AEO for AI voice agents: AI search visibility ranking
How AI search engines rank AI voice agents by visibility and citations. 20 brands measured quarterly across Google AI Mode: which brands the AI names in answers, which domains it cites as sources, and how the leaders compare. AI voice agent platforms used to power automated phone conversations, scheduling, support, qualification, and conversational workflows. Composite score: 70% visibility (% of AI answers naming the brand) + 30% citation rate (% citing the brand's domain). Full methodology →
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When buyers ask AI engines about AI voice agents, Retell AI consistently emerges as the leader. With a visibility percentage of 37.5, Retell AI is frequently recommended and often cited. Other top contenders mentioned include Synthflow and Vapi, but Retell AI's dominance in this space is clear from the data.
The rankings are shaped heavily by the top cited sources AI engines pull from, including youtube.com, retellai.com, and reddit.com. The presence of both company domains and user-driven platforms means both official narratives and user experiences are influencing AI recommendations significantly.
For buyers, this list underscores the importance of recent reviews and third-party validations. AI engines favor brands with strong topical authority and relevant, up-to-date information, making it vital to consider which companies frequently appear in credible sources when choosing an AI voice agent.
At a glance
What we observed in this category
Retell AI leads the AI voice agents category with a composite score of 52.5, nearly double Synthflow's 26.2 and triple Vapi's 17.5. The gap matters because the category average visibility sits at just 6.9%, meaning the top two brands alone account for the bulk of meaningful AI exposure. Seven of the top ten brands score a composite of zero or close to it, confirming that visibility in this category is highly concentrated rather than distributed across players.
Synthflow presents the clearest divergence between being named and being trusted. It matches Retell AI on visibility at 37.5%, yet carries a citation rate of 0.0% against Retell AI's 87.5%. Retell AI's own domain appears directly in the top cited sources list, reinforcing that citation gap. Bland shows the inverse pattern, losing 25 percentage points of visibility since the prior period while its citation rate actually rose by 12.5 points, suggesting it is referenced as a source even as it disappears from answers.
Google AI Mode is the sole engine recorded across all twenty brands in this audit, meaning all visibility and citation signals originate from one platform. The top cited sources beyond brand-owned domains are youtube.com, reddit.com, and a cluster of smaller specialist sites including byvoice.io, arahi.ai, lumay.ai, cloudtalk.io, and dapta.ai. The presence of community and third-party review content in that source list indicates Google AI Mode is anchoring AI voice agent answers on a mix of video, forum, and niche industry content rather than exclusively on brand documentation.
Movers & shakers since last refresh
Biggest visibility risers
-
LiveKit 0% → 12% · rank #13 → #6+12pp
Biggest visibility fallers
-
Bland 38% → 12% · rank #3 → #4-25pp
-
Retell AI 50% → 38% · rank #1 → #1-12pp
-
Vapi 38% → 25% · rank #4 → #3-12pp
The AEO ranking
| # | Brand | Visibility | Citation | Top engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
retellai.com
|
38% | 88% | Google AI Mode |
Retell AI holds the top composite score of 52.5 and an 87.5% citation rate, far above the 6.2% category average, though visibility has slipped 12.5 points from the prior period. |
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| 2 |
synthflow.ai
|
38% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Synthflow ties Retell AI on visibility at 37.5% but records a 0.0% citation rate, making it the starkest named-but-not-cited brand in the category. |
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| 3 |
vapi.ai
|
25% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Vapi sits at 25.0% visibility with a 0.0% citation rate, down 12.5 points from 37.5% last period, indicating a weakening presence despite holding third rank. |
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| 4 |
bland.ai
|
12% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
Bland dropped 25 visibility points to 12.5% yet gained 12.5 citation points, the only brand in the top five where citation moved opposite to visibility this period. |
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| 5 |
elevenlabs.io
|
12% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
ElevenLabs matches Bland exactly at 12.5% visibility and 12.5% citation for a composite of 12.5, offering no differentiation from Bland on any recorded metric. |
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| 6 |
livekit.io
|
12% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 7 |
deepgram.com
|
0% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
| 8 |
poly.ai
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 9 |
cresta.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 10 |
cognigy.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 11 |
sierra.ai
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 12 |
observe.ai
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 13 |
talkdesk.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 14 |
five9.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 15 |
play.ai
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 16 |
hume.ai
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 17 |
kore.ai
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 18 |
amelia.ai
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 19 |
soundhound.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 20 |
gladia.io
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Sources AI engines trust in this category
Across the 8 buyer-intent queries we ran on AI voice agents, 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 AEO 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. More on visibility →
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. More on citation rate →
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. How AI engines pick sources →
AEO 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 90 days and refresh this page automatically. How AI search ranking works →
Run an AEO audit on your own AI voice agents brand
The brands above were curated from public market-leader lists. Want the same answer engine optimisation 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 AEO for AI voice agents
Who leads AI visibility in the AI voice agents category?
Retell AI leads with a composite score of 52.5 and a citation rate of 87.5%, well ahead of second-ranked Synthflow at 26.2. The category average composite is far lower, reflecting how concentrated visibility is at the top.
What sources does Google AI Mode cite most for AI voice agent research?
The top cited sources in this category are youtube.com, retellai.com, reddit.com, and a set of smaller specialist sites including byvoice.io, arahi.ai, lumay.ai, cloudtalk.io, and dapta.ai. This mix shows reliance on video, community forums, and niche review content alongside one brand-owned domain.
Which brand has the biggest gap between visibility and citation in this category?
Synthflow has the largest gap, matching the category leader on visibility at 37.5% while holding a 0.0% citation rate. This means it appears in AI answers but is not being used as a trusted source.
Which brand moved most in the rankings since the last audit period?
LiveKit is the biggest riser, moving from rank 13 to rank 6, a gain of seven positions, with visibility increasing from 0.0% to 12.5%. Bland is the biggest faller on raw visibility, dropping 25 percentage points despite only losing one rank position.
How competitive is the AI voice agents category in terms of overall AI visibility?
The category average visibility is just 6.9% and the average citation rate is 6.2%, with seven of the top ten brands scoring a composite of zero or near zero. Visibility is effectively concentrated in two or three brands.
Which engine dominates AI voice agent citations in this audit?
Google AI Mode is the only engine recorded across all twenty brands in this dataset, meaning every visibility and citation data point in this category originates from a single platform.