Regional benchmark · 2026
AI Visibility Iberia 2026
Benchmark of 30 news brands in Portugal & Spain
30 outlets · Scanned 25 May 2026
Methodology: AI Visibility Check — same audit pipeline as the public checker (robots.txt, sitemap, homepage + sample article, AI search checklist, training vs retrieval bots).
1. AI visibility scores
Average score
75/100
28 of 30 with full semantic score
Avg technical foundation
96/100
Robots, crawl, rendering, sitemap
Portugal average
73/100
14 outlets
Spain average
77/100
16 outlets
2. Homepage & article accessibility
Homepage
Homepage accessible
93%
28 of 30 returned HTML to crawlers
Avg homepage AI structure
52/100
Checklist-derived homepage scope
Article
Sample article fetched
90%
27 outlets — story linked from homepage, sitemap, or RSS
Avg article AI structure
76/100
Checklist-derived article scope
3. AI search checklist completion
Avg overall checklist
61/100
28 outlets with checklist data
Avg homepage checklist
51/100
Avg article checklist
64/100
10-point AI search checklist · cohort results across 30 outlets
4. Bot accessibility (retrieval & training)
All retrieval bots allowed
70%
OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User, PerplexityBot, etc.
Any retrieval bot blocked
30%
Lower is better for AI citation reach
All training bots blocked
7%
GPTBot, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended, etc.
Global Disallow: /
0
Sites blocking all crawlers
Recommended practice for newsrooms: allow retrieval/search bots so AI answers can cite your reporting; block training crawlers if you want to limit model-training use of your content.
5. Robots.txt & sitemap readiness
robots.txt found
97%
Sitemap in robots.txt
57%
Sitemap reachable
63%
Valid sitemap XML
63%
6. All outlets
| Outlet | Country | Score | Technical | Checklist | Homepage | Article |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ECOeco.sapo.pt | Portugal | 91/100 | 100/100 | 85/100 | ✓ | ✓ |
| OKDIARIOokdiario.com | Spain | 84/100 | 100/100 | 80/100 | ✓ | ✓ |
| El Mundowww.elmundo.es | Spain | 82/100 | 95/100 | 80/100 | ✓ | ✓ |
| COPEwww.cope.es | Spain | 82/100 | 95/100 | 80/100 | ✓ | ✓ |
| RTVE Noticiaswww.rtve.es/noticias/ | Spain | 81/100 | 97/100 | 75/100 | ✓ | ✓ |
| El Periódicowww.elperiodico.com | Spain | 81/100 | 100/100 | 75/100 | ✓ | ✓ |
| Visãovisao.pt | Portugal | 80/100 | 98/100 | 75/100 | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cadena SERcadenaser.com | Spain | 80/100 | 95/100 | 75/100 | ✓ | ✓ |
| La Razónwww.larazon.es | Spain | 80/100 | 95/100 | 75/100 | ✓ | ✓ |
| El Paíselpais.com | Spain | 78/100 | 95/100 | 70/100 | ✓ | ✓ |
| La Vanguardiawww.lavanguardia.com | Spain | 78/100 | 95/100 | 75/100 | ✓ | ✓ |
| Públicowww.publico.pt | Portugal | 77/100 | 99/100 | 65/100 | ✓ | ✓ |
| Correio da Manhãwww.cmjornal.pt | Portugal | 77/100 | 99/100 | 65/100 | ✓ | ✓ |
| CNN Portugalcnnportugal.iol.pt | Portugal | 76/100 | 99/100 | 65/100 | ✓ | ✓ |
| El Confidencialwww.elconfidencial.com | Spain | 76/100 | 95/100 | 65/100 | ✓ | ✓ |
| Observadorobservador.pt | Portugal | 75/100 | 99/100 | 60/100 | ✓ | ✓ |
| RTP Notíciaswww.rtp.pt/noticias/ | Portugal | 74/100 | 99/100 | 60/100 | ✓ | ✓ |
| 20 Minutoswww.20minutos.es | Spain | 74/100 | 95/100 | 60/100 | ✓ | ✓ |
| Diário de Notíciaswww.dn.pt | Portugal | 73/100 | 100/100 | 55/100 | ✓ | ✓ |
| ABCwww.abc.es | Spain | 73/100 | 98/100 | 55/100 | ✓ | ✓ |
| eldiario.eswww.eldiario.es | Spain | 73/100 | 100/100 | 55/100 | ✓ | ✓ |
| Europa Presswww.europapress.es | Spain | 72/100 | 97/100 | 60/100 | ✓ | ✓ |
| VilaWebwww.vilaweb.cat | Spain | 71/100 | 98/100 | 55/100 | ✓ | ✓ |
| Sábadowww.sabado.pt | Portugal | 70/100 | 92/100 | 55/100 | ✓ | ✓ |
| Jornal de Notíciaswww.jn.pt | Portugal | 62/100 | 99/100 | 30/100 | ✓ | ✓ |
| EFEwww.efe.com | Spain | 61/100 | 100/100 | 10/100 | ✓ | ✗ |
| TSFwww.tsf.pt | Portugal | 59/100 | 99/100 | 25/100 | ✓ | ✓ |
| LUSAwww.lusa.pt | Portugal | 58/100 | 97/100 | 30/100 | ✓ | ✓ |
| Expressoexpresso.pt | Portugal | N/A | 77/100 | — | ✗ | ✗ |
| SIC Notíciassicnoticias.pt | Portugal | N/A | 77/100 | — | ✗ | ✗ |
Audit any outlet yourself with the AI Visibility Check.
7. Overall conclusion
Across 28 outlets with a full semantic score, the average AI visibility score is 75/100 (technical foundation average: 96/100). The strongest performer in this sample is ECO; the lowest scored outlet is LUSA. 93% of scanned sites returned homepage HTML to automated crawlers; 90% yielded a sample article for the 10-point AI search checklist. Where checklist data exists, the cohort averages 61/100 overall (51 homepage, 64 article scope). On bots: 70% allow all tracked retrieval bots in robots.txt, 7% block all listed training crawlers, and 0 site(s) use a global `Disallow: /`. Infrastructure: robots.txt present on 97% of sites; sitemap referenced in 57%, reachable in 63%, valid XML in 63%. For Iberian publishers, the gap is often not robots policy alone but crawlable HTML, Article/NewsArticle signals, and entity trust on both homepage and story pages — the same dimensions our free AI Visibility Check scores individually.
- Each outlet URL was scanned with the same pipeline as the public AI Visibility Check: robots.txt, sitemap, homepage fetch, sample article discovery, 10-point AI search checklist, and bot rules for training vs retrieval crawlers.
- Overall AI visibility score requires analyzable homepage or article HTML; technical foundation score is always computed from infrastructure checks.
- Scores are point-in-time snapshots (May 2026) and may change after CMS or robots.txt updates.