We counted
We read 1,110 AI answers about 50 HR software companies.
Most didn't name the company at all.
FwdLink's own count, September 2026. All 50 companies were HR software vendors. We have not yet run the same study in other industries.
- 13.6%
- Answers that named the company
- 7.7%
- Answers that linked its own site
Filled dot = linked its site · Outlined dot = named only · Gray dot = neither. 100 dots, rounded.
Named means the answer used the company name or an agreed alias. Linked means the answer cited that company’s own domain.
What we did
We picked 50 HR software companies and asked the AI services the kind of question a buyer asks when choosing one. We kept every answer and counted how often each company was named, and how often an answer linked that company's own site.
That came to 1,110 answers in total, in September 2026.
What it is not
It is not a before-and-after result from this service. Nobody in the study was a customer, and nothing was changed on anyone's site.
It is not a measure of market share, of quality, or of how many buyers exist. It counts answers to a fixed set of questions, nothing more.
It is one industry. We have not run the same study anywhere else, so we do not claim the numbers hold outside HR software.
The numbers
- 50 HR software companies
- 1,110 answers read in full
- 13.6% of answers named the company
- 7.7% linked the company's own site
Start with three questions
Send three questions your buyers would type into an AI.
We run them and send back what each service answered. If it is not a fit, we will say so.
Send three buyer questions
It costs nothing, and you can take your time deciding afterward.