ChatGPT or Google AI Overviews: who claims the click in 15K action-based searches?

Key findings at a glance

• Action-oriented healthcare prompts diverged 62% between platforms. The gap was 47% in B2B technology, 45% in education and 39% in finance.
• ChatGPT suggested a commercial tool or app in 71% of "how-to" queries, while Google linked to explanatory articles 83% of the time.
• For identical "find a doctor" searches, ChatGPT surfaced Zocdoc 78% of the time; Google highlighted hospital directories 74% of the time.
• When users asked to "learn Python," ChatGPT's top outbound link was Udemy (64%); Google pointed to GitHub or Medium posts (59%).

Marketing takeaway: develop actionable tools to gain visibility in ChatGPT and publish in-depth explainers to rank in Google.

Methodology

BrightEdge, an enterprise SEO platform, tested 15,000 English-language prompts between 14 and 25 June 2025. Queries were split evenly across healthcare, B2B technology, education and finance. Each prompt was issued to web-enabled ChatGPT (GPT-4) and to live Google AI Overviews. For every result, analysts logged the first five external references. Divergence was recorded when at least one top-five link differed.

The study used a United States IP address, excluded medical and legal disclaimers and omitted the full dataset. Numbers should be viewed as directional because model outputs evolve quickly.

Divergence by industry and user intent

Healthcare - highest split

Overall divergence reached 62%. Symptom queries such as "What causes vertigo?" converged on Mayo Clinic and CDC sources with less than 10% variance. Task queries like "find a gastroenterologist near me" diverged 68%: ChatGPT favored Zocdoc and Healthgrades, whereas Google promoted local hospital finders.

B2B technology

Comparison prompts ("AWS vs. Azure pricing") aligned closely on vendor documentation (9% variance). Deployment prompts ("deploy Node app") diverged 55%: ChatGPT linked to Kubernetes docs and AWS CLI guides; Google pointed to Stack Overflow threads and official tutorials.

Education

"Best online learning platforms" produced near-identical lists (Coursera, edX, LinkedIn Learning). Skill acquisition queries ("how to learn Python") diverged 48%: ChatGPT promoted Udemy courses, Google highlighted GitHub repositories and Medium guides.

Finance

Divergence was lowest at 39%. For budgeting and retirement planning, ChatGPT embedded calculators from Fidelity and NerdWallet, while Google linked IRS.gov and Investopedia explainers.

Tools vs information answer styles

Across all verticals, ChatGPT surfaced at least one ready-to-use tool in 71% of action prompts. Google did so in only 28%. Google supplied publisher and date citations in 92% of answers; ChatGPT did so in 37%, up from 22% in February 2025.

Implications for marketing and SEO

• Action assets. Interactive calculators, free tools and API demos improve the odds of being cited by ChatGPT when task intent is clear.
• Research assets. Comprehensive explainers with structured headings and citations remain the chief path into Google AI Overviews.
• Intent bifurcation. Segment keywords into "task" and "research" buckets. The same phrase can trigger different resources on each platform.
• Schema. BrightEdge observed that HowTo and SoftwareApplication markup correlated with higher inclusion rates in AI Overviews, although causation was not proven.
• Brand recall. Because ChatGPT lists fewer links, inclusion may amplify brand memorability more than an equivalent Google position.

Limitations and monitoring points

• Findings reflect one country and one language; localized models may behave differently.
• Rapid model iterations mean percentages will shift; treat figures as a snapshot.
• YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) topics with explicit medical or legal disclaimers were excluded.
• Divergence counts any single link difference; commercial impact was not measured.

Data appendix

Primary source

All statistics are taken from BrightEdge's July 2025 research report Brand Visibility: ChatGPT and Google AI Approaches by Industry.