AEO for customs brokerage firms: AI search visibility ranking
How AI search engines rank customs brokerage firms 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. Customs brokerage firms helping importers and exporters manage customs clearance, compliance, tariff classification, and cross-border documentation. 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 Customs brokerage firms, AI engines frequently cite Livingston International as the leader. C.H. Robinson and A.N. Deringer are also often mentioned as top brands. While Livingston International is noted in 25% of AI citations, its visibility percentage stands at 0.0%, indicating a differentiation in how it's referenced by AI systems.
The current ranking is influenced by the prominence of sources like goodfirms.co, youtube.com, and mordorintelligence.com. These sites serve as aggregators and can impact visibility by gathering and presenting reviews and expert opinions. This ranking behavior shows how AI engines prioritize certain domains for their comprehensive and updated information.
For buyers evaluating brands on this list, it's important to understand what AI engines consider valuable: recent reviews and third-party validations are highly weighted. A brand's topical authority on Customs brokerage specifically can tip the scales. Buyers should focus on these aspects to gauge the reliability and relevance of a firm in this sector.
At a glance
What we observed in this category
Livingston International and C.H. Robinson share the top two ranks with identical composite scores of 7.5 and citation rates of 25.0%, placing them well above the category average citation rate of 5.0%. Every other brand in the top 10 sits at 12.5% citation or below, meaning the gap between the top two and the rest is substantial. Expeditors, A.N. Deringer, and UPS Supply Chain Solutions each hold 12.5% citation rates, scoring composite scores of just 3.8, roughly half the leaders.
Across all 20 brands tracked, visibility is uniformly 0.0%, yet citation rates vary from 0.0% to 25.0%. This means brands are being named in AI-generated answers without their own web presence registering as visible, a direct divergence between being mentioned and being treated as a trusted source. GEODIS, FedEx Logistics, DSV, and JAS Worldwide record both 0.0% visibility and 0.0% citation, suggesting they are effectively absent from Google AI Mode responses entirely.
The top cited external sources in this category include goodfirms.co, customsbrokerindex.com, clutch.co, mordorintelligence.com, and cbp.gov, indicating Google AI Mode is anchoring on third-party review directories, market research platforms, and the official US Customs and Border Protection site rather than on brand-owned domains. Reddit and YouTube also appear as cited sources, pointing to community and video content influencing AI answer construction in customs brokerage queries.
Movers & shakers since last refresh
Biggest visibility fallers
-
Livingston International 12% → 0% · rank #2 → #1-12pp
-
C.H. Robinson 12% → 0% · rank #3 → #2-12pp
-
Expeditors 12% → 0% · rank #1 → #4-12pp
The AEO ranking
| # | Brand | Visibility | Citation | Top engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
livingstonintl.com
|
0% | 25% | Google AI Mode |
Livingston International leads with a 25.0% citation rate and composite score of 7.5, five times the category average citation rate of 5.0%, despite a visibility delta of -12.5 from the prior period. |
||||
| 2 |
chrobinson.com
|
0% | 25% | Google AI Mode |
C.H. Robinson matches rank 1 exactly with a 25.0% citation rate and composite score of 7.5, and recorded the largest citation delta gain of 25.0 points versus its previous period. |
||||
| 3 |
anderinger.com
|
0% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
A.N. Deringer holds a 12.5% citation rate and composite score of 3.8, exactly half the leaders' citation share and 2.5 times the category average, with no recorded visibility movement. |
||||
| 4 |
expeditors.com
|
0% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
Expeditors dropped three rank positions from first to fourth, with a visibility delta of -12.5 and a citation delta of 0.0, leaving its citation rate unchanged at 12.5% despite the rank fall. |
||||
| 5 |
ups.com
|
0% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
UPS Supply Chain Solutions sits at rank 5 with a 12.5% citation rate and composite score of 3.8, matching Expeditors and A.N. Deringer but carrying no prior-period movement data in the audit. |
||||
| 6 |
flexport.com
|
0% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
| 7 |
geodis.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 8 |
fedex.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 9 |
dsv.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 10 |
jas.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 11 |
sekologistics.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 12 |
millercustomsbrokerage.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 13 |
pcbusa.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 14 |
mohawkglobal.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 15 |
dhl.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 16 |
kuehne-nagel.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 17 |
bollore-logistics.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 18 |
dbschenker.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 19 |
cevalogistics.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 20 |
bdpinternational.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Sources AI engines trust in this category
Across the 8 buyer-intent queries we ran on customs brokerage 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 30 days and refresh this page automatically. How AI search ranking works →
Run an AEO audit on your own customs brokerage 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 customs brokerage firms
Who leads AI visibility in customs brokerage firms on Google AI Mode?
Livingston International and C.H. Robinson are joint leaders, each with a 25.0% citation rate and a composite score of 7.5, both well above the category average of 5.0%.
Why do all customs brokerage brands show 0.0% visibility if some are still being cited?
The audit records zero visibility scores across all 20 brands yet citation rates range up to 25.0%, indicating Google AI Mode mentions brand names in answers without rendering their own domains as visible sources.
What sources does Google AI Mode cite most for customs brokerage research?
The top cited sources include goodfirms.co, customsbrokerindex.com, clutch.co, mordorintelligence.com, cbp.gov, Reddit, and YouTube, all third-party directories, research platforms, or community channels.
Which customs brokerage brands have no presence at all in Google AI Mode responses?
GEODIS, FedEx Logistics, DSV, and JAS Worldwide all record 0.0% citation and 0.0% visibility, meaning they do not appear in any tracked AI-generated answers.
Which brands lost the most ground in this audit period for customs brokerage?
Livingston International, C.H. Robinson, and Expeditors are the only recorded fallers, each dropping 12.5 visibility points, with Expeditors also falling three rank positions from first to fourth.
How concentrated is citation share at the top of the customs brokerage category?
The top two brands each hold 25.0% citation rates while ranks 3 through 6 each hold 12.5%, and ranks 7 through 10 hold 0.0%, showing citation share is heavily concentrated at the top.