Your brand may rank well on Google and have a polished website. But they sure as won't appear, when Chinese customers ask AI platforms (such as Doubao, DeepSeek, or Tongyi Qianwen) for recommendations on relevant products or services.
This goes to show that AI platforms has not yet developed a clear understanding of the company’s capabilities, target markets, or suitable use cases.
NetFarmer has been using its own brand as a case study while monitoring performance across Chinese and international AI search platforms.
Here's what we observed: being visible in international markets does not necessarily mean a brand will be accurately recognised or recommended in China’s AI search environment.
When overseas companies enter the Chinese market, they usually consider a Chinese-language website, search engine optimisation, social media, and brand promotion. These remain important. But the way customers look for suppliers is changing.
Today, a customer may ask an AI directly: “We are a Chinese company planning to expand into Southeast Asia. Are there service providers that understand international CRM as well as Chinese business processes?”
The AI may name several brands, explain their differences, and even suggest which one deserves priority. This means companies are no longer dealing only with the question of whether their web pages can be found. When potential customers start using AI to shortlist suppliers, can your brand make it onto that shortlist?
For overseas companies hoping to enter China, this is now a question worth taking seriously.
We often see a common misconception: that a good English website, plus a Chinese version, is enough to cover the Chinese market.
Reality is more complicated. Chinese and overseas users may rely on different AI platforms, and the business context behind their questions may differ too. For example, when looking for a software provider, an overseas customer may focus on product features, implementation costs, and technical support.
A Chinese customer may go further and ask whether the company understands how Chinese businesses operate, whether it can support cross-border operations, and whether it offers localised services.
This is why Chinese-language content is not merely about translation. Its real value lies in helping the target market understand what problems the company solves, which customers it suits, and how it differs from other providers.
To understand these changes more concretely, NetFarmer has been monitoring its own brand’s performance in Chinese and international AI search. By combining Chinese and English website content, brand information updates, and AI search monitoring, we have observed how different platforms interpret NetFarmer’s expertise.
Between 28 September and 26 October 2026, NetFarmer ran a monitoring set of 45 prompts across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity. We recorded a brand visibility rate of 56.45%on HubSpot's AEO tool.
This means NetFarmer achieved a certain level of AI brand exposure within the defined set of questions used by the monitoring tool. However, performance varied across platforms. Even when a company consistently updates its content, brand visibility can still fluctuate across different AI engines.
Takeaway: Tracking on only one AI platform is not enough to judge a company’s overall AI search performance.
On 26 October 2026, we tested on Chinese prompts related to HubSpot partners across five Chinese AI platforms. In that test, Doubao, Tongyi Qianwen, Tencent Yuanbao, DeepSeek, and ERNIE Bot all included NetFarmer in their recommended results.
That is a positive signal. But being mentioned by AI is not the same as being accurately understood by AI.
It is still worth examining whether the brand appears in the right contexts, how the AI describes its expertise, and whether the recommendation genuinely matches customer needs.
Note: The figures above come from NetFarmer’s own set of prompts. They do not represent market-wide AI search rankings, nor do they prove a causal link to lead generation or revenue growth.
We believe companies should assess three levels:
For overseas companies, simply being mentioned by Chinese AI platforms isn't enough. If the customer then asks:
and the AI cannot answer accurately, the brand may have gained exposure without entering the customer’s actual purchasing decision.
Takeaway: Entering a new market is not about collecting irrelevant exposure. It is about helping the right customers find you.
China’s market is distinctive for more than its language. The information environment of different AI platforms, the way users phrase questions, and the concerns that shape business purchasing decisions may all differ from overseas markets. A content approach that works internationally cannot simply be copied into China.
For overseas brands, common challenges include:
There is no universal answer to these questions. That is exactly why AEO/GEO should not be treated as a simple content-publishing exercise. It needs to connect with market positioning, brand messaging, and real customer needs.
NetFarmer has long worked in CRM, HubSpot, enterprise digital transformation, and cross-border marketing. Through our own AEO/GEO practice, we increasingly see one gap: the strengths a company wants customers to remember are not always the strengths AI can recognise and recommend.
That is why we do not advise companies to chase mentions on a single platform, or to treat one test result as a long-term achievement. AI search visibility requires ongoing observation. Companies need to judge whether that exposure is connected to their target customers, core services, and commercial opportunities.
For overseas brands preparing to enter China, this work deserves early attention. If customers are already using AI to find suppliers, discovering too late that your brand is missing from relevant answers may mean missing the opportunity to enter the market at all.
If your company already has an English website, international clients, and mature products or services, but is considering entering China, start with one question: when a Chinese potential customer asks AI to find a provider like you, will it recommend your brand?
If it does, are the reasons accurate?
If it does not, where is the problem?
NetFarmer is applying its cross-market content experience and AI search monitoring expertise to these questions. Our focus is not simply helping companies appear in AI search results. It is helping brands become understood and discovered by potential customers in the right markets and the right business contexts.
Want to understand how your brand performs across Chinese AI search platforms? Talk to NetFarmer about a China AI brand visibility assessment and our AEO/GEO services.
Translation of original Chinese post published on 26 Oct 2026