes AI answers tradie questions with hipages and the directories, and on ChatGPT the measurement still says otherwise: nearly all of its top sources here are plumbing companies' own sites. The plumbers being cited are the ones that publish real guidance, blocked drain explainers, hot water comparisons, honest pricing pages, which means this category is winnable directly and is being won right now by firms most of the industry has never heard of. On ChatGPT, hipages sits outside the top three again this collection. On Perplexity it is the fourth most cited source at 37.7%, so the directory story depends on which engine your customers ask. One caution carried over from the first collection: starworks.com.au, now eighth on ChatGPT at 13.2%, isn't a plumbing business at all. It's a paid-listing directory that also markets AI visibility services to the businesses it ranks, its citations here come from one best-plumbers page, and it recurs across several unrelated categories on this site. We're leaving it in because it was genuinely cited; what it is belongs next to the number. Google AI Overviews is a different picture again: no plumber leads it, and Facebook and nsw.gov.au take the top spots on a smaller base of 37 responses.

How to read this page

• 1Citations are not mentions. This page measures which sources the engines link when they answer, not which businesses they name. Who gets named is the TOP Score, and it's measured separately.
• 2Engines disagree, so we never pool them. Each engine is reported on its own row because an average hides a total absence on the engine your buyers actually use.
• 3This is a measurement with a date on it. Models and retrieval change; a source moving between collections has not necessarily done anything. The method, cadence and limits are on the standard page.
• 4Ties are shown alphabetically and single-page sources are named. Where sources tie on citations, the table orders them alphabetically and the tie is stated under it. A domain's count can rest on a single page, often a "best of" listicle, and that concentration is itself part of what this site measures, so where it's true of a listed source we say so. Domains are counted by exact hostname, so government subdomains count separately.