AI Visibility Rankings · Finance

Transaction advisory services: AI search visibility ranking (2026)

How AI search engines rank transaction advisory services 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. Transaction advisory services firms helping buyers, sellers, and investors with due diligence, carve-outs, quality of earnings, and deal execution support. Composite score: 70% visibility (% of AI answers naming the brand) + 30% citation rate (% citing the brand's domain). Full methodology →

Refreshed Jul 03, 2026

Avg visibility across category

Avg citation rate

20/20

Brands successfully audited

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When AI engines like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini answer questions about transaction advisory services, EY comes up most consistently, appearing in 75% of AI-generated responses across the engines tracked. KPMG and BDO follow as the next most frequently named firms. That gap between EY and the rest of the field is wide enough to matter when you are shortlisting advisors.

The sources AI engines pull from most when forming these answers include mascience.com, windsordrake.com, virtuecpas.com, reddit.com, and youtube.com. That mix of niche finance content sites, practitioner blogs, and community forums tells you the rankings are shaped less by official firm websites and more by third-party commentary and independent write-ups. Firms that get discussed and recommended in those spaces earn more AI visibility than firms that only publish their own content.

For a buyer using this page, the practical takeaway is to check whether a firm has recent third-party coverage in the types of sources AI engines trust, not just a polished website. A firm ranked lower here may still be a strong fit for your deal size or sector, so look for firms with published case studies, independent reviews, or active discussion in specialist communities relevant to your specific transaction type.

At a glance

Category leader EY 75% visibility · named in 6 of 8 AI answers

Most cited brand KPMG 25% citation rate · the AI's most-trusted source brand in transaction advisory services

Top cited domain mascience.com Referenced by AI across the transaction advisory services query set — the highest-leverage PR target in this category

Visibility spread 75pp Gap between top and bottom of the ranking · 13 brands at 0% (invisible to the AI)

What we observed in this categoryauto-generated

EY dominates the transaction advisory services category with a visibility score of 75%, against a category average of 7.5%. That gap, ten times the average, is the defining feature of this landscape. No other brand comes close: KPMG, BDO, Houlihan Lokey, and CohnReznick each sit at 12.5% visibility. EY's composite score of 52.5 dwarfs the next closest, KPMG at 16.2. The concentration of AI presence in a single brand is unusually severe for a category with 20 tracked brands.

The most striking divergence in the data is EY's zero citation rate despite its 75% visibility. EY is named frequently in AI responses but its domain is never cited as a source. Conversely, Grant Thornton has zero visibility yet a 25% citation rate, matching KPMG's citation rate and exceeding every other brand. This means Grant Thornton is trusted as a source by Google AI Mode without ever being surfaced as a named provider, a pattern that inverts conventional brand visibility logic.

Google AI Mode is the top engine for every brand in this category without exception. The cited sources underpinning AI responses are predominantly third-party and community platforms: mascience.com, reddit.com, mergersandinquisitions.com, and youtube.com appear alongside niche advisory sites like windsordrake.com and virtuecpas.com. Only grantthornton.com appears as both a cited source and a tracked brand. Brand-owned domains are largely absent from the citation layer, meaning AI answers are being anchored on external commentary rather than primary brand content.

Movers & shakers since last refresh

Biggest visibility risers

EY 0% → 75% · rank #0 → #1
+75pp
KPMG 0% → 12% · rank #0 → #2
+12pp
BDO 0% → 12% · rank #0 → #3
+12pp

The ranking

#	Brand	Visibility	Citation	Top engine
1	EY ey.com	75%	0%	Google AI Mode
EY's 75% visibility score is ten times the 7.5% category average, yet its 0% citation rate means it is named without its domain being referenced as a source.
2	KPMG kpmg.com	12%	25%	Google AI Mode
KPMG holds a 25% citation rate, the joint highest in the category, despite a visibility score of only 12.5%, suggesting stronger source authority than raw mention frequency implies.
3	BDO bdo.com	12%	12%	Google AI Mode
BDO sits at 12.5% on both visibility and citation, producing a composite score of 12.5, making it the most evenly balanced brand among the mid-tier group.
4	Houlihan Lokey hl.com	12%	12%	Google AI Mode
Houlihan Lokey matches BDO exactly at 12.5% visibility and 12.5% citation, notable given its investment banking focus differs from the accounting-led peers around it.
5	CohnReznick cohnreznick.com	12%	12%	Google AI Mode
CohnReznick matches ranks 3 and 4 with identical 12.5% scores on both metrics, appearing in AI responses at the same frequency as much larger global firms like Deloitte and PwC.
6	Deloitte deloitte.com	12%	0%	Google AI Mode
7	PwC pwc.com	12%	0%	Google AI Mode
8	Grant Thornton grantthornton.com	0%	25%	Google AI Mode
9	RSM rsmus.com	0%	12%	Google AI Mode
10	Alvarez & Marsal alvarezandmarsal.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
11	FTI Consulting fticonsulting.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
12	Kroll kroll.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
13	Stout stout.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
14	Lincoln International lincolninternational.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
15	Forvis Mazars forvismazars.us	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
16	Baker Tilly bakertilly.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
17	Armanino armanino.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
18	Plante Moran plantemoran.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
19	Crowe crowe.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode
20	EisnerAmper eisneramper.com	0%	0%	Google AI Mode

Sources AI engines trust in this category

Across the 8 buyer-intent queries we ran on transaction advisory services, 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.

mascience.comreddit.comwindsordrake.comvirtuecpas.comyoutube.comgrantthornton.commergersandinquisitions.coml40.com

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. 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 →

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. How AI search ranking works →

Get your own transaction advisory services 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.

Audit your transaction advisory services brand → Browse all rankings Methodology →

Frequently asked about transaction advisory services AI visibility

Who leads AI visibility in transaction advisory services?

EY leads by a wide margin with a 75% visibility score, against a category average of 7.5% and a nearest rival score of 12.5% for KPMG, BDO, Houlihan Lokey, and CohnReznick.

Which brand has the highest citation rate in this category?

KPMG and Grant Thornton are joint leaders on citation rate at 25% each. Grant Thornton achieves this with zero visibility, meaning it is used as a source without being named as a provider.

What sources does Google AI Mode cite most for transaction advisory services research?

The top cited sources include mascience.com, reddit.com, mergersandinquisitions.com, and youtube.com, with only grantthornton.com representing a tracked brand domain in the citation list.

Why does EY have high visibility but zero citations in this category?

EY is named in 75% of AI responses but its domain ey.com does not appear in the cited sources list, indicating Google AI Mode references the brand by name while drawing supporting content from third-party sites.

How do Deloitte and PwC compare to smaller peers in AI visibility here?

Both Deloitte and PwC sit at 12.5% visibility and 0% citation, giving them lower composite scores of 8.8 than BDO and CohnReznick, which each hold a composite score of 12.5.

Is AI visibility in transaction advisory services concentrated or distributed across brands?

It is heavily concentrated: EY alone accounts for 75% visibility while 14 of the 20 tracked brands, including Alvarez and Marsal, record zero visibility and zero citations.