AEO for competitive intelligence firms: AI search visibility ranking
How AI search engines rank competitive intelligence firms 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. Competitive intelligence firms helping companies monitor rivals, understand market moves, and turn insight into sharper strategy and positioning. Composite score: 70% visibility (% of AI answers naming the brand) + 30% citation rate (% citing the brand's domain). Full methodology →
Download this AEO ranking as a PDF
We'll email it to you. One-off send — no list, no follow-up, no surprise marketing.
When buyers inquire about competitive intelligence firms, AI engines frequently identify Klue as the market leader, noted in 50% of responses with 25% citation among answers. Proactive Worldwide and Crayon are also mentioned as top contenders, but neither matches Klue's visibility in this space.
The rankings are shaped by the frequency of citations from top sources like aqute.com, unkover.com, and aggregator sites such as greenbook.org. These platforms contribute greatly to Klue's high visibility due to their focus on industry reviews and comparisons, which are crucial in forming the AI's responses.
For buyers examining this list, it is essential to consider how AI engines prioritize recent user reviews, independent validations, and a firm's authority in specific competitive intelligence areas. Selecting a brand recognized by these engines may benefit from informed and up-to-date feedback across the mentioned categories.
At a glance
What we observed in this category
Klue leads the competitive intelligence category with a visibility score of 50.0%, more than 12 points above the next closest brands, Proactive Worldwide and Crayon, both at 37.5%. The category average visibility sits at just 6.9%, making Klue's score roughly seven times the norm. Klue also rose from rank 5 to rank 1 with a visibility delta of 50.0 percentage points, the largest single-period gain recorded. That gap between the leader and the field is significant because it concentrates AI-generated recommendation share in one brand.
The data reveals a sharp divergence between visibility and citation across several brands. Crayon holds 37.5% visibility but has a 0.0% citation rate, meaning Google AI Mode names it in responses but does not link back to its domain. Contify shows the inverse pattern: 0.0% visibility yet a 37.5% citation rate, making it the most-cited brand in the data despite being entirely absent from named mentions. Gartner similarly holds 25.0% citations against only 12.5% visibility, suggesting citation and naming are distinct signals that do not move in parallel.
Google AI Mode is the top engine for every brand in the dataset, indicating this category's AI visibility is concentrated on a single engine with no recorded divergence to other platforms. The top cited sources include third-party aggregators and review-adjacent sites such as aqute.com, unkover.com, greenbook.org, and worldmetrics.org, alongside youtube.com and reddit.com. Brand-owned domains like contify.com also appear in the source list. This pattern suggests the AI is anchoring on external directory and community sources rather than brand-owned content to construct its answers.
Movers & shakers since last refresh
Biggest visibility risers
-
Klue 0% → 50% · rank #5 → #1+50pp
-
Proactive Worldwide 12% → 38% · rank #2 → #2+25pp
-
Crayon 12% → 38% · rank #3 → #3+25pp
Biggest visibility fallers
-
Contify 12% → 0% · rank #1 → #5-12pp
-
Kompyte 12% → 0% · rank #4 → #7-12pp
The AEO ranking
| # | Brand | Visibility | Citation | Top engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
klue.com
|
50% | 25% | Google AI Mode |
Klue leads at 50.0% visibility, more than seven times the 6.9% category average, but its 25.0% citation rate trails Contify's 37.5% citation rate despite Klue's dominance in named mentions. |
||||
| 2 |
proactiveworldwide.com
|
38% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
Proactive Worldwide holds 37.5% visibility with a 12.5% citation rate, maintaining its rank-2 position after a 25.0-point visibility gain, though its citation rate fell 12.5 points in the same period. |
||||
| 3 |
crayon.co
|
38% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Crayon matches Proactive Worldwide at 37.5% visibility but records a 0.0% citation rate, the only top-3 brand with zero citations, indicating AI names it without linking to its domain. |
||||
| 4 |
gartner.com
|
12% | 25% | Google AI Mode |
Gartner's 25.0% citation rate equals Klue's despite having only 12.5% visibility, suggesting the AI treats Gartner as a trusted reference source even when it is not prominently named in responses. |
||||
| 5 |
contify.com
|
0% | 38% | Google AI Mode |
Contify holds the highest citation rate in the dataset at 37.5% but has fallen to 0.0% visibility and dropped from rank 1 to rank 5, a direct inversion of the named-versus-cited split. |
||||
| 6 |
octopusintelligence.com
|
0% | 25% | Google AI Mode |
| 7 |
kompyte.com
|
0% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
| 8 |
alpha-sense.com
|
0% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
| 9 |
meltwater.com
|
0% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
| 10 |
cascadeinsights.com
|
0% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
| 11 |
fuld.com
|
0% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
| 12 |
sisinternational.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 13 |
evalueserve.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 14 |
cbinsights.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 15 |
forrester.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 16 |
aurorawd.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 17 |
cipher.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 18 |
academyci.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 19 |
similarweb.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 20 |
owler.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Sources AI engines trust in this category
Across the 8 buyer-intent queries we ran on competitive intelligence firms, 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 competitive intelligence firms 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 competitive intelligence firms
Who leads AI visibility in the competitive intelligence firms category?
Klue leads with a 50.0% visibility score and a composite score of 42.5, rising from rank 5 to rank 1 in the current period. The next closest brands, Proactive Worldwide and Crayon, are both at 37.5% visibility.
Which competitive intelligence brand is most cited by Google AI Mode even though it rarely appears in named responses?
Contify holds the highest citation rate at 37.5% but has 0.0% visibility, meaning its domain is linked in AI responses far more often than its brand name appears. Contify's domain also appears directly in the top cited sources list for the category.
What sources does Google AI Mode anchor on most when answering queries about competitive intelligence firms?
The top cited sources include aqute.com, unkover.com, youtube.com, greenbook.org, worldmetrics.org, and reddit.com, alongside contify.com. Third-party aggregator and community sites dominate rather than brand-owned content.
Is there a gap between which brands are named and which brands are cited in this category?
Yes. Crayon is named in 37.5% of responses but cited 0.0% of the time, while Contify and Gartner are cited at 37.5% and 25.0% respectively despite low or minimal named visibility. Named mentions and citation links behave as separate signals here.
Which brands have seen the biggest visibility changes in competitive intelligence recently?
Klue recorded the largest gain, rising 50.0 visibility points and moving from rank 5 to rank 1. Contify and Kompyte were the biggest fallers, each losing 12.5 visibility points and dropping three to four rank positions.
How concentrated is AI visibility across brands in this category?
Visibility is heavily concentrated at the top. The category average is 6.9% and the average citation rate is 9.4%, yet Klue alone holds 50.0% visibility, and 10 of the 20 tracked brands record 0.0% visibility.