Why Reddit and Wikipedia Are Powering AI Answers—and What That Means for Law Firms

AI Tools Are Only as Good as Their Sources

A new study from Profound analyzed 30 million citations across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity from August 2024 through June 2025. The data highlights just how often AI tools rely on open, user-driven websites to answer search queries.

ChatGPT pulled 47.9% of its citations from Wikipedia. Google AI Overviews cited Reddit more than any other source, with Reddit accounting for 21% of its responses. Perplexity leaned on Reddit even more heavily, referencing it in 46.7% of answers.

Reddit and Wikipedia are built around community contributions. Anyone can add or edit information, and the content can be inaccurate. Despite that, these platforms are shaping how AI responds to questions, including questions that require accuracy, like those involving legal topics.

Firms that aren’t publishing factual, well-structured content risk being replaced by less informed sources in AI-generated results. As AI tools continue learning from what’s already online, they will favor the content that’s visible, referenced often, and easy to interpret.

Chat GPT Results:

Google AI Overviews Results:

Perplexity Results:

What This Tells Us About AI Search Behavior

AI platforms are heavily citing sites with constant user activity. Reddit and Wikipedia are both examples of this, and they appear frequently because they dynamically generate conversation, earn backlinks, and stay updated. AI tools detect that engagement and prioritize it in responses.

This lines up with what we covered in our previous blog post: content that earns interaction gets surfaced more often. Upvotes, internal links, and active edits all function as signals that AI systems use to determine what to include.

Many law firm websites aren’t structured to send those same signals. They may contain strong information, but if it’s not formatted in a way AI can process, or if it doesn’t exist on topics users are actively searching, it won’t appear in results.

Content needs to answer specific questions, match search behavior, and be easy to extract. When it does, it becomes more likely to show up as a cited source, whether the platform is Google AI, ChatGPT, or anything that comes next.

How Law Firms Can Show Up in AI Responses

Firms that want to appear in AI-generated results should start by reviewing what those tools already cite. Enter common legal queries into ChatGPT or Google AI Overviews and take note of the sources that show up. If the responses include Reddit posts or Wikipedia articles on topics your firm regularly handles, that’s a sign your content isn’t being recognized yet.

From there, build content that targets those openings. Focus on specific questions people search for, and answer them directly. Write in a format that is easy to scan and simple to interpret. Paragraphs should be short, headings should be descriptive, and the language should reflect how clients actually talk about their issues.

Existing pages can be strengthened by making them more accessible to both users and search tools. Adding structured lists, clarifying complex terms, and matching the way people phrase legal searches can help your content surface more often.

Firms can also contribute to platforms that already appear in AI responses. Adding accurate information to Wikipedia or participating in legal conversations on Reddit can help shape what AI tools pull in the future.

The way AI tools choose sources is still developing. Sites that publish content built around relevance and usability are more likely to be included in responses as these systems improve.

Don’t Let These Sites Beat Your Practice

AI tools aren’t checking legal credentials. They’re citing what’s available, what gets engagement, and what fits the patterns they’ve been trained to recognize. Right now, that means user-generated platforms like Reddit and Wikipedia are filling in the gaps. If a firm’s website doesn’t show up, something else will.

There’s a short window where law firms can take control of how they appear in AI-assisted search results. That starts by publishing useful content, understanding what AI is already referencing, and making sure the right information is easy to find and reuse.

TSEG works directly with firms to turn their websites into sources that AI tools can understand and prioritize. From content planning to execution, we help firms show up where clients are searching. Not just in traditional search engines, but in the AI tools rewriting how people get answers. Learn more today.