Study of 100 FABTECH 2025 exhibitors finds page-one Google rankings frequently fail to produce citations in AI-generated answers.
GRAFTON , WI, UNITED STATES, August 20, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — A new Peak 10 Marketing analysis found that manufacturers ranking on the first page of Google frequently failed to receive citations within Google’s AI Overviews for the same queries.
Using Ahrefs Site Explorer data, Peak 10 Marketing analyzed organic keyword and SERP-feature records for 100 manufacturers drawn from the FABTECH 2025 exhibitor list.
The analysis identified 3,116 qualifying keyword records where a manufacturer’s website ranked among Google’s top 10 organic results and Ahrefs indicated that an AI Overview appeared for the same query. The manufacturer’s own website was cited as a source in 865 of those AI Overviews. It was not cited in 2,251, resulting in a 72.2% own-domain omission rate.
Of the 100 manufacturers analyzed, 93 had at least one page-one keyword for which an AI Overview was recorded.
Among those 93 manufacturers:
* 87 had their own website omitted from a majority of the recorded AI Overviews.
* 11 were not cited in any of the recorded AI Overviews.
* Seven additional manufacturers had no AI Overview recorded for any of their qualifying page-one keywords.
“Page-one rankings and AI citations are now two different outcomes,” said Kevin Cahill, founder of Peak 10 Marketing. “Manufacturers need to measure both.”
PAGE-ONE VISIBILITY DOES NOT GUARANTEE AI VISIBILITY
Google AI Overviews can answer a searcher’s initial question before the traditional organic results appear. This creates a new visibility challenge for manufacturers that rely on organic search to reach prospective buyers.
A manufacturer can rank on page one, appear directly below an AI Overview and still not be cited as a source in the answer the buyer sees first.
Research from Pew Research Center illustrates the potential traffic impact. In its analysis of Google search behavior, users clicked a traditional search result during 8% of visits when an AI summary appeared, compared with 15% of visits when no AI summary appeared.
For purposes of the Peak 10 analysis, “not cited” means the manufacturer’s own domain did not appear as a source within the AI Overview. It does not necessarily mean the company was not mentioned by name, referenced through a third-party source or visible in the traditional organic results.
“This distinction matters because the manufacturer may possess the deepest expertise on the subject while a publisher, directory or competitor receives the citation and resulting visibility,” Cahill said. “The knowledge exists inside the company, but it must also be documented in a form buyers and search systems can find, understand and use.”
THE ANALYSIS MEASURED THE GAP, NOT ITS CAUSE
The analysis does not claim that any single website characteristic causes inclusion or exclusion from Google AI Overviews. AI-generated results change over time, and Google does not publish a formula guaranteeing that a specific website will be cited.
The findings instead identify an emerging measurement gap for manufacturers and their marketing teams.
Traditional SEO reporting usually focuses on rankings, impressions, organic traffic and conversions. Those metrics remain important, but they do not show whether a company is being used as a source inside AI-generated search results.
Peak 10 recommends that manufacturers begin tracking:
* The searches where an AI Overview appears
* Whether the manufacturer’s own domain is cited
* Which competitors, directories or publishers are cited instead
* Which pages consistently earn citations
* How citation visibility changes following content improvements
* Whether AI visibility contributes to qualified traffic, quote requests and closed revenue
Manufacturers should also examine whether their websites document the expertise that typically remains inside their sales, engineering and service departments. This can include application guidance, engineering tradeoffs, testing data, failure modes, product comparisons, installation lessons and answers to recurring customer questions.
Google’s published guidance continues to emphasize foundational SEO, clear technical structure and valuable, people-first content. It does not require special AI markup, a specific content length or an llms.txt file for inclusion in its generative search features.
“The answer is not flooding the website with generic AI-generated articles,” Cahill said. “Manufacturers possess original knowledge that generic publishers do not. The opportunity is to turn that knowledge into useful, authoritative resources organized around the questions buyers ask while evaluating a purchase.”
Peak 10 Marketing has published a detailed framework explaining how manufacturers can audit their current AI visibility, structure expert-led content, strengthen authority and connect AI search visibility to qualified opportunities.
Read How Manufacturers Win Inside ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews here.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND LIMITATIONS
Peak 10 Marketing analyzed Ahrefs Site Explorer organic keyword and SERP-feature data for 100 manufacturers drawn from the FABTECH 2025 exhibitor list.
The analysis used United States, non-branded keyword records where each manufacturer ranked among Google’s top 10 organic results. A record qualified when Ahrefs indicated that an AI Overview appeared for the same query. A manufacturer was counted as cited when its own domain appeared as a source within that AI Overview.
Across the dataset, the analysis identified 3,116 qualifying keyword records in which an AI Overview was present. In 865 of those cases, the manufacturer’s own website was cited as a source. In 2,251 cases, the manufacturer’s website was not cited, resulting in a 72.2% own-domain omission rate.
At the company level, 93 of the 100 manufacturers had at least one page-one keyword with an AI Overview present. Among those 93 manufacturers, 87 had their own website omitted from a majority of the recorded AI Overviews. Eleven manufacturers were not cited in any of the recorded AI Overviews, while seven manufacturers had no AI Overview recorded for any of their qualifying page-one keywords.
For clarity, “not cited” means the manufacturer’s own domain did not appear as a source within the AI Overview. It does not necessarily mean the company was not mentioned by name, referenced through third-party sources, or visible in traditional organic search results.
The analysis was based on an Ahrefs data snapshot dated June 9, 2026. It was a database analysis rather than 3,116 manually repeated Google searches. AI Overviews can vary by time, location, and user. Individual Ahrefs result sets were capped at 100 records per company, and the sample should not be interpreted as statistically representative of all United States manufacturers.
ABOUT PEAK 10 MARKETING
Peak 10 Marketing is a manufacturing marketing agency serving growth-oriented manufacturers, particularly owner-led companies with approximately $5 million to $50 million in annual revenue. The agency connects paid media, SEO, AI search visibility, content, lead generation, marketing automation and sales attribution into measurable revenue systems.
For more information, visit https://www.peak10marketing.com/.
Kevin Cahill
Peak 10 Marketing
+1 414-441-5641
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