By Felipe Morales, CEO of ESBUENISIMO LINKS
How many brands AI recommends: a study of 1,233 answers in Chile (2026)
How many brands AI recommends: ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude and Google compared across 1,233 answers to buying questions in four industries in Chile, 2026.
Updated November 7, 2026. When a person asks an AI tool to recommend a bank, a store or a university, how many brands do they get? The answer matters to any marketing manager: if AI names five, making the list is achievable; if it names one, whoever is not first does not exist. To find out how many brands AI recommends, ESBUENISIMO LINKS analyzed 1,233 answers from six AI tools to 222 buying questions in four industries in Chile, measured between November 2 and 6, 2026.
On average, each answer names 4.3 brands in the industry. But the average hides big differences: Gemini names 49% more brands than Claude, and in energy for businesses one in six answers names none at all.
View the data as a table
| brands per answer | 4.3 |
| of answers name 5 brands or more | 46.6% |
| name no brand in the industry | 8.4% |
| answers analyzed | 1,233 |
How we counted the brands AI recommends
The questions are the ones a customer would ask before buying: "which credit card should I get if I just started working?", "where can I buy tires with installation included?", "which university is good for psychology?". Each one was asked to ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, Google AI Overview and Google AI Mode from Chile, using the ESBUENISIMO LINKS measurement tool, which relies on the DataForSEO LLM responses API and each model's API.
In each answer we looked for the brands on a list per industry, of 18 to 37 competing companies. A brand counts once per answer. If AI named a company that was not on the list, it was not counted, so the figures are a floor. The studies were done to understand the visibility of companies in these industries, which is why we do not name them: only aggregate data is published here. Searches where Google did not show an AI Overview, and eight answers where the Gemini app declined to respond, were left out.
How many brands each AI tool recommends
| AI tool | Answers | Brands per answer | No brand at all | 5 brands or more | Sources per answer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini | 214 | 5.24 | 5.1% | 65.0% | 7.02 |
| AI Overview | 139 | 4.54 | 9.4% | 51.8% | 5.03 |
| AI Mode | 221 | 4.54 | 6.8% | 51.6% | 4.12 |
| ChatGPT | 222 | 4.09 | 7.7% | 39.6% | 10.56 |
| Perplexity | 222 | 4.02 | 6.8% | 38.3% | 6.74 |
| Claude | 215 | 3.51 | 15.3% | 35.8% | 11.27 |
Gemini names the most brands: 5.24 per answer, and in 65% of cases it gives a list of five or more. Next come Google's two AI formats, AI Overview and AI Mode, with 4.54 each. ChatGPT (4.09) and Perplexity (4.02) sit in the middle. Claude is the most restrained: 3.51 brands per answer, and 15.3% of its answers name no brand in the industry. In those cases it sometimes explains what to evaluate instead of giving names (for example, that no traditional bank lends to someone on Chile's Dicom debtor list) and other times names smaller companies that were not on the list.
There is a paradox: Claude is the tool that cites the most sources (11.3 per answer) and names the fewest brands. AI Mode does the opposite: it cites 4.1 sources and names 4.5 brands. Citing more does not mean recommending more; they are two different behaviors and are worth measuring separately. We had already compared the four big AI tools in our guide to ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude for GEO; this data puts numbers on those differences.
View the data as a table
| Sources per answer | Brands per answer | |
|---|---|---|
| Gemini | 7 | 5 |
| AI Overview | 5 | 5 |
| AI Mode | 4 | 5 |
| ChatGPT | 11 | 4 |
| Perplexity | 7 | 4 |
| Claude | 11 | 4 |
🚀 Digital PR & Link Building
Rank #1 on Google and Get Mentioned by AI
1,400+ media outlets in 8 countries. Backlinks that Google and ChatGPT recognize as trusted authority sources.
See plans and pricing →How many brands AI recommends by industry
| Industry | Answers | Brands per answer | No brand at all | Only one brand | 5 brands or more |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Higher education | 270 | 6.04 | 1.9% | 1.1% | 73.7% |
| Personal banking | 411 | 4.21 | 9.2% | 5.6% | 47.9% |
| Car parts | 260 | 3.67 | 4.6% | 8.1% | 34.2% |
| Energy for businesses | 292 | 3.42 | 16.8% | 14.7% | 30.8% |
Industry matters more than the AI tool. In higher education the answers are long lists: 6.04 universities on average and 73.7% of answers with five or more. Energy for businesses is the opposite: 3.42 brands per answer, 16.8% of answers with no brand and 14.7% with only one. There, AI sometimes first explains how the market works, for example who can become an unregulated customer, before recommending suppliers, and other times names energy consultancies that were not on the list.
Personal banking (4.21) and car parts (3.67) sit in the middle. For car parts, ChatGPT is the shortest of all: 2.94 stores per answer.
Industries where a single brand leads
AI naming few brands does not tell you whether one dominates. For that we measured the presence of the three most named brands in each industry: the share of answers each one appears in.
| Industry | 1st brand presence | 2nd brand | 3rd brand | Lead over 2nd | Brand that opens most answers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Higher education | 62.2% | 55.9% | 49.3% | 6.3 points | 35.8% |
| Personal banking | 58.2% | 55.5% | 52.1% | 2.7 points | 17.4% |
| Car parts | 58.8% | 39.6% | 34.2% | 19.2 points | 27.8% |
| Energy for businesses | 56.8% | 34.6% | 24.3% | 22.2 points | 33.7% |
View the data as a table
| 1st brand | 2nd brand | 3rd brand | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Higher education | 62% | 56% | 49% |
| Personal banking | 58% | 56% | 52% |
| Car parts | 59% | 40% | 34% |
| B2B energy | 57% | 35% | 24% |
All four industries have a leader that shows up in about 60% of answers. The difference is in second place. In banking, three brands appear in more than half the answers, with only 2.7 points between first and second: it is a tie and, in practice, AI recommends a group. In energy the leader is 22.2 points ahead of the runner-up, and in car parts 19.2: there is a clear leader and the rest compete just to appear.
Being named first also matters, because many people only read the beginning. In education, the brand most often named first opens 35.8% of the answers that name any brand; in energy, 33.7%. In banking, where there is a tie, none goes above 17.4%.
What it means for your brand
These numbers help set realistic goals. In an industry of long lists, like education or banking, the goal is making the list of five or six, and that comes from presence in the sources AI consults. In an industry of short lists with a clear leader, like energy or car parts, the goal is harder: you have to fight for first place or show up in the specific questions where the leader is absent.
It also pays to measure by AI tool. A brand that does well in Gemini, which names more than five brands per answer, may be missing from Claude, which names three and a half. To track this, measure your share of voice in AI question by question and repeat it every month, because answers change.
The way into those lists is the one we explain in how to get mentioned by AI: getting the brand into the media, portals and comparison sites AI already uses as sources. If you want to know how often AI names you compared with your competitors, at esbuenisimolinks.com/agencia-geo we run this study for your industry with the same method.
Study limitations
It covers four industries in Chile and one week of measurements. AI answers change from day to day and by version: we measured the ChatGPT app, the Gemini app, Perplexity Sonar Pro, Claude with web search and Google's AI formats as they worked between November 2 and 6, 2026. The count depends on each industry's brand list, so an AI tool may have named other companies we did not count. Google AI Overview did not appear in every search (it answered 139 of the 222 questions), so its sample is smaller. Google's documentation on AI features in Search explains when they are shown.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many brands does AI recommend in one answer?+
In our study of 1,233 answers in Chile (November 2026), 4.3 industry brands on average. 46.6% of answers named five or more and 8.4% named none.
Which AI tool names the most brands?+
Gemini, with 5.24 brands per answer, followed by Google AI Overview and AI Mode (4.54), ChatGPT (4.09), Perplexity (4.02) and Claude (3.51).
Why does Claude name fewer brands?+
15.3% of its answers named no brand in the industry: it sometimes explains what to evaluate instead of giving names and other times names companies outside the list, even though it cites the most sources (11.3 per answer).
In which industries does AI name the fewest brands?+
Energy for businesses: 3.42 per answer and 16.8% of answers with none. In higher education it names the most: 6.04 universities per answer.
How can a brand show up in AI recommendations?+
By being in the sources AI consults (the industry's media, portals and comparison sites) and measuring its presence question by question in each AI tool, since each one names a different number of brands.
Ready to rank #1 and get mentioned by AI?
Digital PR & Link Building in 1,400+ media outlets across 8 countries. Google and ChatGPT recognize you as an authority source.
See plans and pricing