AI Visibility FAQ: 18 Questions Answered
18 questions. The first 5 cover how we work. The other 13 are answered from 3 benchmark studies; each answer names its source and links to it. Data last changed November 3, 2026.
How The AEO Company works
Isn’t this just SEO with a new invoice?
AEO is not SEO with a new invoice. Some of it starts there — AI can’t recommend what it can’t find — but SEO stops at links and rankings. We work where your buyers actually are now: inside the answers ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity give them. Different game, different work, measured differently.
How do you actually measure this?
We take 150+ real questions your buyers ask, run them through every engine on a schedule, and count how often you’re named. You see every question, every run, every number. No black box, no blended score.
AI traffic is still small. Why now?
AI referral traffic is still small, but the traffic isn’t the point — the shortlist is. And answers harden: whoever the engines trust today keeps getting recommended. Waiting just makes it more expensive.
How does this show up in revenue?
AI visibility shows up in revenue three ways: we tag AI visitors in your analytics, we ask new customers how they found you, and every quarter we match AI-sourced deals against your CRM. Attribution is partial by nature — we say so — but it’s measured three ways instead of guessed.
Would you actually turn a client down?
Yes, we turn clients down. Under $1M revenue, nothing published for AI to find, or a category nobody asks AI about — we’ll tell you on the first call and save us both a quarter.
From the research
What share of B2B brands have zero AI citations?
41 of 90 B2B brands (46%) in the index were never cited as a source by any of 6 AI engines across 6,000 answers. Source: The AEO Index, Q3 2026 edition (October 2026).
Link to this answer · AI Visibility Statistics 2026: 90 Brands Analyzed
Which AI engine cites B2B brands most often?
Perplexity cited at least one index brand in 592 of 1,000 answers (59%), the highest rate of 6 engines and 13 percentage points above Google AI Mode (46%). Grok was lowest at 107 of 1,000 (11%). Source: The AEO Index, Q3 2026 edition (October 2026).
Link to this answer · AI Visibility Statistics 2026: 90 Brands Analyzed
How concentrated are brand mentions in AI answers?
The 20 most-named of 90 brands (22% of the index) took 8,307 of 17,771 brand mentions (47%) across 6,000 AI answers. Source: The AEO Index, Q3 2026 edition (October 2026).
Link to this answer · AI Visibility Statistics 2026: 90 Brands Analyzed
How often do AI answers cite a brand they do not name?
346 of 2,495 brand citations (14%) pointed to a brand the answer did not name (a ghost citation). Source: The AEO Index, Q3 2026 edition (October 2026).
Link to this answer · AI Visibility Statistics 2026: 90 Brands Analyzed
How many B2B websites look empty to AI crawlers that do not run JavaScript?
50 of 240 B2B homepages (21%) were close to empty without JavaScript: less than 20% of their text was in the page before scripts ran. Source: AI crawler readability audit of B2B sites, May 2026.
Link to this answer · AI Crawler Readability Statistics 2026: 240 Sites Analyzed
What share of B2B websites block AI crawlers in robots.txt?
40 of 240 B2B sites (17%) blocked at least one of 4 AI crawlers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot and Google-Extended) in robots.txt. GPTBot was blocked most often, by 33 of 240 sites (14%). Source: AI crawler readability audit of B2B sites, May 2026.
Link to this answer · AI Crawler Readability Statistics 2026: 240 Sites Analyzed
How many B2B websites publish an llms.txt file?
20 of 240 B2B sites (8%) published an llms.txt file, against 210 (88%) with an XML sitemap. Source: AI crawler readability audit of B2B sites, May 2026.
Link to this answer · AI Crawler Readability Statistics 2026: 240 Sites Analyzed
Are B2B companies with a review-site profile named more often by AI?
B2B companies with a review-site profile are more likely than B2B companies without a review-site profile to be named in AI answers: median 21% vs 10% of answers (27 teardowns with a review-site profile vs 37 without one, of 64 free AI-visibility teardowns of B2B companies). Source: Free 150-prompt teardowns, Jun-Oct 2026.
Link to this answer · AI Share of Voice Statistics 2026: 64 Teardowns Analyzed
Are B2B companies with a crawler-readable website named more often by AI?
B2B companies with a site AI crawlers can read are more likely than B2B companies with a site AI crawlers cannot read to be named in AI answers: median 16% vs 7% of answers (41 teardowns with a readable site vs 23 with an unreadable site, of 64 free AI-visibility teardowns of B2B companies). Source: Free 150-prompt teardowns, Jun-Oct 2026.
Link to this answer · AI Share of Voice Statistics 2026: 64 Teardowns Analyzed
Which B2B SaaS brands do AI engines name most often?
Zandry (25%), Cindro (23%) and Darvex (19%) are the B2B SaaS brands AI engines name most often, by share of 2,400 B2B SaaS answers naming each brand (36 brands ranked, median 7%). Last reviewed October 2, 2026. Answers to prompts that name a brand still count for that brand: 1,226 of 7,110 mentions in this ranking (17%). Source: The AEO Index, Q3 2026 edition (October 2026).
Link to this answer · 36 B2B SaaS Brands Ranked by AI Answer Share (2026)
Which fintech brands do AI engines name most often?
Sabrel (33%), Brumolt (29%) and Fiscen (22%) are the fintech brands AI engines name most often, by share of 1,800 fintech answers naming each brand (27 brands ranked, median 11%). Last reviewed October 2, 2026. Answers to prompts that name a brand still count for that brand: 1,078 of 5,373 mentions in this ranking (20%). Source: The AEO Index, Q3 2026 edition (October 2026).
Link to this answer · 27 Fintech Brands Ranked by AI Answer Share (2026)
Which cybersecurity brands do AI engines name most often?
Kovrin (31%), Jarnek (26%) and Brevaul (23%) are the cybersecurity brands AI engines name most often, by share of 1,800 cybersecurity answers naming each brand (27 brands ranked, median 9%). Last reviewed October 2, 2026. Answers to prompts that name a brand still count for that brand: 781 of 5,288 mentions in this ranking (15%). Source: The AEO Index, Q3 2026 edition (October 2026).
Link to this answer · 27 Cybersecurity Brands Ranked by AI Answer Share (2026)