AEO for digital asset delivery networks: AI search visibility ranking
How AI search engines rank digital asset delivery networks 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. CDN and edge delivery platforms used to accelerate websites, apps, media, and static assets globally. 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 Digital asset delivery networks, Akamai emerges as the leader. With a visibility percentage of 37.5%, it stands out among competitors. Other top brands include Amazon CloudFront and Cloudflare, both also frequently mentioned by AI systems.
The rankings are shaped by the sources AI engines rely on, such as youtube.com, g2.com, and aggregator sites like getmasset.com. These sources provide comprehensive reviews and insights affecting brand visibility among AI answers.
For buyers, considering recent reviews and third-party validation is key. AI engines value platforms recognized for their topical authority on digital asset delivery, ensuring that brands cited are evaluated based on current performance and expertise in this specific subcategory.
At a glance
What we observed in this category
Akamai and Amazon CloudFront share the top visibility score of 37.5%, well above the category average of 7.5%, which signals a strong concentration of AI attention at the top. The composite score gap between rank 1 (Akamai at 30.0) and rank 5 (Fastly at 16.2) is substantial, meaning the majority of the 20 brands in this category are functionally invisible to AI Mode. Seven of the top ten brands carry a 0.0% visibility score, confirming the landscape is highly top-heavy.
Amazon CloudFront illustrates a sharp divergence between being named and being trusted: it matches Akamai on visibility at 37.5% but holds a 0.0% citation rate, while Cloudflare and Fastly both achieve 25.0% citation rates despite lower visibility scores of 25.0% and 12.5% respectively. This means AI Mode surfaces CloudFront frequently in responses but does not anchor its answers to CloudFront-owned or CloudFront-adjacent sources. Fastly's citation rate actually exceeds its visibility rate, making it the clearest example of a citation-led rather than visibility-led presence.
Google AI Mode is the dominant engine across all ten ranked brands, with no brand showing a competing engine as its top performer. The cited sources in this category lean heavily on third-party review and community platforms, with youtube.com, g2.com, gartner.com, and medium.com all appearing alongside brand-owned domains like cloudinary.com. The presence of niche sources such as getmasset.com and blog.blazingcdn.com suggests AI Mode is pulling from a broad and fragmented web corpus rather than anchoring exclusively on authoritative industry publications.
Movers & shakers since last refresh
Biggest visibility risers
-
Amazon CloudFront 0% → 38% · rank #6 → #2+38pp
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Akamai 12% → 38% · rank #4 → #1+25pp
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ImageKit 0% → 12% · rank #5 → #6+12pp
The AEO ranking
| # | Brand | Visibility | Citation | Top engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
akamai.com
|
38% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
Akamai leads with a composite score of 30.0 and a 12.5% citation rate, having risen from rank 4 after a 25-point visibility increase, making it the strongest overall performer in the category. |
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| 2 |
aws.amazon.com
|
38% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Amazon CloudFront matches Akamai's 37.5% visibility but holds a 0.0% citation rate, the sharpest named-versus-cited gap among all ranked brands in this category. |
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| 3 |
cloudflare.com
|
25% | 25% | Google AI Mode |
Cloudflare's citation rate of 25.0% equals its visibility rate exactly, giving it the most balanced named-to-trusted ratio among the top five brands and a composite score of 25.0. |
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| 4 |
cloudinary.com
|
25% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
Cloudinary scores 25.0% visibility and 12.5% citation, placing it in the mid-tier, and it is the only brand in the top five whose domain (cloudinary.com) also appears in the AI's top cited sources list. |
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| 5 |
fastly.com
|
12% | 25% | Google AI Mode |
Fastly's citation rate of 25.0% doubles its visibility rate of 12.5%, meaning AI Mode cites it more often than it names it, a pattern unique among the top five brands. |
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| 6 |
imagekit.io
|
12% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
| 7 |
cloud.google.com
|
0% | 12% | Google AI Mode |
| 8 |
azure.microsoft.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 9 |
edg.io
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 10 |
gcore.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 11 |
keycdn.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 12 |
imperva.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 13 |
cdn77.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 14 |
leaseweb.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 15 |
cachefly.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 16 |
medianova.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 17 |
alibabacloud.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 18 |
vercel.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 19 |
netlify.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 20 |
bunny.net
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Sources AI engines trust in this category
Across the 8 buyer-intent queries we ran on digital asset delivery networks, 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 digital asset delivery networks 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 digital asset delivery networks
Who leads AI visibility in digital asset delivery networks?
Akamai and Amazon CloudFront are tied on visibility at 37.5%, both well above the category average of 7.5%. Akamai holds the top composite score of 30.0 due to its 12.5% citation rate, which CloudFront lacks entirely.
Which brand is most cited by AI in this category relative to how often it is named?
Fastly has a citation rate of 25.0% against a visibility rate of only 12.5%, meaning it is cited more often than it is named, making it the most citation-efficient brand in the top five.
What sources does AI cite most for digital asset delivery network research?
The top cited sources include youtube.com, g2.com, gartner.com, and medium.com alongside brand-owned and niche sites such as cloudinary.com, getmasset.com, and blog.blazingcdn.com.
How concentrated is AI visibility across brands in this category?
Visibility is highly concentrated: seven of the top ten brands score 0.0% visibility, and the category average is just 7.5%, meaning a small number of brands capture almost all AI attention.
Which major CDN brands are effectively invisible to AI Mode despite their market presence?
Azure CDN, Edgio, and Gcore all score 0.0% on both visibility and citation, giving them composite scores of 0.0 despite being recognised players in the infrastructure space.
Which engine dominates AI visibility for digital asset delivery networks?
Google AI Mode is listed as the top engine for every one of the ten ranked brands, with no other engine appearing as a leading source for any brand in this category.