Most businesses are not named by AI assistants when buyers ask about their category. Across 976 websites audited with VisibAI between February and October 2026, 63% were never mentioned in a single unbranded answer, and the average business was named in just 6.2% of them. Industry matters: Food & Beverage businesses were named in 13.7% of answers on average, IT & Software businesses in 1.8%.
TL;DR
- Average mention rate across 976 businesses: 6.2% of unbranded AI answers.
- 63% of businesses were never mentioned. Only 23% were named in at least 1 answer in 10.
- Only 8% were named in a quarter of answers or more, and 2.5% in half or more.
- 26% had their own website cited as a source at least once.
- Local and physical categories did best. Crowded B2B service categories did worst.
What does "mention rate" measure?
Mention rate is the share of AI answers that name your business when the question does not name it. An audit asks AI assistants the kind of questions buyers ask before they have chosen anyone, such as "best physiotherapy clinic in Leeds" or "which CRM suits a 20-person agency", on one or more AI engines depending on the plan. Questions that mention the business by name are excluded, since those always name it.
It is the clearest single measure of whether AI is sending you new customers. A mention rate of 10% means that in one answer out of ten, a buyer who had never heard of you saw your name.
We also report the VisibAI score, a 0 to 100 measure that currently combines this answer visibility (half the score) with technical readiness of the website (the other half). The median score was 40, and only 1.1% of sites reached 70 or more. Because the technical half is easier to earn, scores cluster around 40 even when answer visibility is close to zero, so this post focuses on mention rate.
How did we build these benchmarks?
We took the most recent completed audit for each distinct website, audited between February 22 and October 12, 2026, across 45 countries and 17 languages: 976 websites in total. Industry figures include only industries with at least 15 distinct websites, so some rows rest on small samples.
The sample is self-selected. These are businesses that chose to check their AI visibility, and it leans towards B2B, software and services. The figures describe that population, not every business on the web.
How visible is a typical business in AI answers?
| Mention rate in unbranded answers | Share of businesses |
|---|---|
| 0% (never mentioned) | 63% |
| 10% or more | 23% |
| 25% or more | 8% |
| 50% or more | 2.5% |
The distribution is extremely uneven. A small group of businesses is named again and again, and most are never named at all. If AI has mentioned you in even one answer in ten, you are already ahead of roughly three quarters of the businesses we audited.
How does AI visibility differ by industry?
| Industry | Sites | Avg mention rate | Never mentioned | Named in 10%+ of answers | Own site cited |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Food & Beverage | 21 | 13.7% | 33% | 52% | 38% |
| Entertainment & Events | 19 | 11.7% | 58% | 32% | 21% |
| Manufacturing | 23 | 9.5% | 43% | 39% | 39% |
| Financial Services & Fintech | 34 | 8.0% | 65% | 21% | 18% |
| Healthcare & Medical | 46 | 7.9% | 37% | 28% | 52% |
| Construction & Real Estate | 25 | 7.2% | 48% | 28% | 48% |
| Fitness & Wellness | 20 | 7.1% | 70% | 20% | 20% |
| Real Estate | 15 | 6.3% | 53% | 27% | 33% |
| Education & Training | 54 | 6.2% | 59% | 28% | 30% |
| E-commerce & Retail | 44 | 5.6% | 66% | 27% | 27% |
| Nonprofits & NGOs | 17 | 5.6% | 76% | 24% | 24% |
| HR & Recruitment | 19 | 5.5% | 63% | 16% | 21% |
| Media & Publishing | 30 | 5.3% | 77% | 20% | 20% |
| Legal Services | 21 | 4.9% | 57% | 24% | 33% |
| SaaS & Technology | 74 | 4.6% | 73% | 19% | 19% |
| Web Design & Development | 30 | 3.1% | 70% | 13% | 20% |
| Consulting | 64 | 2.7% | 72% | 13% | 17% |
| Marketing & Advertising | 50 | 2.5% | 76% | 14% | 20% |
| Sports & Recreation | 17 | 2.2% | 59% | 6% | 29% |
| IT & Software | 59 | 1.8% | 83% | 8% | 12% |
Why do local and physical businesses do better?
Two reasons stand out. First, their questions are narrower. "Best Italian restaurant in Lyon" has a short list of possible answers, and a well-reviewed restaurant has a real chance of making it. "Best marketing agency" has thousands of candidates, and the assistant falls back on the few names it sees most often.
Second, local businesses tend to have structured, third-party coverage by default: map listings, review platforms, local guides. Healthcare stood out here, with one of the lowest shares of businesses never mentioned (37%) and the highest share whose own site was cited (52%). Clinics and practices are usually described clearly, by name, service and location, on many independent sites.
Why do B2B service categories struggle?
IT & Software (1.8%), Marketing & Advertising (2.5%), Consulting (2.7%) and Web Design & Development (3.1%) had the lowest mention rates. These categories share a problem: many similar providers describing themselves in similar words. "Full-service digital agency helping businesses grow" gives an assistant nothing to separate one company from another, so it names the few that review platforms and industry lists mention most.
The businesses that break out in these categories are specific. They name a niche, a type of client, a location or a method, and that specificity is repeated on review platforms such as Clutch and G2. Our post on why AI recommends your competitor instead of you covers how to build that.
Professional services sit in the middle. Legal Services averaged 4.9%, with 57% of firms never mentioned. Verified directory coverage is one way to give assistants clear facts about a firm. Firms on Record, our new directory of US law firms and insurance agencies, lists license data from public records alongside AI visibility measurements.
What is a good benchmark to aim for?
Based on this data:
- Any mention at all puts you ahead of 63% of businesses.
- 10% or more of unbranded answers puts you in the top quarter.
- 25% or more puts you in the top 8%: you are one of the names assistants reach for.
Compare yourself with your own industry row as well as the overall figures. A 5% mention rate is weak for a restaurant and strong for an IT services firm.
How do you raise your mention rate?
The businesses with high mention rates tend to share three things:
- Specific positioning stated in plain sentences on their site: what they do, for whom, where.
- Consistent third-party coverage on the platforms assistants cite in their category. Our citation data from 961 sites shows which ones ChatGPT and Perplexity favour.
- A readable website, so assistants can confirm what other sources say. Our technical data from 916 sites shows which fixes matter most.
The 4-week AI visibility sprint turns these into a concrete plan.
Frequently asked questions
What is the average AI visibility for a business?
Across 976 businesses audited between February and October 2026, the average mention rate was 6.2% of unbranded AI answers, and 63% of businesses were never mentioned at all. The average VisibAI score was 40 out of 100.
What is a good AI mention rate?
Being named in 10% or more of unbranded answers put a business in the top quarter of our data, and 25% or more in the top 8%. Compare against your own industry, since rates ranged from 1.8% to 13.7% across industries.
Which industry is most visible in AI answers?
Food & Beverage had the highest average mention rate in our data at 13.7%, followed by Entertainment & Events at 11.7% and Manufacturing at 9.5%. IT & Software had the lowest at 1.8%.
Why is my business never mentioned by ChatGPT?
The most common reasons are generic positioning, little coverage on the third-party sources assistants trust, and a website that is hard for AI crawlers to read. In our data, 63% of businesses were never mentioned, so it is the normal starting point, not a sign that something is broken.
How is mention rate different from the VisibAI score?
Mention rate measures only how often AI names you in answers to questions that do not mention you. The VisibAI score combines that answer visibility with the technical readiness of your website, half each, to give a single 0 to 100 figure.
Find out where you stand
Benchmarks tell you what is typical. Your own numbers tell you what to do next. Run a free AI visibility audit to see your mention rate, the competitors AI names instead of you, and the fixes that matter most for your business.