Law firms
23.6%
Average AI visibility across 22 law firms
19 of 22 were named in two of five queries or fewer. Their own sites were 0.6% of cited sources.
AI visibility research
We ran our own AEO tool on 217 real businesses.
Twelve industries, 1,085 live buyer queries, and one question: when a buyer asks an AI assistant for options, who gets named? Every audit is published in full, with its method and its limits.
217
Established businesses audited
12
Industries
1,085
Live, grounded buyer queries
Accounting firms
32.0%
Average AI visibility across 15 accounting firms
13 of 15 were named in two of five queries or fewer, and 8 of 23 sites blocked our crawler.
Insurance agencies
31.2%
Average AI visibility across 16 insurance agencies
Problem-first questions named a brokerage only 12.5% of the time, and Yelp was the most-cited source.
Financial advisors
23.8%
Average AI visibility across 16 financial advisory firms
Not one firm was named on the problem-first question, and 6 never appeared at all.
Consultants
52.6%
Average AI visibility across 19 consulting firms
McKinsey was named as an alternative in 37 of 95 answers, though our crawler could not read its site.
Marketing agencies
47.4%
Average AI visibility across 19 agencies
Five directory sites made up 49 of 760 citations, and 5 of 19 agencies were not named once.
Recruiting agencies
47.4%
Average AI visibility across 19 recruiting agencies
Problem-first questions named a firm 31.6% of the time, against 63.2% for comparison questions.
Real estate
Small sample43.3%
Average AI visibility across 12 brokerages
22 of 36 sites blocked our crawler, so treat the average as indicative only.
Architecture and construction
60.0%
Average AI visibility across 20 AEC firms
Comparison questions named a firm 85% of the time, but local questions only 30%.
IT services and MSPs
23.8%
Average AI visibility across 16 IT services companies
8 of 16 were not named in a single query, and 7 of 23 sites blocked our crawler.
Manufacturers
66.2%
Average AI visibility across 13 manufacturers
10 of 23 sites blocked our crawler, the highest block rate we saw outside real estate.
SaaS companies
67.3%
Average AI visibility across 30 SaaS companies
Problem-first questions named a company 50% of the time, against 83% for comparison questions.
How we measure it
For each business, our audit tool reads the homepage, classifies what it does in the words a buyer would use, writes five buyer-intent queries (local, category, problem-first and comparison) and runs each as a live, grounded AI search with the business’s own name left out. We record whether it was named, who was named instead, and which sources were cited.
It is the same tool behind our free AI visibility checker.
What it does not show
These are established businesses that we chose, not random samples, so they likely flatter smaller practices. We read homepages only, five queries per business is a small slice of real buyer language, and AI answers change from one run to the next. Many sites also blocked our crawler, which we report rather than hide.
Treat each average as a snapshot, not a ranking. The original 29-company audit is also published.
Where does your business stand?
Run the same audit on your own site in ninety seconds, or talk to us about turning the findings into AI visibility, with outbound alongside it if that fits.