87% Of UK Businesses Are Invisible In AI Search, New Study Finds

LLM Listed analysis reveals most companies are failing to appear in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity despite investing heavily in SEO

LONDON, UK - A new study by AI visibility agency LLM Listed has found that 87% of UK businesses are effectively invisible in AI search results, raising concerns that many brands are losing potential customers despite continuing to invest heavily in traditional SEO.

The research analysed 500 UK business websites across sectors including legal services, financial services, software, healthcare, professional services and ecommerce.

Researchers tested whether companies appeared in responses generated by ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity when users asked commercially relevant questions within their industry.

The findings suggest that while many companies continue to rank in traditional search engines, they are failing to appear in the AI-generated answers that an increasing number of consumers and business buyers now rely upon.

Key findings include:

* 87% of companies failed to appear in AI-generated recommendations for their primary commercial search terms
* Only 8% appeared consistently across all major AI platforms
* 76% were outranked by competitors in AI-generated responses
* 91% showed no evidence of an AI visibility strategy
* Less than 15% had content specifically designed to support AI discovery and citation

The findings come as businesses continue to experience significant changes in how people discover products, services and information online.

Recent industry studies suggest AI-powered search experiences are reducing click-through rates to websites, with some analyses showing traffic declines of more than 50% when AI-generated answers appear above traditional search results. (Search Engine Land)

Ben Harper, Founder of LLM Listed, said:

“Most marketing teams are still measuring success using rankings, traffic and backlinks. The problem is that buyers are increasingly getting answers directly from AI platforms without ever visiting a website.”

“The question businesses should be asking is no longer ‘Do we rank on Google?’ The question is ‘Does AI know we exist, trust us, and recommend us?’”

According to Harper, many businesses are facing a new visibility challenge.

“Companies spent the last twenty years optimising for search engines. They now need to optimise for answer engines. We are seeing businesses with strong SEO performance that are virtually absent from AI-generated recommendations.”

The study also identified significant differences between industries.

Large enterprise brands were substantially more likely to appear in AI-generated answers, while smaller and mid-sized businesses struggled to gain visibility despite often having stronger expertise within niche markets.

Researchers believe this trend could create what they describe as an “AI Visibility Monopoly,” where a small number of brands dominate recommendations while competitors become increasingly difficult for buyers to discover.

LLM Listed plans to publish additional industry-specific reports throughout 2026 covering legal services, SaaS, financial services, healthcare and professional services.

About LLM Listed

LLM Listed helps companies improve their visibility in AI platforms including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews. The company provides AI visibility audits, competitive analysis and optimization services designed to help brands become more discoverable in the emerging AI search ecosystem.

Media Contact:

Ben Harper
Founder, LLM Listed
hello@llmlisted.com