---
title: "Insights, how AI decides who to recommend · Avouch"
description: "Field notes on generative engine optimisation: what AI actually cites, where it pulls its answers, and what the research means for the companies buyers shortlist."
url: https://avouchedfor.com/insights
markdown_url: https://avouchedfor.com/insights.md
---

# How AI decides who to recommend

Field notes on how generative engines choose who to name, grounded in the research, read for what it means for the companies buyers shortlist. No hot takes; what the data actually shows, and what to do about it.

- [Research · 20 Sep 2026 Your buyers are already asking AI instead of asking you 29 of 389 people weighing up a financial adviser raised the same doubt: can I just use ChatGPT? Here is one of them doing it, and what happened next.](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/buyers-ask-ai-not-you)
- [Research · 20 Sep 2026 Firms and their buyers are not talking about the same things “Community” appears on 70 of 654 firm pages and in none of 389 buyer conversations. So do protection, sustainability and portal.](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/firms-and-buyers-different-language)
- [Research · 20 Sep 2026 How buyers actually choose a professional, measured Reviews came up 46 times in 389 conversations. Chartered status came up 4 times. Most firms lead with the second one.](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/how-buyers-actually-choose)
- [Research · 5 Aug 2026 The accountancy firm AI visibility checklist The AI visibility checklist for a UK accountancy firm, ordered by what our own sweep actually showed moves the number, not a generic SEO checklist with 'AI' added.](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/accountants-checklist)
- [Research · 5 Aug 2026 Is AI search optimisation worth it for an accountancy firm? Crunch and The Accountancy Partnership were both named roughly ten times in our sweep. One converted 63% of those mentions into a recommendation. The other converted 20%. That gap is the return on this work.](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/accountants-worth-it)
- [Research · 5 Aug 2026 How to make an accountancy firm visible in AI search Four things actually moved AI recommendations for the firms in our sweep. Review volume did more work than anything else, and it's usually the one thing a typical SEO retainer never touches.](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/accountants-how-to)
- [Research · 5 Aug 2026 What ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude actually say about accountants, our own sweep data Crunch converted every single one of its ChatGPT and Claude mentions into a recommendation. On Gemini, in the same sweep, it converted none, and neither did any of the other 186 firms we tallied.](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/accountants-what-ai-says)
- [Research · 5 Aug 2026 What AI search optimisation costs for accountants AI engines already quote accountants a price for SEO, as low as £500 a month for a local practice, and a basic AI-visibility snapshot audit for well under £100. Neither yet separates ranking from being recommended.](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/accountants-ai-search-cost)
- [Research · 5 Aug 2026 ICAEW rules and AI-generated content: what a UK accountancy firm can and can't publish Accountants have no SRA-style price-transparency rule, a real, confirmed absence, not an oversight on our part. What does bind every firm is narrower and easy to miss: honest marketing, disclosed complaints handling, and a PII minimum that rose to £2 million in 2024.](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/accountants-icaew-ai-content)
- [Research · 5 Aug 2026 AI search optimisation for accountants: what actually gets a firm recommended Gemini named an accountancy firm 184 times in our sweep and recommended one zero times. Crunch and Taxfix, meanwhile, converted well over half their mentions into a specific pick.](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/ai-search-for-accountants)
- [Research · 5 Aug 2026 The R&D tax adviser AI visibility checklist The AI visibility checklist for a UK R&D tax adviser, ordered by evidence, compliance credibility first, not a generic SEO list with 'AI' added.](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/rd-tax-checklist)
- [Research · 5 Aug 2026 Is AI search optimisation worth it for an R&D tax adviser? ForrestBrown converted 62% of its AI mentions into recommendations in our sweep. A firm named 36 times converted zero. Same market, same week, this is what the gap is worth.](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/rd-tax-worth-it)
- [Research · 5 Aug 2026 How to make an R&D tax advisory firm visible in AI search Four things actually changed AI recommendations for the firms in our R&D tax sweep, and none of them was a lower fee.](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/rd-tax-how-to)
- [Research · 5 Aug 2026 What ChatGPT and Google AI actually say about R&D tax advisers, our own sweep data BDO converted 100% of its ChatGPT mentions into a recommendation and 0% of its Gemini mentions, in the same sweep. That gap is bigger than the gap between most firms.](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/rd-tax-what-ai-says)
- [Research · 5 Aug 2026 What AI search optimisation costs for R&D tax credit specialists R&D tax advisers price on contingency, not a monthly fee, and our own sweep shows engines already citing that structure, and the specific numbers, when they recommend a firm.](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/rd-tax-cost)
- [Research · 5 Aug 2026 HMRC rules and AI-generated content: what R&D tax advisers can and can't publish HMRC's compliance crackdown reshaped this market twice in under a year. Our own sweep found engines quoting a firm's enquiry rate before its fee, here's what that means for AI-drafted content.](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/rd-tax-hmrc-compliance)
- [Research · 5 Aug 2026 AI search optimisation for R&D tax credit specialists: what actually gets a firm recommended In our sweep of UK R&D tax advisers, one firm was named 36 times and recommended zero. Another converted 62% of its mentions. Here's what separated them.](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/ai-search-for-rd-tax)
- [Research · 5 Aug 2026 The law firm AI visibility checklist The AI visibility checklist for a UK law firm, ordered by what our own sweeps actually showed moves the number, not a generic SEO checklist with 'AI' added.](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/law-firm-checklist)
- [Research · 5 Aug 2026 Is AI search optimisation worth it for a law firm? Two firms in our sweep were named almost equally often. One converted 88% of those mentions into a recommendation. The other converted 26%. That gap is the return on this work.](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/law-firm-worth-it)
- [Research · 5 Aug 2026 How to make a law firm visible in AI search Four things actually moved AI recommendations for the firms in our sweeps. Directory presence and specific practice claims did the most work, and neither is inside a typical SEO retainer.](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/law-firm-how-to)
- [Research · 5 Aug 2026 What ChatGPT and Google AI actually say about solicitors, our own sweep data Gemini named 78 Southampton solicitors across 50 real buyer questions. It recommended zero of them. ChatGPT and Claude did, and picked different firms.](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/law-firm-what-ai-says)
- [Research · 5 Aug 2026 What AI search optimisation costs for solicitors AI engines already quote solicitors a price range for SEO, £1,500 to £6,000 a month. None of them yet separate that from what it costs to be the name AI recommends.](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/law-firm-ai-search-cost)
- [Research · 5 Aug 2026 SRA rules and AI-generated content: what a law firm can and can't publish Asked about law firm marketing, AI engines cite the SRA's own rules unprompted, three times in one sweep. Here's what that means for AI-drafted content specifically.](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/law-firm-sra-ai-content)
- [Research · 4 Aug 2026 AI search optimisation for law firms: what actually gets a firm recommended One national firm was named in eight AI answers about UK personal injury and recommended in none. Here is what separated it from the firms that were.](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/ai-search-for-law-firms)
- [Research · 27 Jul 2026 What actually decides who AI recommends Comparison and ranking sites get you recommended by AI roughly 3x more than anything else. Here's what that means and what to do about it.](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/what-decides-who-ai-recommends)
- [Explainer · 1 Jul 2026 What AI actually cites: the first 30%, and a table Where the citable answer sits, and why tables get lifted, the research on what engines quote.](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/what-ai-actually-cites)
- [Explainer · 1 Jul 2026 Where AI pulls its answers, and why it's rarely your homepage The off-site sources engines actually cite, YouTube, Reddit, review platforms, and why mentions beat backlinks.](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/where-ai-pulls-its-answers)
- [Research · 6 Aug 2026 Which AI engines actually recommend anyone, 34,411 answers classified The most widely used AI in the world is the least likely to tell you who to hire. Across 34,411 answers, ChatGPT named a pick in 4.2%, Grok did it in 35.5%.](https://avouchedfor.com/insights/which-engines-recommend)

Every figure is sourced; every piece is written by a named author. More to come as the platform produces its own findings.

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