Data & Research

The numbers behind AI search and why they matter for B2B pipeline.

Market statistics on AI search adoption, conversion performance, and buyer behaviour, alongside Persipica's own audit findings across enterprise and B2B companies.

Audit Findings

What we find when we audit B2B companies

These figures are drawn from Persipica's published audit programme, run across ChatGPT and Claude using a fixed query methodology.

0%
Discovery citation rate at audit start, across every company we have audited
3–5×
Improvement in discovery citation rates after a full GEO programme
8–14 wk
Typical time from audit to measurable citation improvement
7
Companies in the April 2026 benchmark cohort, all showing the same discovery gap pattern
100%
Brand recall rate

Every company we audited scored 100% when AI was asked about them by name, but 0% when a buyer asked for a category recommendation without naming anyone. Strong brand recall coexists with zero discovery presence. That is the pipeline gap: invisible at the exact stage where shortlists are formed.

Audits run April 2026 across ChatGPT (gpt-4o-mini) and Claude (claude-haiku). Each company tested on 26 to 30 prompts spanning the full buyer journey. Read the full methodology.

Market Data

AI search adoption and commercial performance

Third-party data on how buyers are using AI tools and what that means for conversion and pipeline.

73%
Buyer AI Research Adoption

73% of B2B buyers now use AI tools in their research process, making AI citation a prerequisite for appearing on shortlists.

14.2%
AI Search Conversion Rate

AI search visitors convert at 14.2% compared to 2.8% from Google organic — a five-fold commercial differential in favour of AI-referred traffic.

975%
AI Referral Traffic Growth

AI-driven referral traffic grew 975% year-over-year in 2025. The buyers are shifting. The question is whether they find your brand in the answers.

78%
Marketers Not Tracking AI Visibility

78% of marketers are not tracking or optimising for AI visibility, meaning most companies have no baseline measurement of how they appear in AI answers.

61%
Buyer Journey Before First Contact

61% of the buying journey now completes before the buyer contacts any vendor. Shortlists form during AI-assisted research, not during sales conversations.

Conversion Advantage

The 14.2% vs 2.8% gap means each AI-referred visitor is worth approximately five Google organic visitors in terms of pipeline contribution.

Sources: Opollo 2026 AI Search Benchmark Report. Loganix 2026 AI Buying Behavior Analysis. Forrester 2025 Buyers Journey Survey. McKinsey State of AI 2025.

The Discovery Gap

Why most companies score 0% on AI discovery queries

Most companies score 100% when AI is asked about them by name, but 0% when buyers ask for a recommendation without naming anyone. This is not a size or authority problem — it is a structural problem. Companies of all sizes show the same pattern. Every company Persipica has audited shows strong brand recall and zero discovery presence. That is pipeline you will never know you lost.

The commercial consequence is significant: if 61% of the buying journey completes before first contact, and AI is now where shortlists form, discovery invisibility means systematic exclusion from consideration before any salesperson is involved.

See Audit Results See Client Results

Dig Deeper

Research, methodology, and client results

What comes next

Find out where your company stands.

Every company Persipica has audited started at 0% discovery citation. The first step is a baseline measurement: where are you absent, who appears instead, and which gaps are worth fixing first.

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