Which NYC Marketing Agencies Does AI Recommend? 2026 Study

Study date: November 5, 2026

NoGood is the New York marketing agency AI named most, with 26 mentions. Ironpaper and inBeat tied for second with 21 each, then SmartSites (15) and The Influencer Marketing Factory (14). We counted them from 25 unbranded buyer questions put to ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overview on November 5, 2026.

In all, the engines named 54 marketing agencies 339 times. The top 5 took 97 of those mentions (28.6%).

These numbers are what the AI engines returned. They are not Beket AI's opinion or a ranking of quality. AI answers change over time, so read this as a snapshot. Businesses can ask Beket AI for another run of this study.

Study detail	Value
Study date	November 5, 2026
Location setting	New York City, USA
Language	English
Engines	ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overview (one audit)
Questions	25 selected questions, plus 4 discovery prompts
Answers returned	127 (includes discovery prompts; some duplicate rows from a mid-run recovery)
Marketing agencies named	54
Mentions	339

Which marketing agencies did AI name most?

NoGood led on mentions and was also named first most often, 5 times.

Rank	Agency	Mentions	Share of mentions	Times named first
1	NoGood	26	7.7%	5
2	Ironpaper	21	6.2%	2
2	inBeat	21	6.2%	2
4	SmartSites	15	4.4%	3
5	The Influencer Marketing Factory	14	4.1%	2
6	Digital Drew SEM	13	3.8%	3
7	Fabric	10	2.9%	1
8	9AM	9	2.7%	2
8	HireInfluence	9	2.7%	2
8	Excella PPC	9	2.7%	1
8	Markacy	9	2.7%	1
8	VaynerMedia	9	2.7%	1
13	Hunter Digital Marketing	8	2.4%	1
13	Web Tonic	8	2.4%	1
15	Jives Media	7	2.1%	1
	39 other marketing agencies	151	44.5%	17
	All 54 marketing agencies	339	100%	45

Source: Beket AI market audit, November 5, 2026. Name variants combined. Tied names share a rank and are listed by times named first, then alphabetically where still tied.

The list counts agencies only. The answers also named directories, software brands and platforms that are not agencies — Shopify (38 mentions), Clutch (36), Semrush (13), Sortlist (6), Amazon (5), DiscoverMyBusiness (5), GoodFirms (5), RevenueBase (4), HubSpot (4) and G2 (2). Together those had 118 mentions. We left them out of the agency list.

That flat top is different from our Vancouver marketing agencies study, where Major Tom alone took 54 of 422 mentions. In New York, no agency cleared 8% of mentions.

Specialists and performance shops also outranked several classic Madison Avenue names in these unbranded buyer prompts. VaynerMedia had 9 mentions, R/GA had 6 and Ogilvy had 3 — all behind NoGood, Ironpaper, inBeat and SmartSites.

Did ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overview name the same agencies?

No. Each engine had its own #1. The name each engine gave most:

• ChatGPT: inBeat (17)
• Perplexity: NoGood (14)
• Google AI Overview: Web Tonic (6)

	ChatGPT	Perplexity	Google AI Overview
Answers returned	45	46	36
Selected questions answered	25 of 25	25 of 25	24 of 25
Discovery prompts answered	4	4	3
Sources cited	248	789	202
Marketing agencies named	42	29	38
Mentions	188	84	67

Source: Beket AI market audit, November 5, 2026. Answers and sources from the audit's answer log (some rows are recovery duplicates). Names and mentions from the market report's per-engine split.

ChatGPT

ChatGPT answered all 25 selected questions and 4 discovery prompts. Its answers cited 248 sources. It named 42 marketing agencies 188 times.

Rank	Agency	Mentions on ChatGPT	Times named first
1	inBeat	17	2
2	NoGood	11	2
3	Ironpaper	10	1
4	Markacy	9	1
4	The Influencer Marketing Factory	9	1
	37 other marketing agencies	132	10
	All 42 marketing agencies this engine named	188	17

Perplexity

Perplexity also answered all 25 selected questions and 4 discovery prompts. It cited the most sources, 789. It named 29 marketing agencies 84 times.

Rank	Agency	Mentions on Perplexity	Times named first
1	NoGood	14	3
2	SmartSites	11	2
3	Fabric	9	1
4	Ironpaper	8	1
5	Digital Drew SEM	5	2
	24 other marketing agencies	37	8
	All 29 marketing agencies this engine named	84	17

Google AI Overview

Google showed an AI Overview for 24 of the 25 selected questions. It did not return one for "What are the best full-service digital marketing agencies in New York?". Its answers cited 202 sources and named 38 marketing agencies 67 times.

Rank	Agency	Mentions on Google AI Overview	Times named first
1	Web Tonic	6	1
2	Crafted	3	1
2	Hunter Digital Marketing	3	1
2	The Influencer Marketing Factory	3	1
2	Thrive Internet Marketing Agency	3	1
2	Ironpaper	3	0
	32 other marketing agencies	46	6
	All 38 marketing agencies this engine named	67	11

Source: Beket AI market audit, November 5, 2026. Name variants combined. Tied names share a rank.

How did the engines differ?

Only 12 of the 54 agencies were named by all three engines: NoGood, Ironpaper, inBeat, SmartSites, The Influencer Marketing Factory, Digital Drew SEM, HireInfluence, Hunter Digital Marketing, Roswell NYC, Socium Media, Tinuiti and Lilo Social. Meanwhile 11 agencies came up on only one engine.

ChatGPT gave 188 of the 339 agency mentions (55.5%), so it shaped most of the combined list. inBeat's 17 ChatGPT mentions dwarf its 2 on Perplexity and 2 on Google AI Overview. Perplexity put NoGood first with 14 and SmartSites second with 11. Google AI Overview's thinner agency set was led by Web Tonic with 6.

That kind of engine disagreement shows up in other verticals too. In our Google Maps vs AI study of Vancouver realtors, only 14% of the Maps top-3 realtors were named by AI. BrightLocal's Local AI Visibility Study (September 16, 2026), based on about 200,000 non-branded local searches, found that ChatGPT and Google's AI surfaces overlap on only about 19–20% of named businesses on average — so expecting one shortlist across engines is a mistake.

Which sources did the engines cite?

The answers produced 1,239 citation events across the three engines (804 distinct citation items listed). The domains cited most were agency directories and review sites, not agency-owned sites:

Domain	Citation count
clutch.co	77
designrush.com	46
agencies.semrush.com	41
sortlist.com	33
50pros.com	21
ironpaper.com	20
revenuebase.ai	16
themanifest.com	15
google.com	14
digitaldrewsem.com	13

Source: Beket AI market audit, November 5, 2026. Domain rollup from the audit's citation list.

Clutch itself was also named as a "player" 36 times before we excluded it — second only to Shopify in the raw leaderboard. Agency-owned sites that still reached the top-cited list include ironpaper.com (20) and digitaldrewsem.com (13).

For context, Clutch's own New York City digital marketing agencies directory is one of the pages these engines keep returning to. If AI buyers are reading directory shortlists, a complete, accurate Clutch (and DesignRush, Semrush Agencies, Sortlist) profile is part of what the engines see.

What this means for NYC marketing agencies

A short version, based on what the engines returned in this study:

• Show up on more than one engine. Only 12 of 54 agencies appeared on all three. Winning ChatGPT does not mean winning Perplexity or Google AI Overview.
• Directories are the shortlist pages. clutch.co, designrush.com, agencies.semrush.com and sortlist.com were the four most-cited domains. Keep those profiles complete and consistent with your own site.
• Answer buyer questions on your own site. The 25 prompts asked about SEO, PPC, Shopify ecommerce, TikTok, healthcare, real estate, Series A B2B and borough-level help. A clear page for each service and niche gives the engines something to cite beyond a directory blurb.
• One check is not a ranking. BrightLocal found that repeat local AI searches overlap only 20–33% on average. Treat any single run — including this one — as a snapshot. Our note on why one AI check is only a snapshot explains why, and Does ChatGPT recommend your business? walks through a hand check.

The same audit method underpins our earlier local studies. See what nine local AI recommendation studies found in 2026 and our Vancouver hotels study.

How did we run the study?

We ran one Beket AI market audit on November 5, 2026, between 9:48 and 10:21 AM Pacific time. Its location was set to New York City, USA, and its language to English. Audit ID: 6f0cc312-5bda-46c0-82b8-ab9fc33dabdb.

1. Questions. The audit had 25 selected questions, the same on all three engines. None named a business.
2. Discovery prompts. The audit also added 4 longer prompts of its own, and the counts include their answers.
3. Mentions. A mention is a business named in an answer. Share is a business's mentions divided by all 339 agency mentions.
4. Times named first. This counts answers where that business came first.
5. Name variants. We combined "inBeat" and "inBeat Agency" into inBeat.
6. Left out. The answers also named ecommerce platforms, SEO software, review sites and agency directories. Together they had 118 mentions. They are not agencies, so we left them out.
7. Recovery. Mid-run the audit stuck at 86/87 answers; one recovery on this same audit unwedged it. Some answer rows are duplicates from that recovery, so mention totals may include re-answers. Google AI Overview still missed 1 of the 25 selected prompts.

We did not rate, verify or rank any marketing agency ourselves.

How far can you trust these numbers?

Treat them as one careful snapshot, not a verdict.

• One run on one day. Answers can differ by day, by phrasing and by user.
• Google AI Overview answered 24 of 25 selected questions, so that engine's counts are slightly thinner.
• Recovery duplicates may inflate some mention totals.
• If one answer used two spellings of the same name, merging could still count it twice where we did not catch a variant.
• One or two mentions can change a rank near the top.
• Only three engines were tested. Other AI tools may answer differently.
• A mention says nothing about service quality, fees or results.

What questions did we ask?

The 25 selected questions, asked on all three engines:

1. What is the best SEO agency in New York for a small business?
2. Who should I hire for Google Ads management in Manhattan?
3. Which PPC agencies in New York City are worth the money?
4. Best social media marketing agency in NYC for a restaurant
5. Top branding agencies in New York for a startup rebrand
6. Recommend a web design agency in New York City for a professional services firm
7. What are the best full-service digital marketing agencies in New York?
8. Best B2B marketing agency in New York for a SaaS company
9. Which ecommerce marketing agency in NYC is best for a Shopify brand?
10. Best marketing agency in Brooklyn for a local business
11. Who are the top digital marketing agencies in Queens, NY?
12. Affordable marketing agency in New York City for a small budget
13. Best content marketing agency in New York
14. Which NYC agency should I hire for TikTok and Instagram marketing?
15. Best local SEO company in Manhattan for a law firm
16. Top performance marketing agencies in New York for DTC brands
17. Best healthcare marketing agency in New York City
18. Which New York agency is best for paid social and Meta ads?
19. Best real estate marketing agency in NYC
20. Top creative advertising agencies in New York City
21. Best marketing agency in New York for a B2B tech startup raising Series A
22. Which website design and development company in Brooklyn should I use?
23. Best influencer marketing agency in New York
24. Who is the best email marketing agency in New York City?
25. What marketing agency in New York do small businesses recommend most?

Discovery prompts the audit added on its own:

• "Who are the top rated digital marketing agencies in New York City that work with mid-sized businesses?"
• "I run a B2B SaaS startup in Manhattan. Which growth marketing agencies in NYC specialize in customer acquisition for tech companies?"
• "My NYC-based retail brand needs to launch an influencer marketing campaign. Which local agencies or platforms should I hire to manage this end-to-end?"
• "What are some of the best boutique performance marketing agencies in New York to compare for a high-budget paid media campaign?"

How can a marketing agency check its own AI answers?

Any business can run its own free check at https://beket.ai. The free Beket AI audit covers 25 prompts across 3 engines: ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overview. Beket AI Pro is $49 a month and re-audits daily, starting at 50 prompts across the same three engines. A business can also ask Beket AI for another run of this study.

About the author: The Beket AI Team builds Beket AI, an AI search visibility platform for brands and agencies.