IT consulting firms: AI search visibility ranking (2026)
How AI search engines rank it consulting 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. IT consulting firms that advise enterprises on cloud transformation, application modernization, data strategy, systems integration, and large-scale technology change. Composite score: 70% visibility (% of AI answers naming the brand) + 30% citation rate (% citing the brand's domain). Full methodology →
Refreshed Jun 17, 2026Download this ranking as a PDF
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At a glance
What we observed in this categoryauto-generated
EY leads the IT consulting firms category with a visibility score of 62.5%, more than 25 percentage points ahead of second-ranked Accenture at 37.5%. That gap is significant because it means Google AI Mode surfaces EY in roughly two out of every three relevant queries, while Accenture appears in fewer than two out of five. Deloitte sits at 25.0%, and the remaining tracked brands cluster at 12.5% or zero, making the top three a clearly defined tier and the rest a long tail.
The most striking pattern in this data is the complete decoupling of visibility from citation. Every brand in the category, including EY at rank one, carries a citation rate of 0.0%. This means Google AI Mode names these firms frequently in its responses but does not link back to their owned domains at all. The AI is recognising brand names as authoritative signals without directing users to the brands' own content, which creates a structural risk for firms that assume AI mentions translate into referral traffic.
The top cited sources in this category are third-party destinations, including vault.com, youtube.com, consulting.us, and forbes.com. None of the brand domains appear in that cited-sources list. This indicates Google AI Mode is anchoring its responses on career research sites, listicles, and video content rather than on the consulting firms' own thought leadership or service pages. All top-five brands share Google AI Mode as their leading engine, confirming this is a single-engine visibility story with no diversification evident in the data.
Movers & shakers since last refresh
Biggest visibility risers
-
EY 0% → 62% · rank #0 → #1+62pp
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Accenture 0% → 38% · rank #0 → #2+38pp
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Deloitte 0% → 25% · rank #0 → #3+25pp
The ranking
| # | Brand | Visibility | Citation | Top engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
ey.com
|
62% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
EY's visibility of 62.5% is more than seven times the category average of 8.8%, making it the dominant named brand in Google AI Mode responses, though its citation rate remains zero. |
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| 2 |
accenture.com
|
38% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Accenture's 37.5% visibility places it clearly in second position, but its composite score of 26.2 is less than half of EY's 43.8, reflecting a meaningful recognition gap between the two leaders. |
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| 3 |
deloitte.com
|
25% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Deloitte registers 25.0% visibility, three times the category average, yet sits 12.5 percentage points below Accenture and carries no citation credit from any source in the audit. |
||||
| 4 |
ibm.com
|
12% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
IBM Consulting shares the 12.5% visibility tier with Capgemini, Cognizant, and TCS, giving it no differentiation from those peers and a composite score of just 8.8. |
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| 5 |
capgemini.com
|
12% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Capgemini matches IBM Consulting exactly at 12.5% visibility and a composite score of 8.8, meaning Google AI Mode treats both brands as interchangeable in prominence at this tier. |
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| 6 |
cognizant.com
|
12% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 7 |
tcs.com
|
12% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 8 |
pwc.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 9 |
kpmg.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 10 |
infosys.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 11 |
hcltech.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 12 |
wipro.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 13 |
nttdata.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 14 |
slalom.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 15 |
cgi.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 16 |
thoughtworks.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 17 |
epam.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 18 |
endava.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 19 |
globant.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
| 20 |
publicissapient.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Sources AI engines trust in this category
Across the 8 buyer-intent queries we ran on it consulting 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.
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 it consulting 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 it consulting firms AI visibility
Who leads AI visibility in IT consulting firms?
EY leads with a visibility score of 62.5%, well ahead of Accenture at 37.5% and Deloitte at 25.0%. The category average sits at just 8.8%, highlighting how concentrated visibility is at the top.
Are any IT consulting brands being cited as sources by Google AI Mode?
No. Every brand in the audit carries a citation rate of 0.0%, meaning Google AI Mode names these firms in responses but does not link to their owned domains.
What sources does Google AI Mode actually cite for IT consulting research?
The top cited sources are third-party sites including vault.com, youtube.com, consulting.us, and forbes.com. No brand-owned domain appears in the cited-sources list.
Which brands have zero AI visibility in this category?
PwC, KPMG, and Infosys all register 0.0% visibility and a composite score of zero, despite being globally recognised consulting brands.
Is AI visibility in IT consulting concentrated on one engine?
Yes. Google AI Mode is listed as the top engine for every ranked brand in the dataset, with no other engine contributing meaningfully to visibility scores.
How large is the gap between the top brand and the rest of the field?
EY's composite score of 43.8 is more than five times the scores of IBM Consulting and Capgemini at 8.8, and PwC, KPMG, and Infosys score zero, illustrating an extreme concentration of AI recognition at the top.