We build a tool that checks whether AI models know a business exists, the discipline now called generative engine optimization, or GEO. So we pointed it at an industry we don't work in, four of them, and asked a simple question: if you're a real, established UK firm, does ChatGPT actually know you're there when a buyer asks?
The method
We picked 15 real, named businesses across four UK sectors, accountancy, commercial law, fintech, and executive coaching, deliberately mid-market firms rather than the Big Four, Magic Circle, or unicorn-scale names that obviously already dominate search. For each sector we asked two realistic, unprompted buyer questions (never naming any of the 15 firms) live against ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Claude, the same four platforms our AI Visibility Score checks for paying clients. That's 8 real checks per sector, 32 in total. We logged whether each firm's name appeared anywhere in the answer, verbatim, no interpretation.
This is a snapshot, not a permanent ranking. AI answers shift day to day as models retrain and the web changes. Every name below is a real business; nothing here is a judgement on the quality of their work, only on whether four AI models currently mention them when a buyer asks an unprompted question.
1. Accountancy: one firm, three mentions, everyone else zero
We checked Haines Watts (a real, established firm with over 50 UK offices), Clear House Accountants, Makesworth Accountants, and F9 Consulting against "Who are good accountancy firms in London for a growing SME?" and "Which UK accountants specialise in helping tech startups with bookkeeping and tax?"
Clear House Accountants was named in 3 of the 8 checks. Haines Watts, Makesworth Accountants, and F9 Consulting were named in zero, including Haines Watts, the largest of the four by a wide margin. On the tech-startup question specifically, none of the four appeared anywhere. ChatGPT instead named COPA Accounting, Accountancy Cloud, TECH ACCOUNTING Ltd, SAS Accountants London, Tech Relief Tax Advisers, striveX, TaxAce, Unicorn Accountants, dns accountants Harrow, and several others, mostly smaller, more narrowly-niched firms than any of the four we tested.
2. Legal: total dominance by one firm, near-silence for the rest
We checked Osborne Clarke, Mills & Reeve, Russell-Cooke, and Burges Salmon, all real, established UK commercial firms, against "Which UK law firms handle mid-market commercial contracts?" and "Recommend a UK law firm for a growing company doing an early-stage funding round."
Osborne Clarke appeared in 7 of the 8 checks. Mills & Reeve and Russell-Cooke appeared once each. Burges Salmon, a genuinely well-regarded firm, appeared in zero. Asked directly for mid-market commercial contract firms, Perplexity's real answer named Addleshaw Goddard, CMS, DLA Piper, Eversheds Sutherland, TLT, Womble Bond Dickinson, Pinsent Masons, RPC, Bird & Bird, Baker McKenzie, Travers Smith, Macfarlanes, Osborne Clarke, Goodwin, and K&L Gates, fourteen firms, most of them larger, international brands. Burges Salmon, Mills & Reeve, and Russell-Cooke were not among them.
3. Fintech: the same pattern, smaller sample
We checked iwoca, 9fin, and Abound against "What are notable UK fintech companies in SME lending?" and "Which UK fintech companies use AI for credit or lending decisions?" iwoca, the largest and longest-established of the three, was named in 4 of 8 checks. Abound appeared once. 9fin, a real, funded UK fintech, appeared in zero.
4. Coaching: the pattern holds a fourth time
We checked The Executive Coaching Consultancy, CoachDirectors, Maynard Leigh Associates, and LDL (Leadership Development Ltd) against "Best executive coaches in London?" and "Which UK companies offer leadership development coaching for senior managers?" The Executive Coaching Consultancy was named in 3 of 8 checks. The other three real, established firms were named in zero.
What four for four actually tells you
The same shape showed up in every sector we checked, completely unrelated industries with no overlap in who buys from them: one firm captures most of the AI mentions, and several other real, established, credible businesses are functionally invisible to the exact models more buyers are now asking instead of Googling. Firm size didn't predict the outcome either. Haines Watts has more offices than Clear House Accountants and still scored zero. Being real, being established, and doing good work is not the same thing as showing up when someone asks an AI model who to hire.
None of this means any of these firms are doing anything wrong. Most businesses have never checked what AI models actually say about them, because until recently there wasn't an easy way to find out. That's the specific, narrow problem our AI Visibility Score checks for any business, not a composite score, not a synthesised number, the real, verbatim answer, live.