What do AI search engines think your topic depends on?

CiteWhy asks Gemini and Google AI Mode your search several times, branches on the clarifying questions in the answers and shows which topics, sources and names the answers rely on, and how that compares with Google's own results.

Completely free. All you need is your own API keys from Gemini and DataForSEO.

A real example. Click through the tabs

Searched from United States · Gemini and AI Mode · 3 runs per search

SEO tool

Run 28 Sept 2026 · gemini-3.8-flash + Google AI Mode · $1.87

Answer source

Conclusion

Both most often ask about budget, goal and size. Gemini asks more about volume and challenge. 5 of 63 searches exist in both.

Side by side
	Gemini	AI Mode
Searches	38	32
AI answers	114	96
Fan-out searches	132	– (not disclosed)
Sources per answer	4.3	4.2
Domains	176	99
Stability	20 %	19 %

What do they ask about?

Share of searches where the topic is asked.

GeminiAI Mode

34 %budget56 %
45 %goal38 %
42 %size31 %
34 %platform22 %
32 %focus22 %
24 %feature31 %
18 %type22 %
18 %volume0 %
18 %scope9 %
16 %stack13 %
16 %challenge0 %
13 %niche6 %

Agree and disagree

Both ask often

budget · 34 % / 56 %goal · 45 % / 38 %size · 42 % / 31 %

Gemini asks more

volume · 18 % / 0 %challenge · 16 % / 0 %stage · 13 % / 0 %platform · 34 % / 22 %size · 42 % / 31 %

AI Mode asks more

budget · 34 % / 56 %

The paths split at step 2

The topics each answer source searched further on after the first search.

Gemini

goal6
budget6
platform5

AI Mode

goal6
platform3
budget2

5 of 63 searches exist in both.

The sources only partly overlap

Domains the answers rely on.

148 Gemini only28 shared71 AI Mode only

Most used shared domains

reddit.com
zapier.com
youtube.com
ahrefs.com
onelittleweb.com
semrush.com
apps.shopify.com
seranking.com

Run it on your own topic

Create an account, add your own Gemini key and optionally your DataForSEO login, and start a run.