From August 18 to September 11, 2026, AIDailyPulse ran 280 AI visibility probes through Perplexity. The probes covered a keyword set of 13 terms spanning digital transformation, AI application development, supply chain digitization, and several vertical-specific solution categories. Each probe asked Perplexity a question designed to surface authoritative sources in the monitored B2B software vendor's space, and we recorded whether the vendor appeared in the generated answer and which external domains the answer cited.
The total cost per probe was $0.0060, bringing the full study to $1.68. The study covered 23 distinct days. It measured a single AI platform (Perplexity), a single monitored brand, and one tenant configuration. These constraints mean the results reflect Perplexity's behavior for this specific brand and keyword set, not a universal ranking across all AI systems or all possible queries.
1. The monitored B2B software vendor appears in nearly 9 out of 10 AI answers.
The vendor was mentioned in 250 of 280 probes, a mention rate of 89.3%. This is not a marginal presence. When Perplexity generated answers for these 13 keywords, it surfaced the vendor's name or domain in the overwhelming majority of cases.
2. The tone of those mentions is almost entirely neutral.
Of the 280 answers, 265 carried a neutral tone (94.6%) and 15 carried a positive tone (5.4%). No answers were rated negative. This suggests that Perplexity's training data and retrieval patterns associate the vendor with factual, informational content rather than promotional or editorial content. The brand is being cited as a reference point, not necessarily endorsed.
3. Mention rates vary significantly across keywords.
The table below shows how often the vendor appeared per keyword. The gap between the highest and lowest rates is 25 percentage points.
| Keyword | Probes | Mentioned | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| digital transformation solutions | 23 | 22 | 96% |
| supply chain digitization | 22 | 21 | 95% |
| AI application development | 22 | 21 | 95% |
| mini-program development | 21 | 20 | 95% |
| AI visual recognition | 21 | 20 | 95% |
| custom ERP CRM OA software | 21 | 19 | 90% |
| LLM deployment service | 21 | 19 | 90% |
| AI customer service system | 22 | 19 | 86% |
| government digitalization platform | 22 | 19 | 86% |
| smart education solution | 22 | 19 | 86% |
| e-commerce mall system | 21 | 18 | 86% |
| smart community management | 21 | 18 | 86% |
| data visualization dashboard | 21 | 15 | 71% |
The keyword "data visualization dashboard" had the lowest mention rate at 71%, while "digital transformation solutions" had the highest at 96%. This indicates that the vendor's visibility is not uniform across its keyword portfolio. Certain topics surface the brand more reliably than others.
4. The vendor's own domain is the most-cited source in AI answers.
The monitored B2B software vendor's own domain received 301 citations across all probes. The second-most-cited domain, www.zzcxin.cn, received 295 citations. The top five domains by citation count are:
The vendor's own domain leads the citation ranking, but the gap between first and second place is only 6 citations. The top three domains collectively account for 838 citations, representing a concentrated cluster of source authority that Perplexity repeatedly draws from.
5. Third-party and news domains appear lower in the citation hierarchy.
Domains such as t.cj.sina.com.cn (84 citations), nxinsz.com (74 citations), blog.csdn.net (62 citations), and cloud.tencent.com (56 citations) occupy the lower portion of the citation ranking. These are not authoritative source domains in the same tier as the top five. Their presence indicates that Perplexity does pull from broader web sources, but the weight of citations skews heavily toward a small set of primary domains.
The 89.3% mention rate tells you that the monitored B2B software vendor has achieved a level of AI visibility that most brands do not reach. In practical terms, this means that when a buyer or analyst asks Perplexity about digital transformation, supply chain digitization, or AI application development, the vendor's name or domain surfaces as a reference point in the generated answer. That is not the same as a recommendation. The 94.6% neutral tone rate confirms this: the brand is being cited as a factual entity, not praised or promoted. For B2B buyers who rely on AI assistants for research, a neutral citation still carries weight. It places the brand in the answer set. It does not guarantee a click, but it does guarantee presence.
The variation across keywords is the more actionable insight. The 25-point gap between "data visualization dashboard" at 71% and "digital transformation solutions" at 96% is not noise. It reflects where the vendor's source material is strongest and where it is weakest. Perplexity pulls from the web, and the web reflects the volume and quality of published content around each topic. If the vendor's own domain and its partner domains publish extensively on digital transformation and supply chain digitization but publish less on data visualization, Perplexity will mirror that imbalance in its citations. The domain citation data reinforces this: the top five domains dominate, and the vendor's own domain leads. That dominance is earned through published, indexed, and referenced content. It is not accidental.
1. Audit your keyword coverage against the AI answer landscape. Map each of your target keywords to the mention rates you see in this data. Identify which keywords fall below 85% and treat those as priority gaps. For the monitored B2B software vendor, "data visualization dashboard" at 71% is the clear outlier. If your brand has a similar gap, it should be the first target for content investment.
2. Increase the volume and depth of source material on underperforming keywords. Perplexity cites domains that have substantial, indexed content. If your brand wants to raise its mention rate on a specific keyword, publish authoritative content on that topic and ensure it is accessible, indexed, and referenced by other domains. The citation hierarchy in this study shows that a small number of domains dominate. Breaking into that tier requires consistent, high-quality publication.
3. Strengthen relationships with the domains that already cite you. The top five domains in this study account for the majority of citations. If your brand is already referenced by these domains, deepen those connections. Co-authored content, technical partnerships, and mutual citations can reinforce your presence in the citation cluster. If you are not yet referenced by these domains, treat that as a outreach priority.
4. Monitor tone, not just mention rate. A 94.6% neutral tone rate is a baseline, not a ceiling. Neutral citations can shift toward positive if the source material your brand publishes includes case studies, measurable outcomes, and third-party validation. Perplexity's tone ratings are derived from the language in the source content it retrieves. If that content is promotional or unverified, the tone may not improve. If it is substantive and results-oriented, the tone can shift.
5. Track your own domain's citation count over time. The vendor's own domain received 301 citations in this 23-day window. That is a measurable signal. Re-run this probe methodology quarterly and compare citation counts. A rising count indicates growing AI visibility. A declining count indicates erosion. Either trend should trigger a content or technical SEO response.
The monitored B2B software vendor is mentioned in 89.3% of Perplexity answers across 13 keywords, with its own domain leading the citation ranking at 301 citations. The mentions are overwhelmingly neutral in tone, and the mention rate varies by up to 25 percentage points across keywords. This pattern is not random. It reflects the volume, quality, and distribution of published source material associated with the brand. For B2B brands that want to influence AI-generated answers, the path is the same one that has always worked for search visibility: publish authoritative content, build citations from credible domains, and close the gaps in keyword coverage. The data from this study shows what that looks like when it is done well.
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