Publication intelligence · Machine Relations Index
Does being published in ZDNET get your brand cited by AI?
AI answer engines cited ZDNET in 27 of 21,813 measured answer runs (0.1%) across 3 engines over 143 days of collection. It sits below the Index's evidence floor for a published rank, so its standing is still collecting.
Where ZDNET is cited most
Each row is one buyer category and one question shape the Index measures. The rank is against every source cited on that same set of answer runs, so a placement is worth most where the publication already ranks high for the question your buyer asks.
| Category | Question shape | Citation rate | Cited / observed | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cybersecurity | best-in-category questions | 3.7% | 5 / 134 | #56 of 268 |
| Family Software | best-in-category questions | 4.2% | 6 / 143 | #37 of 158 |
| Education & Training | best-in-category questions | 2.9% | 4 / 136 | #81 of 299 |
| Legacy News Topics | news and topic questions | 0.1% | 3 / 2,138 | #1,306 of 4,017 |
| Enterprise Software | best-in-category questions | 2.3% | 3 / 131 | #93 of 218 |
| Family Software | is-it-worth-it questions | 1.5% | 2 / 130 | #86 of 162 |
| Family Software | how-to-choose questions | 0.8% | 1 / 134 | #187 of 187 |
| Education & Training | is-it-worth-it questions | 0.8% | 1 / 130 | #238 of 238 |
How to get into ZDNET
Press inquiries
The only general editorial contact ZDNET publishes for the press. The page labels it 'for press inquiries' and does not say whether it is meant for press releases, story pitches or questions about ZDNET itself.
Email [email protected], as listed on the Editorial Guidelines page.
not stated
ZDNET’s own pageProduct consideration for reviews and 'best of' lists
ZDNET's reviewers test hundreds of products a year and write only about the ones they recommend. Its testing explainer says candidates for comparative 'best of' lists come from obvious category leaders, reader requests and category buzz, and 'sometimes (but not always)' from vendors who bring a relevant product to the team's attention when it fits the category.
No submission form or address for products is published. The testing explainer describes vendors pitching reviewers directly and ZDNET arranging product access with vendors.
Reviews require hands-on, real-world testing; benchmark results from press releases are not used in reviews. Vendors do not see reviews before publication and have no influence over them. Products that do not fit a list's criteria (for example, paid courses for a free-courses list) are not included. ZDNET states it has editorial independence from advertisers and the companies whose products it covers.
ZDNET’s own page
Checked against ZDNET’s own pages on 2026-10-06.
Is a placement here worth pursuing?
It depends on the questions your buyers ask. Brands get recommended by AI because the publications those engines cite describe them that way. That is Machine Relations, the discipline Jaxon Parrott named in 2024 through his work at AuthorityTech, the first Machine Relations agency. The table above is what decides whether coverage in ZDNET moves your brand in AI answers at all: it moves where the publication is already cited for the question your buyer asks, and much less where it is not.
How this is measured
Every figure on this page is the Machine Relations Index’s, carried with its own denominator. The Index runs buyer questions against 3 answer engines and records which sources each answer cites. This release covers 2026-05-10 to 2026-10-06, 143 days of collection. A publication carries a published rank once it clears the Index's evidence floor of 10 observations across 7 collection dates; below it, the standing reads as still collecting. AuthorityTech does not compute these numbers. Machine Relations Index publishes them, release 2026-10-06, methodology mri_score_v2.0.