Research Report

The State of AI Visibility 2025

The first comprehensive research report on how AI assistants discover and recommend businesses.

Based on 12 months of tracking 5,000+ businesses across 15 industries and 3 AI platforms.

5,000+ businesses tracked
15 industries
3 AI platforms
12 months of data

Google Search Results

Result #1
Result #2
Result #3
Result #4
Result #5
Result #6
Result #7
Result #8
Result #9
Result #10

AI Recommendations

⭐ Recommended Business #1
⭐ Recommended Business #2
⭐ Recommended Business #3

AI recommends only 2-5 businesses per query

Most Businesses Are Invisible to AI

While businesses have spent years optimizing for Google, consumers have quietly started asking ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini for recommendations.

The Result?

  • 70% of businesses are rarely or never recommended by AI
  • 85% of consumers will use AI to find businesses by 2026
  • AI recommends only 2-5 businesses per query (not 10+ like Google)

If you're not in those 2-5 recommendations, you're invisible.

AI Visibility Score Distribution

4%
Consistently recommended (81-100)
14%
Often mentioned (61-80)
28%
Sometimes mentioned (41-60)
31%
Rarely mentioned (21-40)
23%
Invisible (0-20)

The Most Comprehensive AI Visibility Research Ever Published

This isn't theory or guesswork. This is real data from real businesses tracked daily for an entire year.

Industry Benchmarks

  • • Average AI Visibility Score by industry
  • • Which industries AI trusts most (and least)
  • • Geographic variations across 30+ metro areas
  • • How your industry compares to others

What Makes AI Recommend Businesses

  • • The 6 factors AI uses to choose businesses
  • • Why Google ranking doesn't predict AI visibility
  • • Recent reviews matter 2.3x more than total reviews
  • • How content freshness impacts recommendations

The Business Impact

  • • Revenue lost to AI invisibility by industry
  • • Lead generation differences
  • • Customer acquisition cost (CAC) variations
  • • Lifetime value (LTV) impact

Success Stories

  • • 15 case studies of businesses that improved 30-50 points
  • • Specific strategies that worked (and didn't work)
  • • Timeline to results by industry
  • • ROI analysis

2026 Predictions

  • • How AI search will evolve
  • • Which AI platforms will matter most
  • • New ranking factors coming in 2026
  • • How to prepare now

Action Plan

  • • 30-day quick-start guide
  • • 90-day optimization roadmap
  • • Industry-specific tactics
  • • Tools and resources

What We Discovered Will Surprise You

Finding #1: Google Ranking Doesn't Predict AI Visibility

The Data:

  • • Correlation between Google ranking and AI visibility: 0.31 (weak)
  • • We found businesses with Domain Authority 20 getting recommended over DA 70+ competitors
  • • 42% of businesses ranking #1 on Google were NOT recommended by AI

Why It Matters: Your SEO efforts aren't translating to AI visibility. You need a different strategy.

Finding #2: Recent Reviews Matter 2.3x More Than Total Reviews

The Data:

  • • Businesses with 10 reviews (last 30 days): Average AI Visibility Score 68
  • • Businesses with 100 reviews (6+ months old): Average AI Visibility Score 29
  • • Review recency correlation: 0.72 (strong)

Why It Matters: AI heavily weights freshness. Old reviews hurt you more than they help.

Finding #3: The AI Visibility Gap is Accelerating

The Data:

  • • Top 20% (AI Visibility Score 80+): +47% lead growth in 2025
  • • Bottom 20% (AI Visibility Score <40): -38% lead decline in 2025
  • • The gap widened by 85 percentage points in just one year

Why It Matters: The winner-take-all effect is real. Get ahead now or fall further behind.

Finding #4: Industry Variations Are Massive

The Data:

IndustryAvg ScoreWhy
Restaurants52AI loves reviews
Home Services48AI checks licensing
Legal38AI requires credentials
Healthcare34AI is very cautious
B2B Services44AI needs proof

Why It Matters: Different industries need different strategies. One-size-fits-all doesn't work.

Finding #5: Content Freshness Beats Content Volume

The Data:

  • • Businesses publishing monthly: Average AI Visibility Score 71
  • • Businesses with 100+ old articles: Average AI Visibility Score 42
  • • Content updated in last 30 days: 58% higher AI visibility

Why It Matters: AI wants to see you're active NOW, not that you were active years ago.

What's Inside

PART 1: THE AI DISCOVERY REVOLUTION

How consumers find businesses in 2025, the shift from Google to AI search, and why this matters more than any previous search evolution.

PART 2: THE RESEARCH

Methodology: How we tracked 5,000+ businesses across ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini using nested loop methodology.

PART 3: INDUSTRY BENCHMARKS

AI Visibility Score by industry (15 industries), geographic variations (30+ metro areas), and competitive landscape analysis.

PART 4: THE 6 AI VISIBILITY FACTORS

Visibility (25%), Authority (20%), Relevance (20%), Technical (15%), Freshness (10%), Engagement (10%).

PART 5-10: STRATEGIES, CASE STUDIES, IMPACT, PREDICTIONS, ACTION PLANS & TOOLS

50+ actionable strategies, 15 case studies, business impact analysis, 2026 predictions, and complete action plans.

120+
Pages
40+
Charts & Graphs
15
Case Studies