Customs brokers: AI search visibility ranking (2026)
How AI search engines rank customs brokers 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 brokers that help importers and exporters manage compliance, customs clearance, duties, and cross-border trade documentation. Composite score: 70% visibility (% of AI answers naming the brand) + 30% citation rate (% citing the brand's domain). Full methodology →
Refreshed Jun 18, 2026Download this ranking as a PDF
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At a glance
What we observed in this categoryauto-generated
The customs brokers category shows near-total AI invisibility across all 20 tracked brands, with a category average visibility of 0.0% and an average citation rate of just 1.2%. Livingston International and A.N. Deringer share the top composite score of 3.8, driven entirely by their 12.5% citation rates. No other brand in the top 10 registers any citation or visibility at all, making the gap between the top two and the rest absolute rather than marginal.
The distinction between being named and being cited is stark here. Livingston International and A.N. Deringer are the only brands earning citations in Google AI Mode, yet their visibility scores remain at 0.0%, meaning AI responses reference them without surfacing their owned content as direct answers. Brands with far greater market recognition, including Expeditors, Flexport, DHL Global Forwarding, and UPS Supply Chain Solutions, score zero on both metrics, showing that brand size does not translate to AI presence in this category.
Google AI Mode is the sole engine recorded across all ranked brands, indicating this audit is single-engine. The top cited sources are third-party review and directory platforms (goodfirms.co, clutch.co), community platforms (reddit.com, youtube.com), a government domain (cbp.gov), and smaller specialist brokers (gallaghertransport.com, atlantacustomsbrokers.com). This pattern suggests Google AI Mode is anchoring its customs broker responses on aggregator and regulatory content rather than brand-owned pages.
The ranking
| # | Brand | Visibility | Citation | Top engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
livingstonintl.com
|
0% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
Livingston International ties for the highest composite score (3.8) with a 12.5% citation rate, placing it well above the 1.2% category average and every other brand below rank 2. |
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| 2 |
anderinger.com
|
0% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
A.N. Deringer matches Livingston exactly at 3.8 composite and 12.5% citation, making the two brands jointly dominant in a category where all other tracked brands score zero on both measures. |
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| 3 |
expeditors.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Expeditors holds rank 3 but records 0.0% visibility and 0.0% citation, a composite score of zero, placing it functionally identical to every brand ranked 4 through 10 in AI terms. |
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| 4 |
flexport.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Flexport, despite being a high-profile digital-native freight broker, scores 0.0% on both visibility and citation, showing no differentiated AI presence compared to traditional incumbents ranked below it. |
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| 5 |
home.kuehne-nagel.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Kuehne+Nagel's composite score of 0.0 means that despite its global logistics scale, Google AI Mode returns no citations or visibility for it in the customs broker category specifically. |
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| 6 |
dhl.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 7 |
chrobinson.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 8 |
ups.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 9 |
fedex.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 10 |
mohawkglobal.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 11 |
pcbgtm.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 12 |
clearitusa.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 13 |
chbusa.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 14 |
acbusa.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 15 |
albawheelsup.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 16 |
nnrglobal.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 17 |
oecgroup.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 18 |
jas.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 19 |
mainfreight.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 20 |
geodis.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Sources AI engines trust in this category
Across the 8 buyer-intent queries we ran on customs brokers, 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 customs brokers 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 brokers AI visibility
Who leads AI visibility in the customs brokers category?
Livingston International and A.N. Deringer jointly lead with a composite score of 3.8 and a 12.5% citation rate each. Every other tracked brand scores zero on both visibility and citation.
What is the overall AI visibility level for customs brokers brands?
The category average visibility is 0.0% and the average citation rate is just 1.2%, indicating that AI responses in this space almost never surface or credit specific broker brands.
What sources does Google AI Mode cite most for customs broker research?
The top cited sources are third-party directories (goodfirms.co, clutch.co), community platforms (reddit.com, youtube.com), the government site cbp.gov, and small specialist brokers such as gallaghertransport.com and atlantacustomsbrokers.com.
Do large global logistics brands perform better in AI visibility for customs brokers?
No. DHL Global Forwarding, UPS Supply Chain Solutions, Flexport, and Expeditors all score 0.0% on visibility and citation, performing no better than smaller or lesser-known brands in this category.
Is there a divergence between being named by AI and having content cited for customs brokers?
Yes. Livingston International and A.N. Deringer have a 12.5% citation rate but 0.0% visibility, meaning Google AI Mode references them without surfacing their owned web content as direct answers.
Which AI engine dominates customs broker query responses according to this audit?
Google AI Mode is the only engine recorded across all 20 brands in this audit, with no other engine contributing to any brand's visibility or citation score.