Higglo Digital Research
A deep dive into how generative AI is reshaping search, traffic, and digital visibility across industries.
Expanded with detailed benchmarks and market verticals.
Executive Summary
AI Search Landscape
Higglo Digital Playbook
Vertical Benchmarks
After years working on Google Search, Higglo Digital's CEO watched classic "10 blue links" give way to AI systems that answer questions directly. Users no longer want long lists of results—they expect contextual, synthesized guidance tailored to their situation.
Generative engines mark the end of the old search era. Instead of fighting for clicks, brands now need to become part of the answers that AI systems deliver. Higglo Digital calls this new discipline Generative Engine Optimization (GEO).
The report is based on millions of AI responses and live work with hundreds of customers. It shows how companies are already capturing double-digit share of voice in AI answers—and how others can do the same.
Andrew Yan · Co-Founder & CEO, Higglo Digital
Higglo Digital is a GEO platform that helps brands earn visibility in AI answers, build authority with generative engines, and understand how LLMs talk about their market.
Generative AI has turned search into an answer surface. AI Overviews and AI modes respond directly on the results page, cutting clicks to publisher sites—some brands have seen organic traffic fall by more than half. The upside: the smaller number of visitors that do click through are far more educated and ready to buy.
Across all segments, brands are mentioned in about 17% of AI responses on average, while category leaders reach nearly 60%. Average domain citation rates hover around 9%.
Market average: ~17% of responses mention a given brand when at least one competitor is present.
#1 brands often own ~36% of mentions, #2 around 20%, #3 ~13%—a steep drop-off.
On average, only ~9% of AI answers cite a brand's website explicitly, underscoring the need for stronger authority.
AI engines repeatedly return to a small set of trusted domains. Reddit, Wikipedia, YouTube, Forbes, LinkedIn, Gartner, and G2 are all disproportionately referenced, while AI often lands on /blog and /home as entry points for brand sites.
Metrics that matter
Traditional SEO looks at rankings, impressions, clicks, and CTR. GEO introduces new, AI-native metrics that better reflect influence in AI answers.
Your percentage of brand mentions in AI answers compared to all competitors for a given prompt set.
How consistently your brand appears across different phrasings of the same user intent.
How often AI engines explicitly cite your domain when generating answers.
Leads and conversions that originate from discovery in AI answers—not classic search results.
Business outcomes tied to performance on specific, high-value AI prompts.
How often you are included whenever any competitor is mentioned in an answer.
The report analyzes roughly 6 million AI responses from six major models over six months. Response samples were capped per model to avoid skew from power-law distributions, and results were tracked over time to see how sources and citations evolve.
Benchmarks provide a reference for "normal" behavior, while action-oriented insights show where brands can move the needle with GEO.
Source rankings are volatile. For example, Reddit's share of citations in some models has swung from around 10% to over 70% at different points in time. Because of this, it's important to monitor AI answers continuously rather than over-reacting to short-term spikes.
The long-term strategy is to build stable, high-quality content and a flexible team that can adapt as algorithms and favored sources change.
Higglo Digital breaks out performance by sector to show how AI search behaves differently in each market. Below is a high-level overview of the main verticals.
Tech brands see average mention rates similar to the market (~17%), while leaders exceed 59%. AI often leans on Reddit, Wikipedia, YouTube, Gartner, Medium, IBM, AWS, and Microsoft Learn.
Common entry paths: /blog, /home, /learn, and /docs. Thought leadership and product documentation both matter.
Finance brands slightly outperform the average on mentions and have higher citation rates (~10%). AI relies heavily on specialist hubs like NerdWallet, Investopedia, and Bankrate, plus outlets like Forbes, CNBC, and Business Insider.
Key entry paths include /blog, /compliance-hub, /life, and /learn, reflecting the importance of regulatory and educational content.
Leaders in this space command very high share of voice (~43% for #1 brands). AI often cites Wikipedia, YouTube, Reddit, social and marketing tooling sites, and learning platforms.
AI frequently lands on /blog, /home, /stories, and other narrative or learning sections. Educational and story-driven content performs best.
Retail brands sit near the global average for mentions, with top players around 57% share. AI references a mix of Reddit, YouTube, Wikipedia, Amazon, Walmart, lifestyle media, and product review sites.
AI uses /home, /blog, /collections, /products, and tips or ideas sections as entry points—brand storytelling and product architecture both matter.
Visibility is more concentrated: average mentions are slightly lower than market, but top organizations still hold strong dominance. AI leans on specialized nonprofit and HR hubs like People Managing People, Instrumentl, NeonOne, and WildApricot, plus generalist sources.
Here, /blog dominates as the main entry path (well over half of AI landings), alongside grant and resource sections such as /browse-grants and /copilot.
This sector sees higher-than-average brand mentions (~19%) and strong citation rates (~15%). AI frequently cites Tripadvisor, HotelTechReport, SiteMinder, Mews, Lighthouse, and Reddit.
Typical entry paths: /stories, /things-to-do, /blog, and /plan. Experience-driven and destination content is critical.
Average brand mentions are lower (~14%), but top brands reach over 60% share of voice. AI cites a mix of retail/DIY platforms (HomeDepot, Lowe's), official energy and government sites, and community sources.
Common entry paths include /blog, /collections, /home, restaurant or brand directories, emphasizing both technical content and practical catalogs.
The takeaway is simple: AI doesn't crawl the whole web evenly. It keeps returning to the same trusted sources and structured content hubs. To win, brands must intentionally publish and promote material that generative engines can understand, trust, and reuse in their answers.
GEO is how you move from being one more result to being part of the answer.
