How do you run these studies?

We pick a category, select funded brands in it, and run standardized buyer-language prompts across the major AI engines with repeated trials, scoring whether each brand is named. It is the reproducible version of the free 10-minute audit anyone can run.

Can you run one for my category or brand?

Yes. The Free Snapshot checks one buyer prompt against your domain at no cost, and the SXO Audit runs the full reproducible study across six engines for your category. Both use the same method as these published studies.

Why publish the findings?

Because the gap is the point. Most B2B brands assume the AI engines cite them and have never checked. Showing a whole category score zero is the clearest way to make the problem concrete.

AI Search Visibility Research

The Invisible series

Each study takes a category, picks ten funded brands, and measures how often the AI engines cite them on standardized buyer prompts. We choose established, well-funded brands on purpose. If a company with real customers and real funding is absent from the answer, the gap is in how the engines pick their sources, not in the company being obscure.

The Invisible 10: compliance vendors - ten funded B2B compliance vendors, 600 AI responses, zero citations of any of them. Plus the brands AI named instead.
The Invisible 7: developer-tools brands - ten funded developer-tools brands. Seven scored zero; three broke through.
The Invisible 8: data and analytics brands - ten funded data and analytics brands. Eight scored zero; two broke through.

Head-to-head

Two brands, the same buyer prompts, side by side: which one the engines cite more, per engine and per prompt.

Linear vs Jira - project management for software engineering.
Krispy Kreme vs Dunkin' - donuts and breakfast chains.
Roto-Rooter vs Mr. Rooter - emergency plumbing.

How we run them

Every study uses the same method: real buyer-language prompts, run across the major AI engines with repeated trials, scored for whether each brand is named. Each one publishes its exact prompts and per-engine scores, so you can re-run it and check our numbers. It is the reproducible version of the 10-minute audit anyone can run, and the same approach behind our citation measurement work.

See where your brand stands

These studies measure other people's categories. To measure yours:

Try the Free Snapshot See the SXO Audit

By the Web Cited Editorial Research Team. Last updated 31 May 2026.

What AI engines actually cite, measured.

The Invisible series

Head-to-head

How we run them

See where your brand stands