Domain Authority Weakly Predicts AI Visibility for 51 Fintechs

A benchmark of 51 fintech and payments companies found Domain Rating explains about 5% of the variance in whether a company appears in AI-generated answers. The measured correlation was 0.24.

Researchers ran 16 unbranded category queries across four AI engines — ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity — on a single day in June 2026. The sample covered 51 firms across eight fintech and payments verticals. The tests used public category prompts and the full methodology and dataset are available.

Domain Rating had limited predictive power for AI citations. Across the sample, DR accounted for roughly 5% of differences in AI visibility, producing a correlation coefficient of 0.24. Splitting the field in half, the 25 highest-DR companies averaged a DR of 81 and the 25 lowest averaged 61. The higher-authority half scored slightly lower on AI visibility than the lower-authority half.

Individual company results showed variation. Square, with a DR of 93, scored 31 on the study’s AI visibility scale. Sift (DR 80), Remitly (DR 78) and Rapyd (DR 75) did not appear in any query across the four engines and recorded zero visibility.

Two patterns correlated more clearly with AI visibility than domain authority. Every company classified as Highly Visible appeared in at least three of the four engines. No company that appeared in two engines or fewer reached the top visibility tier.

The tests showed sensitivity to query wording. One company scored 31 for generic category phrasing and 70 when prompts matched the company’s positioning, a 39-point difference on the same day and engines.

The report included market context. A separate survey cited in the report found about 51% of B2B software buyers begin research with AI chatbots. An analysis of 15,000 prompts referenced in the report found 11.9% of URLs cited by AI assistants also ranked in Google’s top 10, while more than 80% of AI-cited pages did not rank in Google’s top 100.

The benchmark notes several caveats. The results reflect a single-day snapshot from June 2026. AI outputs are non-deterministic and can change over time. The study used two queries per vertical and a limited sample, so outcomes for specific companies could vary with different prompts or a longer testing window.

Jeff Jenkins, founder of DIGI CONVO and author of the benchmark, wrote, “Domain authority does not predict AI visibility.” He stated in the report that investments in traditional SEO should not be assumed to automatically produce visibility in AI-generated answers.