56% of Brands Recommended by AI in English Disappear in Other Languages — Cross-Analysis of 30 Brands Across 10 AI Engines and 5 Languages

"What rank does your company appear when searched by name?"—this has been the question SEO has answered for 20 years. But with the rise of AI search, an equally important question has emerged—one that most companies fail to measure: "When a buyer asks an AI assistant, does the AI mention your company's name?"

The AI visibility measurement platform "Citadex" conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 30 brands across 10 major AI engines and 5 languages, examining how brands are mentioned and cited. As a result, AI-specific "blind spots" invisible from SEO rankings have been revealed.

Survey Summary

Approximately 56% of brands mentioned in English responses disappear from answers when the same query is asked in other languages (language-based visibility gap)

In high purchase-intent queries, competitors occupy recommendation slots about 63% of the time

Even when brands are mentioned, only about 17% include source links (the remaining ~83% are anonymous mentions)

For mid-sized brands, the overlap of engines mentioning them is only about 11%—measuring just 1-2 engines misses most of the actual landscape

[Representative case] For one B2B company, their name was never mentioned across all engines in over 70 out of 100 purchase consideration queries

Background of the Survey

It's not uncommon for a webpage ranked #1 on Google to not appear at all when the same query is posed to ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google AI Overviews. Generative AI typically mentions only a few brands—sometimes just one—with no "second page." If a brand isn't mentioned, it's immediately excluded from consideration.

Moreover, traditional tools cannot detect this "blind spot." Rank trackers show a page's position on search results, but they don't reveal whether "the AI mentioned your company," "in what position," "how it was described," or "whether it was cited." Companies remain unaware that they're no longer being recommended by AI, and gradually disappear from buyer consideration. This survey was conducted to visualize this invisible gap.

Survey Overview

Conducted by: Citadex (AI visibility measurement platform)

Target brands: 30

Target engines: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Grok, DeepSeek, Meta AI, and 2 others—10 engines in total

Target languages: 5 languages (including Japanese and English)

Survey period: March to June 2026

Method: Purchase consideration queries were set for each brand, and responses were collected across 10 engines and 5 languages. Analysis covered "whether mentioned, mention order, tone (positive/neutral/negative), and presence of source citation" (thousands of AI responses were verified)

Key Findings

1. Visibility collapses when language changes (~56%)

AI responses branch based on the "language of the query," not the "user's country." Approximately 56% of brands mentioned in English responses disappeared when the same query was made in other languages. This means that focusing only on English may leave brands invisible in Japanese and other non-English markets.

2. Competitors dominate ~63% of high purchase-intent queries

In buyer-stage queries where the company should be recommended, competitors occupied the recommendation slots about 63% of the time. This is not a problem of "invisibility," but of "handing over sales opportunities to competitors," making it a top priority to address.

3. ~83% of mentions lack citations

Only about 17% of brand mentions included source links back to the company's content. The rest represent "anonymous use"—the brand's information is used in the response, but without credit or clicks. This citation data is the most actionable metric, revealing which external sources AI trusts.

4. Engine overlap is only ~11%

For mid-sized brands, the rate of engine overlap in mentions is only about 11%. Judging "we're covered" based only on ChatGPT and Perplexity means missing most of the actual landscape. Which engines buyers use should be verified with proprietary data, not general market share assumptions.

Executive Comment

"Rankings are still important, but they only explain one channel. Buyers now ask AI, 'What do you recommend for X?' before searching for a company name. If your name isn't mentioned then, no matter how strong your SEO is, you're out of consideration. You can't fix what you can't see. The starting point is measuring what AI says about your company across engines and languages."

About Citadex

"Citadex" is an AI visibility measurement platform that continuously tracks how brands are mentioned and cited—by language, engine, position, and citation—across major AI engines such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews.

For inquiries Citadex PR Contact: [email protected]