AEO Rankings · Finance

AEO for investor relations advisory firms: AI search visibility ranking

By monitoraeo Last updated August 02, 2026 Refreshed every 90 days

How AI search engines rank investor relations advisory firms 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. Investor relations advisory firms helping public companies manage shareholder communications, earnings messaging, investor targeting, and capital markets narrative. Composite score: 70% visibility (% of AI answers naming the brand) + 30% citation rate (% citing the brand's domain). Full methodology →

Avg visibility across category

Avg citation rate

20/20

Brands successfully audited

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When evaluating Investor relations advisory firms, AI engines often highlight Teneo as a leader, with a citation frequency of 75 percent. Other notable mentions include Joele Frank and ICR. This indicates a strong recognition in their field, with Teneo standing out as a frequently referenced choice among the competition.

The rankings reflect insights drawn from top-cited sources like growthequityinterviewguide.com and teneo.com, among others. These are complemented by aggregator and review sites such as clutch.co and odwyerpr.com. This reliance on well-respected and comprehensive sources suggests thorough vetting processes behind the AI-generated insights.

For those considering which brand to select from the list, pay attention to how recent reviews are, and whether the brand has third-party validation. AI engines seem to prioritize topical authority within this specific subcategory, so understanding which firms are repeatedly recognized can aid in making a well-informed decision.

At a glance

Category leader Joele Frank 25% visibility · named in 2 of 8 AI answers

Most cited brand Teneo 75% citation rate · the AI's most-trusted source brand in investor relations advisory firms

Top cited domain growthequityinterviewguide.com Referenced by AI across the investor relations advisory firms query set — the highest-leverage PR target in this category

Visibility spread 25pp Gap between top and bottom of the ranking · 15 brands at 0% (invisible to the AI)

What we observed in this category

Teneo holds the top composite score (22.5) despite recording 0.0% visibility, meaning Google AI Mode cites its domain without surfacing it in narrative answers. Joele Frank sits second with a composite score of 21.2 and is the only brand combining meaningful visibility (25.0%) with a positive citation rate (12.5%). The gap between these two leaders and the rest is steep: ranks 4 through 6 all share a composite score of 8.8, less than half of Joele Frank's score, indicating a concentrated top tier.

ICR and Teneo illustrate a sharp divergence between being named in AI answers and being cited as a source. ICR appears in 25.0% of responses but carries a 0.0% citation rate, while Teneo inverts this entirely with 75.0% citations and 0.0% visibility. Gateway Group and Kekst CNC mirror Teneo's pattern at smaller scale, receiving 12.5% citation rates with zero visibility. This split shows that AI Mode treats some brands as reference sources rather than answer subjects, and others as subjects it does not anchor on.

All ten ranked brands share Google AI Mode as their top engine, confirming the audit data reflects a single-engine landscape with no cross-engine divergence to observe. Third-party domains dominate the cited sources list: growthequityinterviewguide.com, clutch.co, and odwyerpr.com all appear alongside teneo.com, suggesting AI Mode draws category context from review aggregators and PR trade publications rather than exclusively from firm-owned domains. The category average visibility of 4.4% and average citation rate of 5.6% confirm that most of the 20 brands in this category have near-zero AI presence.

Movers & shakers since last refresh

Biggest visibility risers

Joele Frank 0% → 25% · rank #5 → #2
+25pp
FGS Global 0% → 12% · rank #7 → #4
+12pp
Brunswick Group 0% → 12% · rank #8 → #5
+12pp

Biggest visibility fallers

ICR 38% → 25% · rank #1 → #3
-12pp

The AEO ranking

#	Brand	Visibility	Citation	Top engine
1	Teneo teneo.com	0%	75%	Google AI Mode
Teneo leads on composite score (22.5) purely through a 75.0% citation rate, the highest in the category, while recording 0.0% visibility across all tracked queries.
2	Joele Frank joelefrank.com	25%	12%	Google AI Mode
Joele Frank is the only top-5 brand combining positive visibility (25.0%) and positive citation (12.5%), and rose three rank positions after gaining 25.0 visibility points from a prior zero.
3	ICR icrinc.com	25%	0%	Google AI Mode
ICR matches Joele Frank on visibility (25.0%) but holds a 0.0% citation rate, and fell two rank positions after losing 12.5 points in both visibility and citations since the prior period.
4	FGS Global fgsglobal.com	12%	0%	Google AI Mode
FGS Global shares the rank-4 composite score of 8.8 with two other brands, rose three ranks from a previous zero visibility baseline, but has yet to generate any citations.
5	Brunswick Group brunswickgroup.com	12%	0%	Google AI Mode
Brunswick Group also scores 8.8 composite and jumped three ranks from zero visibility, matching FGS Global's profile exactly, with no citation presence recorded in this period.
6	Edelman Smithfield edelmansmithfield.com	12%	0%	Google AI Mode
7	Gateway Group gateway-grp.com	0%	12%	Google AI Mode
8	Kekst CNC kekstcnc.com	0%	12%	Google AI Mode
9	Alpha IR Group alpha-ir.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
10	Sard Verbinnen & Co sardverbinenn.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
11	Morrow Sodali morrowsodali.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
12	Alliance Advisors allianceadvisors.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
13	Lambert by LLYC lambert.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
14	The Blueshirt Group blueshirtgroup.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
15	Addo Investor Relations addoir.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
16	IRTH Communications irthcommunications.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
17	Solebury Strategic Communications soleburystrat.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
18	Notified notified.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
19	Q4 q4inc.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
20	LHA Investor Relations lhai.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode

Sources AI engines trust in this category

Across the 8 buyer-intent queries we ran on investor relations advisory 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.

growthequityinterviewguide.comcollateral.comteneo.comclutch.coodwyerpr.comobserver.cominvestorreadycapital.comcorbinadvisors.com

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 investor relations advisory 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.

Audit your investor relations advisory firms brand → Browse all AEO rankings Methodology →

Frequently asked about AEO for investor relations advisory firms

Who leads AI visibility in investor relations advisory firms?

Teneo leads on composite score (22.5) driven by a 75.0% citation rate, while Joele Frank leads on actual visibility (25.0%) and is the only top brand combining both metrics positively.

What is the average AI visibility for investor relations advisory firms?

The category average visibility is 4.4% and average citation rate is 5.6%, indicating that the large majority of the 20 tracked brands have near-zero presence in Google AI Mode responses.

What sources does Google AI Mode cite most for investor relations advisory research?

The top cited sources include growthequityinterviewguide.com, clutch.co, odwyerpr.com, and teneo.com, showing AI Mode anchors on review aggregators and PR trade publications alongside firm-owned domains.

Which brands gained the most AI visibility in the most recent period?

Joele Frank gained 25.0 visibility points from zero, while FGS Global and Brunswick Group each gained 12.5 points from zero, making them the three biggest risers in the category.

Can a brand be cited frequently by AI without appearing in AI-generated answers?

Yes. Teneo records 75.0% citations but 0.0% visibility, and Gateway Group and Kekst CNC each show 12.5% citation rates with zero visibility, confirming citation and named visibility are separate signals in this category.

Which engine drives AI visibility for investor relations advisory firms?

All ten ranked brands share Google AI Mode as their sole top engine, meaning the entire tracked landscape in this category is currently a single-engine phenomenon with no other AI engine contributing measurable visibility.