Research · Recurring index
The SA AI Visibility Index.
When a South African buyer asks an AI assistant “who’s the best [industry] near me?”, a shortlist comes back — and most brands aren’t on it. The Index measures who is: grounded answers from ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity, scored per industry, with the method and every prompt published.
Edition 1 — July 2026 · Published 5 July 2026 · 3 verticals · 1 296 grounded answers
Residential property & estate agencies
Measured June 2026 · ChatGPT (gpt-4o-mini) · Claude (claude-haiku-4-5) · Gemini (gemini-2.5-flash) · Perplexity (sonar) · 36 prompts × 3 runs = 432 grounded answers
In June 2026, the South African estate agencies most often named by AI assistants were Pam Golding Properties (45% of answers), Seeff (35%) and RE/MAX (25%) — measured across 432 grounded answers from ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity.
| # | Brand | Share of mention | Shortlist share | Conviction | AI crawler |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pam Golding Properties | 45% | 58% | 91% | visible |
| 2 | Seeff Properties | 35% | 39% | 89% | visible |
| 3 | RE/MAX of Southern Africa | 25% | 20% | 82% | blocks GPTBot (403) |
| 4 | Rawson Property Group | 22% | 18% | 74% | blocks GPTBot + ClaudeBot + PerplexityBot (403) |
| 5 | Chas Everitt International | 20% | 25% | 82% | visible |
| 6 | Engel & Volkers Southern Africa | 16% | 27% | 80% | visible |
| 7 | Lew Geffen Sotheby's International Realty | 13% | 17% | 80% | visible |
| 8 | Jawitz Properties | 13% | 16% | 77% | visible |
| 9 | Just Property | 10% | 12% | 88% | visible |
| 10 | Harcourts South Africa | 5% | 6% | 68% | visible |
| 11 | Greeff Christie's International Real Estate | 5% | 6% | 81% | visible |
| 12 | Dogon Group Properties | 5% | 6% | 75% | visible |
| — | Property24platform | 18% | — | 34% | visible |
| — | Private Propertyplatform | 13% | — | 37% | visible |
Share of mention = share of all 432 answers naming the brand. Shortlist share = the same measure on “best estate agents” questions only. Conviction = of the answers naming the brand, the share presenting it as a recommended choice rather than a passing mention.
The engine you ask changes the answer
| Brand | ChatGPT | Claude | Gemini | Perplexity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pam Golding Properties | 25% | 55% | 61% | 38% |
| Seeff Properties | 24% | 37% | 48% | 30% |
| RE/MAX of Southern Africa | 13% | 15% | 34% | 36% |
| Rawson Property Group | 14% | 12% | 37% | 25% |
| Chas Everitt International | 13% | 14% | 36% | 18% |
| Property24platform | 7% | 7% | 12% | 44% |
Pam Golding Properties leads the category by a wide margin — named in 45% of all answers and presented as a recommended choice in 91% of the answers that name it, a conviction rate no other tracked brand reaches. Seeff is a clear second; share drops off steeply after third place.
The assistant you ask changes the answer. ChatGPT names the fewest brands (Pam Golding peaks at 25% there), Gemini names the most (61% for the same brand), and Perplexity leans on the portals — Property24 tops its answers at 44%. No single engine is a proxy for “AI”.
Two tracked agencies’ websites returned confirmed, reproduced 403 responses to AI crawlers at measurement time: Rawson Property Group to GPTBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot, and RE/MAX of Southern Africa to GPTBot specifically — consistent with RE/MAX’s weakest engine being ChatGPT (13%, against 34% on Gemini). Every other tracked brand served all tested crawlers normally.
The engines frequently name a franchise’s local office (“RE/MAX Living”) rather than the national brand, and untracked challengers surface on their own — Fine & Country was named 40 times without being on the tracked list. Regional specialists do not automatically hold their home turf in AI answers.
Named by AI without being tracked
Every answer is open-coded, so brands outside the tracked set surface on their own — the challengers the engines already trust:
- Fine & Countrynamed 40×
- Knight Frank South Africanamed 27×
- Tyson Propertiesnamed 18×
- EXP South Africanamed 18×
- RE/MAX Livingnamed 17×
- Century 21 South Africanamed 16×
- LRE Groupnamed 14×
- Firzt Realtynamed 12×
Drift — how these rankings move between editions — begins with Edition 2. The tracked least-named brands this edition: Harcourts South Africa, Greeff Christie's International Real Estate, Dogon Group Properties.
Download the data (CSV)Attorneys & law firms
Measured July 2026 · ChatGPT (gpt-4o-mini) · Claude (claude-haiku-4-5) · Gemini (gemini-2.5-flash) · Perplexity (sonar) · 36 prompts × 3 runs = 432 grounded answers
In July 2026, no South African law firm dominated AI assistants’ answers: Bowmans led at 15% of 432 grounded answers, with Adams & Adams (14%), Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr, Webber Wentzel, ENS and Werksmans clustered at 12% directly behind.
| # | Brand | Share of mention | Shortlist share | Conviction | AI crawler |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bowmans | 15% | 27% | 83% | blocks GPTBot + ClaudeBot + PerplexityBot (403) |
| 2 | Adams & Adams | 14% | 21% | 64% | blocks ClaudeBot (403) |
| 3 | Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr | 12% | 19% | 85% | visible |
| 4 | Webber Wentzel | 12% | 22% | 96% | content not server-rendered |
| 5 | ENS (ENSafrica) | 12% | 20% | 78% | content not server-rendered |
| 6 | Werksmans Attorneys | 12% | 18% | 88% | visible |
| 7 | Norton Rose Fulbright South Africa | 4% | 9% | 56% | visible |
| 8 | DSC Attorneys | 2% | 4% | 75% | blocks ClaudeBot (403) |
| 9 | Barnard Incorporated | 1% | 0% | 60% | visible |
| 10 | STBB (Smith Tabata Buchanan Boyes) | 1% | 2% | 100% | blocks ClaudeBot (403) |
| 11 | Fluxmans Attorneys | 1% | 1% | 33% | visible |
| 12 | Schindlers Attorneys | 0% | 0% | — | visible |
| — | LegalWiseplatform | 8% | — | 56% | visible |
| — | Scorpion Legal Protectionplatform | 5% | — | 71% | visible |
Share of mention = share of all 432 answers naming the brand. Shortlist share = the same measure on “best law firms / attorneys” questions only. Conviction = of the answers naming the brand, the share presenting it as a recommended choice rather than a passing mention.
The engine you ask changes the answer
| Brand | ChatGPT | Claude | Gemini | Perplexity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bowmans | 11% | 15% | 16% | 17% |
| Adams & Adams | 4% | 12% | 17% | 24% |
| Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr | 7% | 14% | 17% | 10% |
| Webber Wentzel | 8% | 10% | 14% | 15% |
| ENS (ENSafrica) | 5% | 11% | 16% | 15% |
| Werksmans Attorneys | 6% | 17% | 15% | 9% |
Legal is a contested category with no runaway leader. Where property’s most-named brand reached 45%, Bowmans leads legal at 15%, and six firms sit within three points of each other. Conviction separates them more than volume does: Webber Wentzel was presented as a recommended choice in 96% of the answers that named it — the highest conviction of any brand measured in this edition.
The category’s defining finding is infrastructural. Bowmans — the most-named firm — returned confirmed, reproduced 403 responses to GPTBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot at measurement time. Webber Wentzel’s and ENS’s sites served no server-rendered content to any visitor we tested, and Adams & Adams blocked ClaudeBot while throttling GPTBot. Of the six most-visible firms, only Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr and Werksmans served every tested crawler cleanly.
Those firms stay visible anyway because a mediator layer does the talking for them: the most-cited sources in legal answers are directories and rankers — attorneys.co.za (155 citations), Lawzana (125), Best Lawyers (97) and Legal500 (69) — not the firms’ own sites. In legal, AI visibility currently runs through third-party corroboration more than through anything a firm publishes itself.
The open capture also surfaced the category’s quiet story: Burger Huyser Attorneys, a consumer-focused firm not on the tracked list, was named 46 times — effectively level with the Big Five corporate firms — and dozens of small family, labour and divorce practices surface on consumer questions. The consumer end of SA legal AI visibility is wide open.
Named by AI without being tracked
Every answer is open-coded, so brands outside the tracked set surface on their own — the challengers the engines already trust:
- Burger Huyser Attorneysnamed 46×
- Witz Inc.named 26×
- Bregman Moodley Attorneysnamed 20×
- Benita Ardenbaum Attorneysnamed 20×
- Shepstone & Wylienamed 17×
- Barter McKellarnamed 17×
- Spoor & Fishernamed 16×
- Vermeulen Attorneysnamed 16×
Drift — how these rankings move between editions — begins with Edition 2. The tracked least-named brands this edition: STBB (Smith Tabata Buchanan Boyes), Fluxmans Attorneys, Schindlers Attorneys.
Download the data (CSV)Accounting, audit & tax firms
Measured July 2026 · ChatGPT (gpt-4o-mini) · Claude (claude-haiku-4-5) · Gemini (gemini-2.5-flash) · Perplexity (sonar) · 36 prompts × 3 runs = 432 grounded answers
In July 2026, the South African accounting firms most often named by AI assistants were BDO (28% of 432 grounded answers), Forvis Mazars (20%) and PKF (16%) — with every Big 4 firm behind them: Deloitte and PwC at 14%, KPMG 12%, EY 9%.
| # | Brand | Share of mention | Shortlist share | Conviction | AI crawler |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BDO South Africa | 28% | 38% | 81% | visible |
| 2 | Forvis Mazars South Africa | 20% | 29% | 79% | visible |
| 3 | PKF South Africa | 16% | 24% | 65% | visible |
| 4 | Deloitte South Africa | 14% | 26% | 75% | visible |
| 5 | PwC South Africa | 14% | 26% | 70% | blocks GPTBot + ClaudeBot + PerplexityBot (403) |
| 6 | SNG Grant Thornton | 13% | 12% | 78% | visible |
| 7 | RSM South Africa | 13% | 18% | 59% | visible |
| 8 | KPMG South Africa | 12% | 23% | 71% | visible |
| 9 | EY South Africa | 9% | 18% | 69% | visible |
| 10 | Moore South Africa | 9% | 12% | 73% | not tested |
| 11 | The Beancounter | 8% | 8% | 78% | blocks ClaudeBot (403) |
| 12 | Outsourced CFO | 1% | 0% | 50% | visible |
| — | Xeroplatform | 16% | — | 60% | serves AI bots unevenly |
| — | TaxTimplatform | 5% | — | 91% | visible |
Share of mention = share of all 432 answers naming the brand. Shortlist share = the same measure on “best accounting firms” questions only. Conviction = of the answers naming the brand, the share presenting it as a recommended choice rather than a passing mention.
The engine you ask changes the answer
| Brand | ChatGPT | Claude | Gemini | Perplexity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BDO South Africa | 18% | 32% | 31% | 31% |
| Forvis Mazars South Africa | 15% | 19% | 24% | 22% |
| Xeroplatform | 7% | 13% | 25% | 19% |
| PKF South Africa | 9% | 16% | 22% | 16% |
| Deloitte South Africa | 16% | 13% | 16% | 11% |
| PwC South Africa | 9% | 15% | 14% | 17% |
The AI shortlist for accounting is mid-tier-led. BDO is named in 28% of all answers and holds the shortlist questions too (38%) — while the Big 4, the category’s biggest brands, sit mid-table and EY places ninth of the twelve tracked firms. The prompt panel asks the questions real buyers ask — small-business accounting, tax practitioners, payroll, audits for private companies — and on those questions the engines reach past the Big 4’s brand weight.
The crawler pattern from property and legal repeats at the top of the market: PwC’s website returned confirmed, reproduced 403 responses to GPTBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot at measurement time — the same three-bot block found at Bowmans in legal — and The Beancounter blocked ClaudeBot. PwC stays on the shortlist anyway, carried by third-party sources rather than its own pages, which is the edition’s recurring lesson: what the engines can’t read, someone else describes for you.
The engine split repeats the pattern from property and legal: ChatGPT names the fewest brands (BDO peaks at 18% there against 31–32% on Claude, Gemini and Perplexity), so checking one assistant still tells you little about the other three.
Software sits inside the consideration set, not beside it. Xero is named in 16% of answers — more often than KPMG — and TaxTim, when named, is presented as a recommended choice 91% of the time, the highest conviction in the vertical. For accounting questions, the engines treat platforms as answers in their own right, not just tools.
The open capture surfaced a crowded challenger field: Sage (named 30×), Tax Consulting South Africa (25×), QuickBooks (21×) and Nexia SAB&T (20×) all register without being tracked, alongside a long tail of local practices — My Accountant, SureBooks, Anlo Financial Solutions. The SME end of the category is contested and, on this evidence, winnable.
Named by AI without being tracked
Every answer is open-coded, so brands outside the tracked set surface on their own — the challengers the engines already trust:
- Sagenamed 32×
- Tax Consulting South Africanamed 26×
- Brendmo Accountantsnamed 23×
- SureBooksnamed 22×
- C2M Chartered Accountantsnamed 21×
- QuickBooksnamed 21×
- My Accountantnamed 21×
- Thryvnamed 20×
Drift — how these rankings move between editions — begins with Edition 2. The tracked least-named brands this edition: Moore South Africa, The Beancounter, Outsourced CFO.
Download the data (CSV)What the Index does not measure
- Business quality. Share-of-mention measures AI visibility, not the quality of any brand’s service, people or results. A low share is not a judgement of the business.
- Causes, beyond the confirmed ones. Absence from AI answers is multi-causal — authority, content depth, crawler configuration, name ambiguity. The Index claims a specific cause only where it is directly measured and reproduced (e.g. a 403 served to a named crawler).
- Traditional search. Google’s ranked results are a different, separately-measurable surface. A brand can lead classic SEO and still miss the AI shortlist — and vice versa.
- Paid placement. None of the engines measured here sold placement in these answers at measurement time; the Index measures organic answer behaviour only.
- Permanence. Models drift. Every figure is date-stamped and holds for its measurement window, not forever — that is why the Index recurs.
Single-digit shares are noisy at N=3 and should be read as “barely registers”, not as precise rank.
Absence is multi-causal — authority, content, crawler configuration or name ambiguity. No single cause is claimed for any brand beyond the two confirmed crawler blocks.
LegalWise and Scorpion Legal Protection are legal-expenses platforms, not law firms; they are reported in the platform bucket and excluded from shortlist share.
Xero and TaxTim are software platforms, not firms; they are reported in the platform bucket and excluded from shortlist share.
Nexia SAB&T (named 20× untracked) is a promotion candidate for the Edition 2 tracked set.
Moore South Africa’s website could not be fetched by the crawler-test method at measurement time and its crawler status is reported as not tested — no inference is made from that.
The prompt panels, in full
Every prompt behind every number on this page. Panels are fixed per vertical so editions stay comparable; each mixes shortlist, category, process, comparison and trust questions the way real buyers ask them.
Residential property & estate agencies — 36 prompts
- Who are the best estate agents in South Africa?
- What is the most reputable estate agency in South Africa?
- Who are the best estate agents in Cape Town?
- Best estate agents on the Atlantic Seaboard in Cape Town (Camps Bay, Clifton, Sea Point)?
- Best estate agents in Cape Town's southern suburbs (Constantia, Claremont, Newlands)?
- Best estate agents in Cape Town's northern suburbs (Durbanville, Bellville)?
- Who are the best estate agents in Johannesburg?
- Best estate agents in Sandton?
- Best estate agents in Fourways and Midrand?
- Best estate agents in Pretoria (Waterkloof, Brooklyn, Lynnwood)?
- Best estate agents in Centurion?
- Who are the best estate agents in Durban?
- Best estate agents in Umhlanga and Ballito?
- Best estate agents in Stellenbosch and the Cape Winelands?
- Best estate agents on the Garden Route (George, Knysna, Plettenberg Bay)?
- Best estate agents in Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth)?
- Which estate agency is best to sell my house in Cape Town?
- Best rental and letting agents in Johannesburg?
- Best rental and letting agents in Cape Town?
- Which agency is best for luxury and high-end property in South Africa?
- Which agency is best for selling a luxury home in Cape Town?
- Which estate agents are best for buying off-plan or new development property in South Africa?
- Best estate agent for first-time home buyers in South Africa?
- Who are the best commercial property brokers in South Africa?
- How do I choose an estate agent to sell my house in South Africa?
- How do I sell my house in South Africa?
- What commission do estate agents charge in South Africa?
- Should I sell my house privately without an estate agent in South Africa?
- What questions should I ask an estate agent before signing a mandate in South Africa?
- Sole mandate vs open mandate when selling a house in South Africa — which is better?
- Pam Golding vs Seeff — which is better to sell my house with?
- RE/MAX vs Rawson for selling a house in South Africa — which is better?
- What are the best alternatives to Pam Golding Properties in South Africa?
- Is Property24 or Private Property enough to sell my house, or do I still need an estate agent in South Africa?
- How do I check that an estate agent is registered and legitimate in South Africa (PPRA / Fidelity Fund Certificate)?
- How do I avoid estate agent scams when selling property in South Africa?
Attorneys & law firms — 36 prompts
- Who are the best law firms in South Africa?
- What is the most reputable law firm in South Africa?
- Best attorneys in Cape Town?
- Best law firms in Johannesburg?
- Best attorneys in Sandton?
- Best law firms in Pretoria?
- Best attorneys in Durban?
- Best attorneys in Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth)?
- Best conveyancing attorneys in Cape Town?
- Best conveyancing attorneys in Johannesburg?
- Best divorce and family lawyers in Cape Town?
- Best divorce and family lawyers in Johannesburg?
- Best labour lawyers in South Africa?
- Best commercial law firms for small businesses in South Africa?
- Best personal injury and Road Accident Fund attorneys in South Africa?
- Best criminal defence attorneys in Johannesburg?
- Which law firm should I use to register a trademark in South Africa?
- Best law firm for drafting a will and handling deceased estates in South Africa?
- Which attorneys are best for the property transfer when buying a house in Cape Town?
- Best lawyers for an unfair dismissal (CCMA) case in South Africa?
- Which law firm is best for immigration and visa matters in South Africa?
- Best law firm for debt collection for a small business in South Africa?
- Which attorneys are best for an antenuptial contract in South Africa?
- Best tax lawyers in South Africa?
- How do I choose an attorney in South Africa?
- How much does a lawyer cost per hour in South Africa?
- How much are conveyancing fees when buying a house in South Africa?
- Do I need a lawyer for a divorce in South Africa, or can I do it myself?
- What questions should I ask a lawyer before hiring them in South Africa?
- Who appoints the conveyancing attorney when a house is sold in South Africa, and can I choose my own?
- LegalWise vs hiring a private attorney in South Africa — which is better?
- Big law firm vs boutique attorney for a small business in South Africa — which is better?
- What are the best alternatives to LegalWise in South Africa?
- Scorpion Legal Protection vs LegalWise — which is better?
- How do I check that an attorney is admitted and in good standing with the Legal Practice Council in South Africa?
- How do I avoid being overcharged by an attorney in South Africa, and what can I do about a fee dispute?
Accounting, audit & tax firms — 36 prompts
- Who are the best accounting firms in South Africa?
- What are the top audit firms in South Africa?
- Best accounting firms in Cape Town?
- Best accounting firms in Johannesburg?
- Best accountants in Sandton?
- Best accounting firms in Pretoria?
- Best accountants in Durban?
- Best accounting firms in Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth)?
- Best accounting firms for small businesses in South Africa?
- Best tax practitioners in South Africa?
- Best tax consultants in Cape Town?
- Best tax consultants in Johannesburg?
- Best bookkeeping services for small businesses in South Africa?
- Best payroll providers for small businesses in South Africa?
- Best auditors for a small private company in South Africa?
- Best accounting firms in Stellenbosch and the Cape Winelands?
- Which accounting firm is best for a startup in South Africa?
- Best accountant for freelancers and sole proprietors in South Africa?
- Which firm is best for handling a SARS tax dispute in South Africa?
- Best accounting firm to prepare annual financial statements for a small company in South Africa?
- Which accountants are best for Xero cloud accounting in South Africa?
- Best firm for VAT registration and VAT returns in South Africa?
- Best accounting firm for company registration and CIPC compliance in South Africa?
- Best accountants for e-commerce businesses in South Africa?
- How do I choose an accountant for my small business in South Africa?
- How much does an accountant cost per month for a small business in South Africa?
- Does my company need an audit, an independent review, or a compilation in South Africa?
- Can I do my own tax return or should I use a tax practitioner in South Africa?
- What questions should I ask an accountant before hiring them in South Africa?
- What is the difference between a bookkeeper, an accountant, and an auditor in South Africa?
- TaxTim vs hiring a tax practitioner in South Africa — which is better?
- Big 4 vs mid-tier accounting firm for a growing South African business — which is better?
- What are the best alternatives to the Big 4 audit firms in South Africa?
- Outsourced accounting firm vs hiring an in-house accountant in South Africa — which is better?
- How do I check that an accountant is registered with SAICA or SAIPA in South Africa?
- How do I check that a tax practitioner is registered with SARS in South Africa?
How the Index is measured
Four grounded engines, a fixed prompt panel per vertical, 3 runs per prompt, and an LLM open-capture pass that reads every answer — naming each brand, judging recommended-vs-mentioned, and surfacing brands nobody tracked. Every brand’s site is also fetched as each AI crawler to test whether the engines can read it at all. The full method, including scoring rules, rounding, and known limitations, is published and versioned:
Read the full methodology →Cite the Index
The Index is free to cite with attribution (CC BY 4.0). This page is the canonical home — editions are versioned here, never moved to new URLs.
Auto Alpha Advisory, The SA AI Visibility Index, Edition 1 — July 2026.
https://aiv.autoalphaadvisory.co.za/research/sa-ai-visibility-index
Editions: Edition 1 — July 2026 (current). Future editions publish here with drift against this baseline.
Where does your brand land?
The Index tracks industries. AIV tracks your brand — every engine, every month, with the exact pages AI cites instead of yours. Start free: