ORIGINAL RESEARCH
AI Visibility Benchmark: April 2026
We tripled the sample to 150 B2B companies across 5 sectors. The pattern from 50 companies held at scale — and the invisible majority is even larger than we expected.
150
companies scored
5
sectors analysed
81%
score 0-5 on citation
28.7
average score out of 100
THE HEADLINE
We tripled the sample. The gap got worse.
In March, we scored 50 enterprise companies and found 44% scored 2/25 on Citation Presence. That felt high. We assumed it might be a sample artefact — 50 companies, heavily weighted toward enterprise heavyweights.
So we added 100 more companies. Same 5 sectors. Same methodology. Broader revenue range. Mid-market alongside enterprise.
The result: 81% of 150 companies score 0-5 on Citation Presence. Not 44%. Eighty-one percent.
The average total score dropped from 82.2 to 28.7 out of 100. The original 50 were the top of the market. Adding 100 mid-market companies revealed the real baseline — and it is far lower than anyone expected.
Only 19% of companies across 5 sectors are recommended by AI when a buyer searches their category.
EDITION COMPARISON
March (N=50) vs April (N=150)
| Metric | March (50) | April (150) | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average Total Score | 82.2 | 28.7 | -53.5 |
| Citation Presence (avg) | 13.7 | 5.9 | -7.8 |
| Entity Recognition (avg) | 23.4 | 7.8 | -15.6 |
| Content Structure (avg) | 20.1 | 6.7 | -13.4 |
| Citation Breadth (avg) | 25.0 | 8.3 | -16.7 |
| Low citation (0-5/25) | 44% | 81% | +37pp |
Why the drop?
The March study sampled established enterprise companies — large teams, strong SEO, years of content. They represent the top of the market. Adding 100 mid-market companies reveals that outside the enterprise elite, most B2B companies have minimal AI visibility infrastructure. The original 50 are the exception, not the baseline.
THE DATA
Dimension averages (150 companies)
What this means:
At the enterprise level (March study), the gap was citation-specific — companies scored well on everything else. At the broader market level, the gap is across all dimensions. Most mid-market B2B companies have weak AI visibility infrastructure across the board. Citation remains the weakest, but the entire foundation is missing.
BY SECTOR
Sector comparison (150 companies)
| Sector | N | Total | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enterprise SaaS | 30 | 31.3 | 9.5 |
| Financial Services | 30 | 29.8 | 6.1 |
| Professional Services | 30 | 28.3 | 5.3 |
| Management Consulting | 30 | 27.3 | 4.7 |
| Technology / IT Services | 30 | 27.1 | 4.0 |
Enterprise SaaS still leads but the gap narrowed. In the March study (10 per sector), SaaS averaged 89.8 with citation at 24.4. At 30 companies per sector, the average drops to 31.3 with citation at 9.5. The original 10 SaaS companies were outliers — well-established platforms on every review site.
Technology / IT Services remains the weakest at 4.0 citation. The bottom 10 companies in the entire study are all IT Services firms, every one scoring 2/100.
EXPLORE THE DATA
Interactive benchmark explorer
CITATION SPLIT
DIMENSION AVERAGES — All 46
Citation
Entity
Content
Breadth
ALL FIRMS RANKED
Total AI Visibility Score — hover for detail
CITATION VS TOTAL SCORE
The two clusters show the binary split
CITATION SCORE DISTRIBUTION
No middle ground — firms score 2 or 22+
Showing a representative sample. Full dataset available in the research CSV.
KEY INSIGHTS
What the data tells us at scale
The March study sampled the elite. The April study sampled the market.
The original 50 companies were established enterprise players with years of content, SEO investment, and brand recognition. They scored 82.2/100 on average. Adding 100 mid-market companies dropped the average to 28.7. The gap between the top and the rest is far wider than any single-sample study suggested.
81% invisible is the real baseline for B2B
At 50 companies (enterprise-heavy), 44% were invisible. At 150 companies (market-representative), 81% are invisible. The real question is not whether your company is visible to AI. It is whether you are in the 19% that is. For most B2B companies, the honest answer is no.
The bottom 10 are all from one sector
Every company in the bottom 10 is a Technology / IT Services firm scoring 2/100. Not low. The minimum. IT Services has no review platform ecosystem (no G2 equivalent), no buyer guide culture, and no comparison infrastructure. AI has nothing to draw from when deciding to recommend.
Enterprise SaaS advantage narrows at scale
The original 10 SaaS companies scored 89.8 with 24.4 citation. At 30 companies, that drops to 31.3 with 9.5 citation. The well-known platforms (HubSpot, Salesforce, 6sense) still dominate, but the next tier of SaaS companies are just as invisible as consulting firms. The structural advantage only applies to category leaders.
The binary pattern holds at 3x the sample
81% score 0-5 on citation. 19% score 20-25. Almost nothing in between. This is the same all-or-nothing pattern from both the enterprise study and the UK law firms study. AI either recommends you or it does not. There is no 'partially visible.'
CITE THIS RESEARCH
Stats you can use
All stats from the April 2026 edition. Link to this page as your source.
81%
of 150 B2B companies score 0-5 on AI citation presence
28.7
average AI visibility score across 150 companies (out of 100)
150
companies scored across 5 sectors in the April 2026 edition
19%
of companies are recommended by AI when buyers search their category
82.2 → 28.7
average score drop when sample expanded from 50 to 150
4.0/25
average citation score for Technology / IT Services (lowest sector)
9.5/25
average citation for Enterprise SaaS (highest sector, down from 24.4)
10/10
bottom 10 companies are all IT Services firms scoring 2/100
0%
of companies score in the 6-19 range on citation — binary split confirmed
3x
sample increase confirms the same all-or-nothing citation pattern
METHODOLOGY
How we conducted this study
Sample
150 enterprise and mid-market B2B companies across 5 sectors: Enterprise SaaS (30), Management Consulting (30), Financial Services (30), Professional Services (30), Technology / IT Services (30). The original 50 from the March 2026 edition are included alongside 100 new companies added for April. New companies selected to broaden revenue tier representation within each sector.
Scoring
Each company scored across 4 dimensions, each worth 0-25 points for a total of 0-100. Citation Presence: does AI name the company in category queries? Entity Recognition: does AI correctly describe the company? Content Structure: can AI extract answers from the website? Citation Breadth: is the company mentioned across independent sources?
Scanner
v2.0 multi-API scanner using OpenAI (gpt-4o-mini), Google Gemini 2.0 Flash, Brave Search, and Tavily. Each company tested with 2 category-level keywords. The 100 new companies were scanned with v2. The original 50 companies carry their March v1 scores (Perplexity-only) for continuity. A cohort rescan with v2 is planned for the May edition.
Monthly expansion
The benchmark expands by approximately 100 companies each month. New companies are sector-balanced, deduplicated against the master registry, and selected to represent a mix of revenue tiers. Each edition includes all companies from previous editions plus the new additions. This creates a growing dataset for trend analysis.
Limitations
AI platform responses vary by session, location, and time. Scores represent a point-in-time snapshot. The original 50 companies were scanned with v1 (Perplexity API only); direct score comparison with v2-scanned companies should note this methodology difference. Company names are published in the research but anonymised in all derivative content (blog, LinkedIn, newsletter).
Where does your company rank against 150 competitors?
This benchmark shows the market landscape. The Competitive Report shows where you stand — your company plus 10 direct competitors, scored with the same methodology.
Compare with previous edition: March 2026 (N=50)