AEO for financial advisors in Bayside Melbourne: AI search visibility ranking

What we observed in this category

Morgans sits alone at rank 1 with a composite score of 12.5, the only brand where visibility and citation are perfectly aligned at 12.5% each. This perfect alignment is rare and signals that Google AI Mode is both surfacing and endorsing the brand in the same queries. The category average sits at just 1.2% for both metrics, meaning Morgans outperforms the field by more than ten times on every measure. The gap between first and third place is structurally large given that ranks 4 through 10 all score zero.

Count at rank 2 illustrates a sharp divergence between being named and being trusted. It matches Morgans on visibility at 12.5% but records a citation rate of 0.0%, producing a composite of only 8.8. Findex inverts this pattern entirely, showing zero visibility yet a citation rate of 12.5%, giving it rank 3 with a composite of 3.8. These two brands demonstrate that AI Mode can surface a brand in a response without citing its domain, and can cite a domain without prominently naming the brand in the answer text.

Google AI Mode is the top engine for every brand in this dataset, confirming the audit is anchored entirely on that single engine. The top cited sources list is dominated by smaller local and directory-style domains such as vistafinancial.com.au, yourlifetime.com.au, aspireplanning.com.au, and adviserratings.com.au, alongside moneysmart.gov.au. This pattern suggests AI Mode is pulling Bayside-specific financial advice content from third-party directories and review aggregators rather than from the branded domains of the top-ranked firms themselves.