# Google, Baidu AI Overviews favor own platforms in health answers

Published: 2026-10-09T05:04:05.454Z · Source: arXiv AI Overviews & brand visibility (https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.06798v1)
Source date: 2026-09-06
Flags: catch-up (Sep 6)
Entities: ai-overviews, google

A study by researchers Mingyue Zha and Ho-Chun Herbert Chang audited 1,920 health queries across 12 countries and 4 languages on Google and Baidu's AI Overview systems, posted to arXiv in September 2026. Both engines showed "vertical integration," routing users toward their own company's platforms rather than a diverse set of primary health sources, and smaller, less-localized countries received fewer domestically sourced health references. Querying in a country's native language instead of English increased locally sourced citations roughly 3.5- to 13.5-fold, and health disclaimers varied substantially by language and culture.

Why it matters: It shows a health source's odds of being cited by an AI Overview depend on the query's country and language as much as the source's own authority, so a citation-share number measured in English tells you little about a market measured in another language.

## What this answers

**Does the language you search in change which health sources AI Overviews cites?**

Yes — a study auditing 1,920 health queries across 12 countries and 4 languages found that searching in a country's native language instead of English increased locally sourced citations roughly 3.5 to 13.5 times over.

**Do Google and Baidu AI Overviews favor their own company's platforms in health answers?**

Yes — the study found both engines show vertical integration, routing users toward their own company's platforms in AI Overviews rather than a diverse set of primary health sources.


Canonical: https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-10-09-google-baidu-ai-overviews-favor-own-platforms-in-health-answers/
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