A Spiralytics study revealed that Philippine brands appeared in 83.2% of the AI answers they should have been part of, against 40% for a comparison group of US brands. Those numbers put AI visibility in the Philippines ahead of its US benchmark. However, the recommendations rely on third-party sources rather than the brands’ websites.
Spiralytics Study – PH AI Visibility
The study was conducted between June 4 and August 3, 2026, and covered 26 brands. Across 1,146 real buyer questions and 1,911 stored answers from ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Perplexity, 95% of the sources the engines cited for Philippine products and services did not belong to the brands themselves. The engines leaned on third-party editorial coverage, news, industry roundups, and online directories instead.
Engines pick different favorites
Gemini mentioned Philippine brands most often at 62.6%, ahead of Perplexity at 57.4% and ChatGPT at 45.2%. In repeat testing on one brand across 11 identical runs, 90% of the questions that came back empty stayed empty every time. Philippine brands were missing from all three engines on one in every six commercial questions they should have won.
Local naming is a second gap. The study says the engines confused Philippine entities with overseas namesakes, declined to confirm who a company was, or folded subsidiaries into their parent conglomerates.
“Surprisingly, backlink authority did not predict AI visibility anywhere in our data,” says Gabe Tagala, Spiralytics Head of SEO. “It does not mean SEO is obsolete. Links still matter where rankings live. But AI keeps a different score: whether the engine can tell which company you are, and if reputable third parties can vouch for you,” he continues.
In the US comparison group, competitor websites already hold 60.7% of AI citations. In Philippine answers, they hold 36%, leaving the editorial and directory layer largely unclaimed.
Spiralytics recommends that local brands strengthen entity signals, earn media coverage, and track their footprint. Co-founder and CEO Jimmy Cassells added: “This window won’t stay open. Brands who will move now and treat SERP and AI visibility as a connected strategy are the ones that will still be recommended a year from now.”
Its methodology is published on the Spiralytics site. AI visibility in the Philippines is still up for grabs, but the study argues the window is closing.
Ram Ronquillo
Ram found his love and appreciation for writing in 2015 having started in the gaming and esports sphere for GG Network. He would then transition to focus more on the world of tech which has also began his journey into learning more about this world. That said though, he still has the mentality of "as long as it works" for his personal gadgets.
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