DeepSeek and Doubao Barely Cite the Same Pages: A GEO Analysis of 703 AI Citations on Electric SUVs

Where the data comes from

On 19 March 2026 we asked DeepSeek and Doubao a set of questions about compact electric SUVs and recorded every web page each answer cited. The questions cover three stages, choosing and comparing before purchase, the ownership experience, and maintenance, and refer to the BMW iX1, Tesla Model Y and Audi Q4 e-tron, plus unbranded questions such as how to choose an electric SUV.

Platform	Questions	Citations	Per question	Distinct domains
DeepSeek	37 (7 buying, 12 ownership, 18 maintenance)	347	9.4	108
Doubao	23 (10 buying, 13 ownership)	356	15.5	53
Total	60 (18 asked on both)	703	—	—

Two caveats. This is a single collection on one day, and AI answers can cite different pages each time. Where we say a brand is mentioned, we counted only the titles and snippets of cited pages, not the full answer text.

Finding 1: same question, almost no shared sources

For the 18 questions asked on both platforms, DeepSeek made 174 citations and Doubao 255. Only one page appeared on both sides, an article about the Audi Q4 e-tron's suspension tuning.

So being cited by AI is not one goal. Content that Doubao cites again and again may never be used by DeepSeek, and the other way round. Brands need to track AI visibility per platform and plan content distribution per platform.

Finding 2: Doubao favors ByteDance content, DeepSeek casts a wider net

Source	DeepSeek	Doubao
ByteDance (Douyin, Toutiao, Dongchedi)	82 (24%)	186 (52%)
of which Douyin and Toutiao	0	137 (38%)
Autohome	42	41
PCauto	16	49
Yiche	32	17
ZOL	26	0
12365auto (complaints platform)	23	0
Brand websites	12	17

More than half of Doubao's citations come from Douyin, Toutiao and Dongchedi, all owned by ByteDance, with Douyin and Toutiao alone at 38%. DeepSeek never cited Douyin or Toutiao. Its citations are spread across 108 domains, including auto media reviews, owner forums, complaint sites and a long tail of smaller websites.

Freshness differs too. 33% of Doubao's cited pages mention 2026 in the title or snippet, against 13% for DeepSeek, which cited more articles from around 2023. Doubao also cited model spec pages on sites such as Dongchedi more often (27 times, against 9).

Finding 3: in unbranded buying questions, brands rarely come up

For questions that name no brand, such as how to choose, best value, on-road prices or real-world range rankings, both assistants mostly cite comparison articles of the "three SUVs under RMB 200,000" kind. We counted brand mentions in the titles and snippets of those cited pages:

Mentioned in title or snippet	DeepSeek (65)	Doubao (143)
BMW / iX1	1	2
Tesla / Model Y	5	16
BYD	3	24
Leapmotor	7	4

Before buyers have a brand in mind, AI relies on third-party comparison lists. Whether a model shows up in the answer depends largely on whether it made it into those comparisons and rankings, not on how good the brand's own pages are.

Finding 4: brand sites are missing from after-sales answers

In the ownership and maintenance stages, users ask about a specific model, where the brand should be the most authoritative source. The data shows wide gaps:

Model questions	DeepSeek citations / official	Doubao citations / official
BMW iX1	108 / 2 (both overseas sites)	54 / 5 (3 China site, 1 each Thailand and Japan)
Tesla Model Y	89 / 9	76 / 5
Audi Q4 e-tron	65 / 1	66 / 6

Maintenance questions were asked on DeepSeek only, and the gap is wider there. Tesla Model Y's 5 maintenance questions drew 50 citations, 7 of them from Tesla China's service manual, DIY guides and after-sales commitment page. BMW iX1's 8 maintenance questions drew 68 citations: 10 from 12365auto, 8 from Autohome forums and just 1 official source, a US dealer's page on resetting tire pressure warnings. BMW's China site was not cited once. BMW Sri Lanka's iX1 spec page was even used to answer a Chinese user's question about fast-charging time.

Tesla's approach shows that when service manuals and DIY guides are public, crawlable web pages, AI cites them directly. When owner manuals and after-sales information sit inside an app or in PDFs, AI falls back on complaints, forum posts and overseas pages whose specs and policies may not apply in China.

Five GEO recommendations for carmakers

1. Plan by platform: for Doubao, focus on Douyin, Toutiao and Dongchedi content; for DeepSeek, focus on auto media such as Autohome, Yiche and ZOL, and owner forums. Monitor the two separately.
2. Publish after-sales knowledge as web pages: service intervals and costs, battery warranty, tire pressure resets, charging faults. One question per page, answer first, in HTML rather than an app or PDF.
3. Make the China site answer owners' questions: spec sheets and test-drive booking pages are not enough. Otherwise AI turns to overseas brand sites or dealer pages.
4. Get into third-party comparisons and rankings: citations for unbranded buying questions come almost entirely from comparison articles. When working with media, check that your model is on the comparison list and that the article is dated with the current year.
5. Watch complaints and forums: 12365auto and forum threads are a major source in DeepSeek's maintenance answers. Respond quickly and publish the fix on an official page.

For a broader method, see our GEO starter guide. To assess how your brand is cited on DeepSeek, Doubao and other platforms, see our generative engine optimization (GEO) service.

Key Data & Sources

Data	Value	Source
DeepSeek and Doubao citation collection	60 questions, 703 citations	Collected by Dékuple China, 19 March 2026
Pages cited by both platforms across the 18 shared questions	1 of 429 citations	Same dataset