Accountants in Cairns: AI search visibility ranking (2026)
How AI search engines rank accountants in cairns by visibility and citations. 20 brands measured monthly across Google AI Mode: which brands the AI names in answers, which domains it cites as sources, and how the leaders compare. Accounting firms serving Cairns businesses and households with tax, audit, bookkeeping, CFO advisory, business structuring, and compliance support across greater Cairns. Composite score: 70% visibility (% of AI answers naming the brand) + 30% citation rate (% citing the brand's domain). Full methodology →
Refreshed Jun 23, 2026Download this ranking as a PDF
We'll email it to you. One-off send — no list, no follow-up, no surprise marketing.
At a glance
What we observed in this categoryauto-generated
EY dominates the Accountants in Cairns AI visibility landscape with a 100% visibility score and a composite score of 70, while every other tracked brand sits at exactly 0% visibility and 0 composite score. The gap is not marginal, it is total. Nineteen of the twenty tracked brands, including Deloitte, PwC, KPMG, and Bentleys, are entirely absent from Google AI Mode responses for this category. EY's recent 37.5-point visibility rise (from 62.5% to 100%) reinforces that this dominance is growing, not plateauing.
The citation data reveals a significant divergence between being named and being trusted as a source. EY holds 100% visibility but carries a 0% citation rate, meaning Google AI Mode surfaces EY in responses without linking to ey.com/en_au as a reference. The category average citation rate is also 0%, confirming no tracked brand earns direct citations. The actual cited sources are smaller, locally oriented domains including cairnsqualityaccounting.com.au, eagleaccounting.com.au, edgehillaccountancy.com.au, and wilkinscpa.com.au, none of which appear in the top 10 brand rankings.
Google AI Mode is the sole engine recorded across all 20 brands in this audit, so cross-engine comparison is not possible from this data. The top cited sources anchor heavily on local Cairns directories and review platforms, with google.com, youtube.com, facebook.com, and qualitybusinessawards.com.au heading the list. This pattern suggests the AI is drawing on local directory and social signals to construct answers rather than pulling from the websites of nationally recognised accounting firms, which explains why large brands appear named but not cited.
Movers & shakers since last refresh
Biggest visibility risers
-
EY 62% → 100% · rank #1 → #1+38pp
The ranking
| # | Brand | Visibility | Citation | Top engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
ey.com/en_au
|
100% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
EY is the only brand above 0% visibility (100%) and above 0 composite score (70), with visibility rising 37.5 points from the prior period, yet its citation rate remains 0%. |
||||
| 2 |
deloitte.com.au
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Deloitte holds rank 2 by brand recognition but records 0% visibility and 0 composite score, matching 18 other brands and showing no AI presence in this category. |
||||
| 3 |
pwc.com.au
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
PwC sits at rank 3 yet carries identical metrics to Deloitte and KPMG, with 0% visibility and 0 composite score, indicating brand size does not translate to local AI presence here. |
||||
| 4 |
kpmg.com/au
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
KPMG records 0% visibility and 0 composite score, placing it in the same position as 17 other brands despite being a top-4 accounting firm nationally. |
||||
| 5 |
bentleys.com.au
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Bentleys ranks 5th overall but shares a 0% visibility and 0 composite score with every brand outside EY, offering no differentiation in AI Mode responses for this category. |
||||
| 6 |
bdo.com.au
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 7 |
rsm.com.au
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 8 |
grantthornton.com.au
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 9 |
pitcher.com.au
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 10 |
hlb.com.au
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 11 |
moore-australia.com.au
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 12 |
williambuck.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 13 |
sw-au.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 14 |
hallchadwick.com.au
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 15 |
mazars.com.au
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 16 |
pkf.com.au
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 17 |
nexia.com.au
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 18 |
crowe.com.au
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 19 |
shinewing.com.au
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 20 |
kellypartners.com.au
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Sources AI engines trust in this category
Across the 8 buyer-intent queries we ran on accountants in cairns, these are the domains Google AI Mode cited most often. If you're not on this list — or if your competitors are — that's a concrete PR / linkbuilding target.
How to read this ranking
Four things worth knowing before you act on the numbers above. These are the same definitions across every industry page — for category-specific observations, see the What we observed section above (where available) and the per-brand insights inline in the ranking.
Visibility = being named
A brand's visibility % is the share of AI answers that mention it by name in the response prose. This is who AI engines actively recommend to the buyer.
Citation rate = being trusted
Citation rate is the share of AI answers that include the brand's domain as a clickable source link. This is what the AI treats as authoritative evidence — different from being named.
Top engine differs by brand
The "top engine" column shows which AI surface each brand performs best on. Big gaps between a brand's score across engines usually points to specific content or schema gaps.
Rankings move month to month
AI engines re-crawl and re-rank on shorter cycles than classical search. We re-audit every brand on this list at least every 30 days and refresh this page automatically.
Get your own accountants in cairns brand audited
The brands above were curated from public market-leader lists. Want the same measurement against your own brand — including the queries you appear on, which competitors get named instead, and a prioritised fix list? Run a free preview.
Frequently asked about accountants in cairns AI visibility
Who leads AI visibility in Accountants in Cairns?
EY leads with 100% visibility and a composite score of 70. Every other tracked brand in this category scores 0% visibility.
What is the average AI visibility score for accountants in Cairns?
The category average visibility is 5%, pulled up entirely by EY's 100% score, as all other 19 brands record 0%.
Which sources does Google AI Mode cite most for Cairns accountant queries?
The top cited sources are google.com, youtube.com, qualitybusinessawards.com.au, facebook.com, and local firm websites including cairnsqualityaccounting.com.au and eagleaccounting.com.au.
Does EY get cited by Google AI Mode even though it leads visibility?
No. EY has 100% visibility but a 0% citation rate, meaning AI Mode names EY without linking to ey.com/en_au as a source.
Are any large national accounting firms cited by AI Mode for Cairns searches?
No. The cited sources are local Cairns firm websites and directory or social platforms, not the domains of any nationally ranked accounting brand.
Has EY's AI visibility in this category changed recently?
Yes. EY's visibility rose by 37.5 percentage points, from 62.5% to 100%, making it the only brand recorded as a visibility riser in this audit period.