Original data · updated 21 July 2026
GEO statistics 2026
The clearest finding in AI search visibility in 2026 is that fame does not equal visibility: across 40 well-known brands the average AI visibility score was 65 out of 100, but the range ran from 14 to 100, and an AI answering from memory misdescribed 27 of 30 brands. The numbers below are measured, dated and free to cite.
Free to cite with attribution to Discoverable and a link. Measured with live AI answers. Check your own brand free.
Our data (measured, first-party)
From Discoverable's own runs: the AI Visibility Index (40 brands, plus sector editions) and the accuracy study of 30 companies.
65 / 100
Average AI visibility score across 40 well-known consumer and B2B brands, measured live.
Discoverable AI Visibility Index, July 2026
27 of 30
Brands materially misdescribed by an AI assistant answering from memory alone (90%).
Discoverable accuracy study, July 2026
13 of 30
Brands still misdescribed even with live web search switched on (43%).
Discoverable accuracy study, July 2026
86 points
The visibility gap between On (100) and Brooks (14), two running-shoe brands a buyer finds in the same shop.
Discoverable AI Visibility Index, July 2026
19 vs 88
Basecamp, a project-management pioneer, scores 19; ClickUp scores 88 in the same category.
Discoverable AI Visibility Index, July 2026
56 vs 76
Mailchimp, one of the best-known email tools, scores below Klaviyo on AI visibility.
Discoverable AI Visibility Index, July 2026
50 / 100
Average AI visibility across 20 UK fintech brands; Revolut leads at 89, Starling sits at 42.
Discoverable UK fintech edition, July 2026
55 / 100
Average AI visibility across 20 B2B SaaS brands, ranging from 15 to 95.
Discoverable B2B SaaS edition, July 2026
2 of 40
Only two of the 40 household brands scored below 20, but fame did not predict the score.
Discoverable AI Visibility Index, July 2026
The wider picture (attributed)
Independent 2026 studies on what drives AI citations. Each is credited to its source.
~84%
Share of AI citations that come from earned media; paid or advertorial content is around 0.3%.
Muck Rack, analysis of 25M+ AI-cited links, 2026
~63%
Share of B2B 'best tools' AI citations that point to listicles and roundups.
Evertune, 25,000 URLs
+41%
Visibility lift in generative answers from adding statistics to a page, the strongest single optimisation tested.
Princeton / Georgia Tech GEO study, KDD 2024
~6.6%
Reddit's share of Perplexity's total citations, far below the widely-repeated 40 to 47% (those are frequency and top-10 metrics, not citation share).
Profound, 680M-citation study
What the numbers mean for a brand
The headline is that AI visibility is earned, not inherited. A famous brand that is absent from the sources an AI reads loses to a smaller rival that dominates them, which is why On beats Brooks by 86 points and ClickUp beats Basecamp by nearly 70. The score measures presence in AI answers, not product quality.
The accuracy numbers raise the stakes. If an AI misdescribes most brands from memory, and still gets four in ten wrong with live search, then being invisible is only half the problem; being described wrongly is the other half. Both are measurable, and both move when a brand fixes what the AI reads.
GEO statistics: quick answers
What is the average AI visibility score for a well-known brand?
In Discoverable's July 2026 measurement of 40 well-known consumer and B2B brands, the average AI visibility score was 65 out of 100, but the range ran from 14 to 100. Fame did not predict the score: several household names scored below smaller rivals in the same category.
How often does AI get brand facts wrong?
In Discoverable's July 2026 accuracy study of 30 real companies, an AI assistant answering from memory alone materially misdescribed 27 of 30 (90%). With live web search enabled, 13 of 30 (43%) were still misdescribed.
What drives AI citations most?
Independent analyses converge on earned media (around 84% of AI citations, per Muck Rack) and listicles or roundups (around 63% of B2B 'best tools' citations, per Evertune). Adding original statistics to a page was the single strongest on-page optimisation in the Princeton GEO study, at +41% visibility.
Is Reddit really 40% of Perplexity's citations?
No. That figure is a frequency or top-10 metric repeated out of context. Reddit's share of Perplexity's total citations is around 6.6% (Profound). Reddit is a top-cited domain, but for niche B2B software specifically its share is small.
Can I cite these statistics?
Yes. The figures under 'Our data' are Discoverable's own measurements and are free to cite with attribution to Discoverable and a link to this page. External figures are attributed to their original source; cite those to the original publisher.
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