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).

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).

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).

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).

ResearchAI Visibility Statistics

AI Visibility Statistics 2026: 90 Brands Analyzed

6 AI engines, 250 buying prompts, 6,000 answers: 41 of 90 B2B brands (46%) were never cited.

Data last changed October 2, 2026Sample: 90Markdown version

Key findings

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.
Link to this finding
Fintech and cybersecurity brands are more likely than B2B SaaS brands to never be cited: 52% vs 36%. Never-cited brands by category: B2B SaaS 13 of 36 (36%), fintech 14 of 27 (52%) and cybersecurity 14 of 27 (52%).
Link to this finding
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.
Link to this finding
Of 17,771 brand mentions in 6,000 AI answers, 2,149 (12%) came with a citation of the same brand; the other 15,622 named the brand without linking it.
Link to this finding
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%).
Link to this finding
AI answers named a mean of 3.0 index brands each (17,771 mentions across 6,000 answers), and 4,088 of 6,000 answers (68%) named three or more.
Link to this finding
346 of 2,495 brand citations (14%) pointed to a brand the answer did not name (a ghost citation).
Link to this finding

By category

Category	Brands	Prompts	Answers	Share of brand mentions	Never-cited brands	Answers citing a brand
B2B SaaS	36	100	2,400	40%	13 of 36 (36%)	931 of 2,400 (39%)
Fintech	27	75	1,800	30%	14 of 27 (52%)	548 of 1,800 (30%)
Cybersecurity	27	75	1,800	30%	14 of 27 (52%)	571 of 1,800 (32%)

Share of brand mentions uses all 17,771 mentions as the denominator; never-cited brands use the brands in each category.

By engine

Engine	Answers	Answers citing a brand	Mean brands named	Citations	Ghost citations	Share of citations
ChatGPT	1,000	348 of 1,000 (35%)	3.0	411	50 of 411 (12%)	16%
Google AI Mode	1,000	455 of 1,000 (46%)	3.1	564	80 of 564 (14%)	23%
Perplexity	1,000	592 of 1,000 (59%)	3.3	796	102 of 796 (13%)	32%
Copilot	1,000	316 of 1,000 (32%)	2.8	360	59 of 360 (16%)	14%
Claude	1,000	232 of 1,000 (23%)	2.8	254	28 of 254 (11%)	10%
Grok	1,000	107 of 1,000 (11%)	2.8	110	27 of 110 (25%)	4%

Answers citing a brand use each engine's answers as the denominator; ghost citations use each engine's citations; share of citations uses all 2,495 citations.

By prompt family

Prompt family	Prompts	Share of prompts	Answers	Mean brands named	Answers citing a brand
Best-of	72	29%	1,728	2.9	600 of 1,728 (35%)
Alternatives	38	15%	912	2.9	326 of 912 (36%)
Comparison	40	16%	960	3.0	330 of 960 (34%)
Pricing	26	10%	624	3.0	211 of 624 (34%)
Security and compliance	18	7%	432	3.0	131 of 432 (30%)
Integration	34	14%	816	3.0	285 of 816 (35%)
Use case	22	9%	528	3.0	167 of 528 (32%)

Share of prompts uses all 250 prompts; the other shares use each family's answers.

Ranked lists from this study

FAQ

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
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
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
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

Methodology

Source: The AEO Index, Q3 2026 edition (250 buying prompts, 6 engines, 4 runs).
Coverage: 250 buying prompts about B2B SaaS, fintech and cybersecurity products, each run on 6 engines (ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Perplexity, Copilot, Claude and Grok) on 4 dates from August 3, 2026 to September 27, 2026: 6,000 answers.
Definitions: a mention is an answer that names the brand; a citation is an answer that links the brand as a source; a ghost citation is a citation of a brand the same answer does not name. Each brand counts at most once per answer.
Excluded: nothing; every row matched an index brand and prompt. Only the 90 index brands are counted, so other brands named in answers are not in any share. Brands named in the prompt text still count when the answer names them.
Denominators: brand shares use the brands in the index (or in one category); mention shares use all brand mentions; citation rates use the answers from each engine; ghost citations use all brand citations.
A finding is published only when every share in it has a denominator of at least 20 rows, and gaps under 3 percentage points are reported as about the same.
Refresh: a new edition is published each quarter. The data on this page last changed on October 2, 2026.
Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole percent (halves round up) from exact counts, so a column of shares can add to 99% or 101%. Means are rounded to one decimal place. Medians of an even number of values are the mean of the two middle values. Gaps in percentage points are the difference between the two published whole-percent shares.
Self-reported fields: none. Brand profile facts (founding year, headquarters, funding stage, headcount band) come from the dataset records.

Dataset

Name: The AEO Index, Q3 2026 edition
Description: Which B2B brands six AI answer engines name and cite on 250 buying prompts, run four times between August and September 2026. Source: The AEO Index, Q3 2026 edition (250 buying prompts, 6 engines, 4 runs).
Variables measured: Brand mentions per AI answer; Brand citations per AI answer; Ghost citations (brand cited but not named); Share of answers citing at least one index brand
Measurement technique: Each of 250 buying prompts was run on 6 AI engines (ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Perplexity, Copilot, Claude and Grok) on 4 dates (2026-08-03, 2026-08-21, 2026-09-08 and 2026-09-27); the index brands named and cited in each answer were recorded.
Markdown version: https://www.theaeocompany.co/research/aeo-index.md

Suggested citation

The AEO Company. "AI Visibility Statistics 2026: 90 Brands Analyzed." October 2026. https://www.theaeocompany.co/research/aeo-index

URL: https://www.theaeocompany.co/research/aeo-indexMonth: October 2026