New Rankostm Benchmark Finds 87% Of U.S. Businesses Are Invisible In AI Search Despite Ranking On Google

(MENAFN- GlobeNewsWire - Nasdaq) National analysis highlights growing disconnect between SEO performance and AI-driven brand visibility

DENVER, CO, Dec. 22, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NEWMEDIA today released new national benchmark data showing that 87% of U.S. businesses do not appear in AI-generated search results, even when many of those businesses rank on the first page of Google. The findings come from the 2025 RankOSTM AI Visibility Benchmark, a national analysis conducted using RankOSTM, the company's proprietary operating system for brand visibility across AI-powered and traditional search platforms.

Developed and refined over several years through active client deployment across more than 500 brands spanning D2C ecommerce, retail, B2B and SaaS, RankOSTM was built to measure how brands are represented, cited, and evaluated by AI systems as search behavior shifts from results pages to direct answers.

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Key Findings from the 2025 RankOSTM AI Visibility Benchmark

The benchmark analyzed thousands of branded, non-branded, and category-level queries across multiple AI-powered search platforms and traditional search environments. Key findings include:

• 87% of businesses do not appear in AI-generated search answers
  • Despite strong traditional SEO performance, the vast majority of brands lack the authority and citation signals required for AI inclusion.
• Only 13% of businesses were cited by AI systems at least once
  • AI engines showed a strong preference for a small subset of highly verifiable brands.
• Brands with third-party media citations were 4× more likely to be referenced by AI
  • AI systems disproportionately favored brands supported by authoritative external sources.
• Less than 20% of mid-market companies had complete, AI-readable structured data
  • Missing or inconsistent schema was one of the most common barriers to AI visibility.
• Entity ambiguity remains a leading exclusion factor
  • AI systems frequently failed to distinguish between similarly named brands without clear entity validation.
• AI visibility correlates with downstream business impact
  • Brands appearing in AI answers showed higher branded search volume, increased inbound inquiries, and stronger trust signals.

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Why AI Visibility Differs from Traditional SEO

Traditional SEO is primarily optimized for ranking web pages. AI-powered search systems, by contrast, evaluate brands as entities, relying on signals such as:

• Consistent entity representation across the web
• Verified third-party citations and references
• Structured data that clearly defines brand identity
• Trust signals derived from authoritative sources

RankOSTM was designed to measure these factors continuously and translate them into actionable insights.

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The Role of RankOSTM

RankOSTM functions as both a measurement platform and operating methodology, allowing to assess how brands are interpreted by AI systems and to identify the specific signals preventing inclusion in AI-generated answers.

The platform evaluates:

• Entity Authority: how clearly and consistently a brand is defined
• Citation Strength: quality and volume of verifiable mentions
• Visibility Signals: structured data, profiles, and schema completeness
• AI Answer Share: frequency of brand inclusion across AI responses

By consolidating these metrics, RankOSTM provides businesses with a practical framework for AI Engine Optimization (AEO).

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A Market-Wide Shift

As AI platforms increasingly serve as the first point of discovery for consumers and B2B buyers, the benchmark suggests that AI visibility is emerging as a new competitive differentiator.

plans to release additional industry-specific and geographic benchmarks through the remainder of 2025 and throughout 2026.

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About

Founded in 1996, is a nationally recognized digital agency specializing in strategy, design, development, and performance-driven marketing for growth-focused brands. With nearly three decades of experience, the agency has partnered with startups, mid-market companies, and enterprise organizations across industries including technology, healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, and professional services to drive billions of impressions, hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue growth, and billions of dollars in EV appreciation.

is known for its integrated approach to digital growth combining brand strategy, user experience design, advanced web development, SEO, paid media, and AI-driven visibility optimization through its proprietary RankOSTM platform. The agency's work has been recognized by leading industry organizations and has helped drive measurable revenue growth for clients nationwide.

With offices in Denver, Chicago, and New York, and over a dozen cities supporting a distributed team from coast to coast, operates as a long-term growth partner focused on durable results, technical excellence, and data-driven decision making.

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• Figure: RankOSTM benchmark data reveals that 87% of U.S. businesses remain invisible in AI-generated search results despite ranking in traditional search.

CONTACT: Mike Verano... 212-220-6200

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