Customs brokerage firms: AI search visibility ranking (2026)
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 →
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When AI engines like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini answer questions about customs brokerage firms, Expeditors comes up most consistently, capturing 12.5% of all AI visibility across the 20 brands tracked. Livingston International and C.H. Robinson round out the top three, appearing regularly when buyers ask about cross-border trade compliance, import clearance, and freight forwarding with brokerage services.
The rankings reflect what AI engines read most. The top cited sources are clutch.co, goodfirms.co, mordorintelligence.com, unisco.com, and reddit.com. Two of those are B2B review aggregators, which means verified client reviews and ratings on those platforms carry direct weight in how AI models rank and recommend brokers. Brands with stronger review volume and recency on Clutch and GoodFirms tend to surface more often in AI-generated answers.
For a buyer using this list, the AI visibility score is a useful proxy for third-party validation. A broker that appears frequently has been cited, reviewed, and written about across multiple credible sources. If you are evaluating firms for a specific trade lane or commodity type, check whether the broker has topical coverage in those areas on review and industry sites, since AI engines favor brands with specific, documented expertise over generalist mentions.
At a glance
What we observed in this categoryauto-generated
Expeditors and Livingston International share the top position with identical composite scores of 12.5, well above the category average of 2.5. Both brands score 12.5 on visibility and citation simultaneously, making them the only two brands in the dataset to achieve full alignment across both metrics. The gap between these two and the next tier is significant: C.H. Robinson and UPS Supply Chain Solutions hold composite scores of 8.8, while six of the top ten brands score zero across all measures.
A clear divergence exists between being named and being cited. C.H. Robinson and UPS Supply Chain Solutions each register 12.5% visibility but 0.0% citation, meaning Google AI Mode references them in responses without linking to their domains. Conversely, A.N. Deringer and GEODIS each show 0.0% visibility but 12.5% citation, indicating their domains are cited as sources even when the brands are not named in the AI narrative. Only Expeditors and Livingston International achieve both simultaneously.
Google AI Mode is the top engine for every brand in this dataset, indicating no meaningful differentiation by engine at this stage. The top cited external sources include clutch.co, mordorintelligence.com, goodfirms.co, and reddit.com, pointing to third-party review aggregators and market research platforms as the primary anchoring sources. Notably, livingstonintl.com appears directly in the cited sources list, which aligns with its 12.5% citation score and helps explain why it co-leads the category alongside Expeditors.
Movers & shakers since last refresh
Biggest visibility risers
-
Expeditors 0% → 12% · rank #13 → #1+12pp
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Livingston International 0% → 12% · rank #14 → #2+12pp
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C.H. Robinson 0% → 12% · rank #2 → #3+12pp
The ranking
| # | Brand | Visibility | Citation | Top engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
expeditors.com
|
12% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
Expeditors leads with a composite score of 12.5, five times the 2.5 category average, having risen 12 places from rank 13 with both visibility and citation jumping from 0.0 to 12.5%. |
||||
| 2 |
livingstonintl.com
|
12% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
Livingston International matches Expeditors exactly at 12.5 on all three metrics and is the only brand besides Expeditors to appear directly as a cited source domain in this category. |
||||
| 3 |
chrobinson.com
|
12% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
C.H. Robinson reaches 12.5% visibility but holds 0.0% citation, producing a composite of 8.8 and indicating Google AI Mode names the brand without linking or citing its domain. |
||||
| 4 |
ups.com
|
12% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
UPS Supply Chain Solutions mirrors C.H. Robinson with 12.5% visibility and 0.0% citation for a composite of 8.8, suggesting both brands are mentioned in AI responses but not sourced. |
||||
| 5 |
anderinger.com
|
0% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
A.N. Deringer shows an inverted pattern at 0.0% visibility and 12.5% citation, scoring a composite of 3.8 and meaning its domain is cited as a source but the brand is not named in AI responses. |
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| 6 |
geodis.com
|
0% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
| 7 |
fedex.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 8 |
dsv.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 9 |
jas.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 10 |
sekologistics.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 11 |
millercustomsbrokerage.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 12 |
pcbusa.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 13 |
mohawkglobal.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 14 |
dhl.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 15 |
kuehne-nagel.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 16 |
bollore-logistics.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 17 |
dbschenker.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 18 |
cevalogistics.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 19 |
flexport.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 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 →
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 →
Get your own customs brokerage firms 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 customs brokerage firms AI visibility
Who leads AI visibility in the customs brokerage firms category?
Expeditors and Livingston International share the top position with identical composite scores of 12.5, both having risen 12 ranks from the previous period. No other brand in the top five comes close to matching both their visibility and citation figures simultaneously.
What is the average AI visibility score for customs brokerage firms?
The category average for both visibility and citation stands at 2.5%, and six of the top ten ranked brands currently score zero across all metrics, indicating very low overall AI penetration in this category.
What sources does Google AI Mode cite most for customs brokerage research?
The most cited sources in this category include clutch.co, mordorintelligence.com, goodfirms.co, reddit.com, and livingstonintl.com, with third-party review and market research platforms dominating the citation footprint.
Can a brand be cited by AI without appearing in its narrative responses?
Yes. A.N. Deringer and GEODIS each record 0.0% visibility but 12.5% citation, meaning Google AI Mode links to their domains as sources without naming them in the generated response text.
Which brands are named in AI responses but not cited as sources?
C.H. Robinson and UPS Supply Chain Solutions both show 12.5% visibility alongside 0.0% citation, indicating Google AI Mode mentions these brands in responses but does not reference or link their domains.
Which engine drives AI visibility for customs brokerage firms?
Google AI Mode is the top engine for every brand recorded in this audit, with no other engine contributing meaningfully to visibility or citation scores across the category.