AI Visibility Barometer of French Brands 2026
The first French study measuring the visibility of 100 brands inside AI assistants. 10 are completely invisible. Which sectors dominate, who disappears, and why.
Optimisé pour être cité dans
We measured the AI visibility of 100 French brands, sector by sector, on ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity. The verdict: 10 out of 100 brands are completely invisible to AI assistants — a score of zero, never cited on any of the four AIs. Among them, a buy-now-pay-later unicorn and a B2B bank. Brand recognition protects no one. Here is what the first AI Visibility Barometer of French brands reveals.
Methodology
We wanted a reproducible, transparent method so the numbers would hold. No brand in the panel is a LUWIZ client: the measurement is neutral.
100 brands, 10 sectors
A panel of 100 French brands (10 sectors × 10), a mix of leaders and challengers representative of the economy: B2B SaaS, fintech, healthcare, legal, insurance, real estate, e-commerce, energy, construction, restaurants.
ChatGPT + Gemini + Claude + Perplexity
The four leading consumer AI assistants: ChatGPT (OpenAI gpt-4o), Gemini (Google gemini-2.5-flash), Claude (Anthropic) and Perplexity (public UI). Each with its own sources and behaviour.
Discovery prompts
For each sector, we asked the question a prospect asks: "list the main brands in France ranked by reputation." Several prompts × runs per assistant, on ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity.
AI Visibility Score /100
For each brand we measure three things: Presence (40), Citation rank Primacy (30) and Multi-assistant Coverage (30). A brand cited first on all four AIs scores higher than one mentioned in passing.
AI Overviews not triggered
Google AI Overviews tested via DataForSEO: not triggered in France on our commercial queries. FR coverage is still partial — a finding in itself. It is the only surface left for v2.
The llms.txt factor
For each brand we check for an llms.txt file, the proactive signal AI assistants read first, to isolate what correlates with citation.
This barometer is built on data we collected ourselves, query by query, brand by brand, on 16 June 2026. That is what makes it hard to copy: you have to redo the collection to get the numbers. This data is ours, and we are sharing it.
The 5 takeaways
The summary below is free, no form required. The full PDF adds the brand-level detail, the tables and the long methodology — but the essentials are here.
brands completely invisible to AI — a score of zero, never cited
brands exposing an llms.txt file for AI assistants
construction/reno, the least visible sector in the panel
10 out of 100 brands are completely invisible to AI, including unicorns and giants. AI citation does not reward brand recognition, it rewards optimisation. An unknown but well-structured brand can outrank a poorly prepared unicorn.
Alma, the buy-now-pay-later unicorn, is invisible across all four AIs at once — ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude AND Perplexity (0/100), never cited. Same verdict for Memo Bank, a B2B bank. Massive funding, strong recognition, zero AI visibility. Proof that recognition ≠ citability.
Only 4 brands out of 100 expose an llms.txt file (Contentsquare, Balzac Paris, Memo Bank, Alan). 96% have no proactive signal for AI. That is a wide-open first-mover window — but beware, the signal alone is not enough: Memo Bank has an llms.txt and is still invisible.
Construction/reno is the least visible sector (44.2/100); e-commerce the most visible (68.8/100). Nearly 25 points apart: in the sectors at the bottom of the ranking, the head-start window is wide open.
On precise purchase-intent queries, ChatGPT in web search mode cited obscure SEO tools (DeeOps, N2F, Xpenzo) instead of the leaders — neither Agicap, nor Spendesk, nor Pennylane. AI visibility is won through GEO optimisation, not through brand recognition.
Top 20 most visible brands
| # | Brand | Sector | Score /100 | AIs | |---|--------|---------|:---:|:---:| | 1 | PayFit | B2B SaaS | 100 | 4/4 | | 2 | Qonto | Fintech | 100 | 4/4 | | 3 | Lydia | Fintech | 100 | 4/4 | | 4 | Hosman | Real estate | 100 | 4/4 | | 5 | Doctolib | Healthcare | 100 | 4/4 | | 6 | TotalEnergies | Energy/PV | 100 | 4/4 | | 7 | Predictice | Legal | 100 | 4/4 | | 8 | Leocare | Insurance | 98 | 4/4 | | 9 | Luko | Insurance | 97 | 4/4 | | 10 | Sézane | E-commerce | 95 | 4/4 | | 11 | Le Slip Français | E-commerce | 95 | 4/4 | | 12 | Back Market | E-commerce | 95 | 4/4 | | 13 | Legalstart | Legal | 95 | 4/4 | | 14 | Legalplace | Legal | 95 | 4/4 | | 15 | Qare | Healthcare | 92 | 4/4 | | 16 | Captain Contrat | Legal | 92 | 4/4 | | 17 | Acheel | Insurance | 92 | 4/4 | | 18 | Proprioo | Real estate | 90 | 4/4 | | 19 | Innovorder | Restaurants | 90 | 4/4 | | 20 | Typology | E-commerce | 87 | 4/4 |
Seven brands earn a perfect score of 100: cited first, on all four assistants, without exception. These are the references AI repeats when a prospect asks for "the main brands in their sector."
Sector ranking
| Rank | Sector | Average /100 | Leader | Invisibles | |---|---|:---:|---|:---:| | 1 | E-commerce | 68.8 | Sézane (95) | 0 | | 2 | Legal | 61.5 | Predictice (100) | 0 | | 3 | Healthcare | 60.7 | Doctolib (100) | 1 | | 4 | Insurance | 60.7 | Leocare (98) | 1 | | 5 | Energy/PV | 54.9 | TotalEnergies (100) | 0 | | 6 | Restaurants | 52.7 | Innovorder (90) | 0 | | 7 | Fintech | 52.3 | Qonto (100) | 2 | | 8 | B2B SaaS | 48.3 | PayFit (100) | 2 | | 9 | Real estate | 45.7 | Hosman (100) | 3 | | 10 | Construction/Reno | 44.2 | Effy (80) | 1 |
E-commerce leads (68.8), carried by Sézane; construction/reno brings up the rear (44.2). Nearly 25 points separate first from last: AI visibility is not evenly distributed, and some markets remain largely vacant.
The invisibles: the Alma case
The Alma case is emblematic: a buy-now-pay-later unicorn, massive funding, a brand everyone knows — yet 0/100, invisible across all four assistants at once, never cited by ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude or Perplexity. Same verdict for Memo Bank, a B2B bank. Cross-checking four assistants does not bring them back: recognition does not automatically convert into citability. That is exactly where GEO is won.
Ten brands in the panel score zero — never cited, on any of the four assistants:
- B2B SaaS: Slite, Hublo
- Fintech: Alma, Memo Bank
- Real estate: Immo-Pop, WeMaintain, Bevouac
- Healthcare: Sonio
- Construction/Reno: Sinimo
- Insurance: Wakam
None of these brands is in commercial trouble. They are simply absent from the new shelf where your prospects now look: the AI's answer.
llms.txt: 4 brands out of 100
Out of 100 brands analysed, only 4 expose an llms.txt file: Contentsquare, Balzac Paris, Memo Bank and Alan. This file is the proactive signal AI assistants read first to understand a brand — the LLM-oriented equivalent of a robots.txt.
In practice: the most accessible technical move to guide AI is ignored by nearly the entire French market. That is a first-mover window. Setting up this file today means taking a lead your competitors will not contest for months.
One caveat, though: an llms.txt file is not enough on its own. Memo Bank has one and stays completely invisible to all four AIs. The llms.txt is one signal among several — it works alongside brand mentions, schema and authority, not instead of them.
Get the full report
The full PDF adds the brand-by-brand detail, the score tables for all 100 brands, the long methodology and the correlation-factor analysis. First name, email and sector — so we can send you, as a priority, the takeaways that concern your market.
What it means for your brand
You may be an "Alma": known to your customers, invisible to AI. The good news is that AI visibility can be built — and it follows a method. At LUWIZ, that is the four-step LUWIZ Method:
Measure your real AI visibility score. Before moving, we know where you stand — and whether you are one of the invisibles.
Publish an llms.txt, structure your citable passages (134-167 words), mark up with schema. 96% of your competitors don't.
Build off-site brand mentions (Wikipedia, Reddit, press) — the number-one fuel for AI citations.
Track your AI share of voice over time, sector by sector, and iterate.
To go further: our GEO agency page details how we work, the free GEO audit measures your real position inside AI, and our SEO agency page explains the foundation that feeds your citations.
We look at your real position inside AI and build your plan. Free audit in 48h, three slots a month.
Votre marque est-elle citée par les IA ?
Découvrez votre score dans notre audit gratuit en 48h.
Réponse sous 24h · Sans engagement · contact@luwiz.io