Original research
We recorded who Google’s AI cites for Oxford agency searches
We counted every agency Google’s AI named in 12 answers to Oxford searches in August 2026: 21 in all. Ranking on page one helped, but it was not enough.
What these answers taught us shapes how we optimise for AI search for clients.
Google’s AI Overviews named 21 different agencies in the 12 answers they wrote for Oxford marketing searches on 25 August 2026. Urban Element was named most often, in 8 of the 12, followed by Oxford Search Lab and Oxford SEO with 6 each.
Most of the names came from the ordinary results: on the pages we read to the end, 25 of the 41 names belonged to agencies whose own site was on page one for the same search. Ranking was not enough on its own, though. The agency that ranked most often was named in only 2 of the 10 answers above it, and two others that ranked again and again were never named at all.
In short
- Across 12 AI answers to Oxford searches in August 2026, Google named 21 agencies; Urban Element was named most, in 8.
- On the pages we read to the end, 25 of the 41 names belonged to agencies already on page one for the same search.
- Ranking was not enough: the agency on page one most often was named in only 2 of the 10 answers above it.
- The agencies named most had a page for the exact service searched and a plain sentence about themselves that the answers repeated.
- 21Agencies named across 12 AI answers
- 25 of 41Names whose site was on page one for that search
- 2 of 10Answers naming the agency that ranked most often
Which Oxford Agencies Did Google’s AI Name?
We counted an agency as named when an answer gave its name in its own text, in a list of providers or on a map card inside the answer. The links Google placed beneath each answer we counted separately, and one answer’s mention of a college for its course we left out. Twelve answers named 21 agencies, 47 times between them, and the table shows the five named most beside three that ranked often and were named rarely.
Counting the links as well as the names changes the order at the top. Oxford Search Lab was named in 6 answers but linked under 3 more, so it was in 9 of the 12 in one form or the other, more than anyone.
| Agency | Named in, of 12 answers | On page one, of 31 pages |
|---|---|---|
| Urban Element | 8 | 13 |
| Oxford Search Lab | 6 | 11 |
| Oxford SEO | 6 | 7 |
| XIST2 | 4 | 4 |
| Holbi Oxford Ecommerce | 3 | 4 |
| Oxford Marketing Company | 2 | 21 |
| Common Ground | 1 | 12 |
| Hook Digital | 0 | 14 |
Did the AI Name the Agencies That Already Ranked?
Mostly. Ten of the twelve answers sat on pages we copied to the bottom, so for those we can check every name against the ordinary results below each. Between them they gave 41 names, and 25 of those belonged to businesses whose own website was on the first page of that same search, never as an advert.
Looking wider, 18 of the 21 agencies had a site on at least one of the 31 first pages we read. The other three, Proud Brands, Finsbury Media and Watling Digital, had none, so an answer can reach past the first page. It did so rarely.
Why Was Ranking Not Enough?
Oxford Marketing Company’s site was on the first page of 21 of the 31 pages we read, more than any other agency. Ten of those pages carried an AI answer, and only 2 of the 10 named it. Hook Digital ranked on 6 pages with an answer and Thrive on 7, and neither was named in any of them.
We cannot see inside Google’s choice, so what follows is our reading of a small sample. The agencies named most had a page about the exact service in the search. On the ecommerce searches, the answers linked Oxford Search Lab’s ecommerce SEO page; on local seo oxford, its local SEO page; on the audit searches, its page on SEO audits; and on plain seo oxford, its About page. Holbi and Get-Found, named for ecommerce, each had a page titled for ecommerce in Oxford.
Where Did the AI Get Its Descriptions?
Often from the agencies themselves. Six of the eight answers that named Urban Element called it Google-accredited, and the snippet Google showed from its own site, linked under three answers, reads “Urban Element is a Google-accredited SEO agency”. Oxford Search Lab’s About page, linked under four answers, describes it in one plain line, and an answer that named it repeated the line’s key words.
For a business, that is the useful part. An answer is more likely to repeat a short, specific sentence about who you are than to compose one, so the sentence on your own pages is, in effect, the sentence you are offering it.
Were All the Agencies It Named in Oxford?
No. For ecommerce seo services oxford, the answer listed four providers on map cards. One was shown in Cowley, in Oxford. The other three were shown in Swindon, in Guildford and, for a corporate office, in Accra, Ghana.
Each may serve Oxford clients perfectly well, and the answer did not say otherwise. It does show that an Oxford search can be answered with businesses based elsewhere, which matters to anyone reading these lists as a guide to local choice.
Does the Same Search Get the Same Answer?
Not reliably. We read seo oxford three times on 25 August. The first and third answers named the same five agencies in the same order. The second named three, and only one of them, Urban Element, was in the other two lists. Read twice, ecommerce seo oxford named four agencies each time, three of them the same.
So a single screenshot of an AI answer is a sample, not a standing. Anyone reporting that a business is, or is not, in these answers should say how many times they looked.
What Should an Oxford Business Take From This?
We are an Oxford agency ourselves, and none of the twelve answers named us. In our judgement, the pattern points to work any business can do:
- Earn the ordinary ranking first. Most names in these answers came from businesses already on the first page.
- Give each service its own page, titled the way your customers search for it, so there is a page to link for each question.
- Write one short, specific sentence about who you are and what you do, and put it where a reader meets your business first.
- Keep the place on your listings accurate, because some answers show a town beside each business they list.
- Look more than once before drawing a conclusion, since the list changed between readings on the same day.
