Published August 14, 2026 · Completed benchmark

2026 B2B Brand AI Search Visibility Benchmark

Synta tested 50 brands across five China-export industries in 750 standardized, web-grounded answers from Perplexity, Qwen and DeepSeek. The result: being retrievable does not guarantee being recommended.

60%
never recommended
66.7%
retrieved but not recommended
13.67
point China-origin gap
3,032
parsed citations

Executive finding

Retrieval presence is not shortlist inclusion

Thirty of the 50 brands received no explicit recommendation in any unbranded opportunity. Their websites may exist, rank or appear in retrieval, but the models did not have enough comparative evidence to place them on the buyer shortlist.

Among 33 brands whose official domains appeared in the study's shared retrieval evidence packs, 22 still received zero explicit recommendations. This 66.7% gap is a reproducible retrieval-visibility proxy, not a claim about Google or Bing organic rankings.

China-origin brands averaged 41.67 out of 100, compared with 55.33 for international benchmarks. The underlying unrounded gap was 13.67 points.

Visibility by industry

Explicit recommendation rate and average score.

IndustryRateScore
Energy storage17%48.86
Industrial robotics14%47.08
Life sciences services7%46.29
Cross-border logistics5%42.80
Nutraceuticals3%43.79

Visibility by model family

The platform gap shows why one-engine monitoring is incomplete.

Model familyRateScore
Perplexity11%46.29
DeepSeek10%46.86
Qwen6%44.14
Every answer used the same evidence pack for its prompt cell, helping separate model behavior from source-set variation.

Complete brand attachment

Top 10 of 50 benchmarked brands

RankBrandIndustryScoreRecommendation rate
1Tesla EnergyEnergy storage72.7763%
2FluenceEnergy storage69.7957%
3FANUCIndustrial robotics67.7457%
4Universal RobotsIndustrial robotics66.9845%
5LonzaLife sciences services64.2638%
6ShipBobCross-border logistics61.3127%
7ABB RoboticsIndustrial robotics59.2535%
8SIRIO PharmaNutraceuticals58.3317%
9SungrowEnergy storage56.7917%
10BYD Energy StorageEnergy storage55.3120%

The public attachment includes all 50 brands, model-level scores, recommendation rates and citation totals. Full provider answers are retained for reproducibility and are not published. Rankings are research signals, not procurement endorsements.

Frequently asked questions

What does AI search visibility measure?

It measures whether a brand is discovered, cited, compared and explicitly recommended in AI-assisted buyer research. It is distinct from traditional search ranking.

Does the benchmark evaluate product quality?

No. The study measures machine-visible evidence and recommendation behavior. It is not a product certification, procurement endorsement or market-share ranking.

Are these results the same as consumer chat applications?

No. The results come from standardized model API tests using a controlled protocol. Consumer interfaces may differ because of personalization, location, model routing and product features.

What is included in the data attachment?

The public attachment includes the complete 50-brand ranking, model-level scores, recommendation rates and citation totals. Full provider answers are retained for internal reproducibility and are not published.

Is your brand retrievable but still not recommended?

Request a brand diagnostic covering your company, three competitors and the buyer prompts that matter in your target market.