The AEO Industry Index is Arcalea’s AI search visibility measurement platform. It sends standardized, entity-agnostic prompts to ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, and Copilot weekly, extracts brand mentions from every response, and scores entities on a five-metric composite model. The output shows which brands are winning in AI search and why.
AEO Industry Index | AI Search Visibility
Your brand is either
in the answer.
Or it isn't.
Track how often your brand is cited, recommended, and ranked by every major AI engine, measured weekly against your full competitive set. Know where you stand before your customers stop searching the traditional way.
ChatGPT
Perplexity
Gemini
Claude
Copilot
5
AI platforms tracked: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Copilot
50+
Entity-agnostic prompts per run across 6 buyer journey categories
93%
Zero-click rate on AI Mode responses; visibility inside the answer is the only visibility that counts
Weekly
Automated data collection with longitudinal trend tracking across all entities
The New Search Reality
AI search doesn't rank pages.It recommends brands.
Traditional SEO measured position 1 through 10. AI search doesn't show a ranked list of links; it generates an answer. If your brand isn't named in that answer, you don't exist for that query. There is no position 2.
The challenge is that AI citation patterns are not derivable from SERP rank. The AEO Index measures them directly.
AI Platform Comparison
| Platform | Answer Format | Citation Pattern | Brand Visibility Factor |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT (GPT-4o) | Narrative synthesis | Sources listed when Browse enabled | Entity recognition + training data |
| Perplexity | Structured with inline citations | Real-time web + source links | Domain authority + freshness |
| Google AI Overviews | Snippet expansion | Featured source cards | E-E-A-T + structured data |
| Claude (Anthropic) | Direct prose answers | Knowledge cutoff dependent | Training corpus coverage |
ChatGPT
47.9%
of citations from Wikipedia and encyclopedic sources
Parametric knowledge. Heavy recency weighting. Only 11% domain overlap with Perplexity citations.
Parametric knowledge. Heavy recency weighting. Only 11% domain overlap with Perplexity citations.
Perplexity
46.7%
of citations from Reddit in Q1 2026 Citation-visible with URLs. Weights recency, depth, and factual directness. 12.4% AI referral conversion rate.
Google AI Mode
93%
zero-click rate on AI Mode responses Fan-out technique: up to 16 sub-queries per prompt. Only 13.7% citation overlap with AI Overviews. Separate surface entirely.
Claude
16.8%
AI referral conversion rate, highest of all platforms Weights traceable evidence and analytical rigor. Penalizes promotional language. High-intent audience.
Copilot
Bing
index powers all Copilot citations Critical for enterprise B2B in Microsoft 365 environments. Bing Webmaster Tools tracks Copilot citation rates directly.
47% of AI citations come from below position 5
SERP rank no longer predicts AI visibility. A brand ranked 8th organically can dominate AI answers if its content is structured correctly. Measuring one without the other is incomplete.
13.7% citation overlap between AI Overviews and AI Mode
These are not the same surface. A brand that appears in AI Overviews is not automatically cited in AI Mode, and vice versa. Each requires its own measurement and its own strategy.
Content freshness drops citations 3x in 90 days
Pages not updated in 90 days receive 3x fewer AI citations than pages refreshed within 30 days. The Index tracks which of your tracked entities are vulnerable to freshness decay.
Methodology
Standardized collection.
Transparent scoring.
Every measurement decision is documented. Every prompt is entity-agnostic. Every score is reproducible from the underlying response data.
1
Prompt Design
Entity-agnostic prompts
50 to 64 prompts are designed without any brand names; the AI decides who to mention. Prompts span six buyer journey categories to ensure representative coverage of how real users discover brands.
Discovery / Awareness
Comparison / Evaluation
Solution-Seeking
Educational / Authority
Community / UGC
Decision / Implementation
2
Collection
5-platform simultaneous run
All 5 platforms are queried with identical standardized system prompts and temperature set to 0.3, ensuring cross-platform differences reflect platform behavior, not measurement variance.
Temp 0.3 all platforms
Identical system prompts
Bing-grounded Copilot
Weekly cadence
3
Extraction
Entity mention analysis
Every response is parsed for entity mentions. Position in list, mention count, category coverage, and response type (list vs. narrative) are all captured per entity per platform per prompt.
Position tracking
Response type classification
Category coverage mapping
Min 2 mention threshold
4
Scoring + Report
Composite index + 21-slide report
Five metrics are weighted into a composite score for each entity. The output is a 21-slide interactive HTML report with trend data, a content gap matrix, and prioritized recommendations.
5-metric composite
80% bootstrap CI
Content gap keywords
Longitudinal trend
Scoring Model v2.5
Five independent signals. One composite score.
Each metric measures a distinct dimension of AI visibility. No two metrics are correlated by construction. The composite captures frequency, breadth, authority, advocacy, and durability, all independently.
Entity Mention Frequency
25%
EMF
The share of total responses in which the entity appears. The foundation metric: how often does the AI mention this brand at all, across all prompts and platforms?
Topical Range Score
20%
Category Breadth
The fraction of distinct prompt categories in which the entity receives at least one mention. Measures whether the AI associates the brand with a narrow niche or a broad category authority.
Position Power Score
20%
PPS
The average list position of entity mentions, weighted so position 1 scores 10/10 and lower positions score proportionally. Position 1 in an AI list is not equal to position 5.
Cross-Platform Stability
20%
Platform Consistency
Based on the coefficient of variation across per-platform mention counts. A brand mentioned consistently across all 5 platforms is more durable than one dominant on one and absent on others.
First-Position Rate
15%
FPR
The fraction of list responses in which the entity appears first. Not a recommendation metric but a position authority metric. Position 1 in an AI list carries 3x the click probability of position 3.
The Deliverable
21 slides.
Interactive HTML.
Delivered weekly.
Slide 01-04
Composite Index Leaderboard
Ranked entity scores with 80% confidence intervals and 4-week trend lines
Slide 05-08
Platform Breakdown
Per-platform entity ranking: who leads on GPT vs. Perplexity vs. Gemini
Slide 09-12
Mention Trend Analysis
Week-over-week mention trajectory by entity and category
Slide 13-16
Category Coverage Map
Which buyer journey categories each entity owns and where gaps exist
Slide 17-20
Content Gap Matrix
High-volume keywords where competitors rank but your brand does not appear in AI answers
Slide 21
Next Steps
Prioritized infrastructure recommendations tied directly to gap findings
Every AEO Index report is an interactive HTML file, filterable, navigable, and shareable without any login. Your team can drill into any entity, any platform, any week without needing access to a separate dashboard.
Reports are generated automatically each week and delivered alongside a written interpretation layer from Arcalea's measurement team. The data tells you what happened. The interpretation tells you what to do about it.
What's included every week
- ✓Full 21-slide interactive HTML report
- ✓Raw response data in structured JSON for audit
- ✓Content gap keyword list with search volume
- ✓Written interpretation and recommended actions
- ✓Longitudinal trend data from all prior runs
- ✓Methodology documentation and known limitations
On transparency
Every scoring decision is documented. Every prompt is published with the report. Every known limitation (bootstrap CI methodology, list vs. narrative position handling, minimum mention thresholds) is disclosed explicitly in the Known Limitations slide.
Live Industry Benchmarks
Ten industries.
Running now.
These benchmarks run automatically every week. If your industry is among them, you can access a current competitive snapshot immediately. If not, Arcalea can configure a new vertical in under two weeks.
M7 Business Schools
Benchmark index + client reports available
Active
Prompts: 50 per run
Entities: 18 schools
Platforms: 5
Since: Q1 2026
Kellogg
Wharton
Booth
HBS
Sloan
Stern
Yale SOM
Haas
+10 more
Egg Donation & Surrogacy Agencies
Benchmark index + client reports available
Active
Prompts: 64 per run
Entities: 12 agencies
Platforms: 5
Since: Q1 2026
Elevate Baby
ConceiveAbilities
Circle Surrogacy
Shady Grove
+8 more
Commercial Debt Collection
Benchmark index + client reports available
Active
Prompts: 62 per run
Entities: 14 agencies
Platforms: 5
Since: Q1 2026
AFM Collects
Encore Capital
Portfolio Recovery
+11 more
Wholesale Electrical Supply Distribution
Benchmark index + client reports available
Active
Prompts: 62 per run
Entities: 14 distributors
Platforms: 5
Since: Q1 2026
Gordon Electric
Graybar
Wesco
Anixter
Rexel
+9 more
Wealth Management & RIA
Benchmark index + client reports available
Active
Prompts: 58 per run
Entities: 16 firms
Platforms: 5
Since: Q1 2026
Fisher Investments
Fidelity Wealth
Vanguard Advisors
Merrill Lynch
Edward Jones
+11 more
Law Schools (T14 & National)
Benchmark index + client reports available
Active
Prompts: 54 per run
Entities: 18 schools
Platforms: 5
Since: Q1 2026
Stanford Law
Yale Law
Harvard Law
UChicago Law
Columbia Law
+13 more
HVAC & Mechanical Supply Distribution
Benchmark index + client reports available
Active
Prompts: 60 per run
Entities: 14 distributors
Platforms: 5
Since: Q1 2026
Watsco
Ferguson
Johnstone Supply
Winsupply
R.E. Michel
+9 more
Senior Living & Memory Care
Benchmark index + client reports available
Active
Prompts: 62 per run
Entities: 15 operators
Platforms: 5
Since: Q1 2026
Brookdale
Discovery Senior Living
Erickson Senior Living
Sunrise Senior Living
Atria Senior Living
+10 more
Nursing Schools
Benchmark index + client reports available
Active
Prompts: 56 per run
Entities: 16 schools
Platforms: 5
Since: Q1 2026
Johns Hopkins Nursing
Vanderbilt Nursing
Duke Nursing
Penn Nursing
Emory Nursing
+11 more
Executive Education
Benchmark index + client reports available
Active
Prompts: 52 per run
Entities: 14 programs
Platforms: 5
Since: Q1 2026
HBS Executive Ed
Wharton Exec Ed
Kellogg Exec Ed
MIT Sloan Exec Ed
Stanford GSB Exec Ed
+9 more
The New Search Reality
Each platform cites differently. The Index measures all five.
A single composite score masks the platform-level story. A brand dominant on ChatGPT but absent from Perplexity has a different problem than one visible everywhere but never first. The AEO Index shows the full breakdown.
ChatGPT
14.2%
AI referral conversion rate
Draws 47.9% of citations from Wikipedia. Weights recency heavily. Parametric knowledge base. Structured content and authoritative sources perform best. Wikipedia presence is a concrete, direct AEO lever.
Perplexity
12.4%
AI referral conversion rate
Reddit accounts for up to 46.7% of citations in 2026. Citation-visible with URLs. Rewards recency, factual directness, long-form content with clear headers. Community presence matters here above all platforms.
Google Gemini / AI Mode
83-93%
zero-click rate by surface
Knowledge Graph-driven for AI Overviews. FAQPage schema produces 41% citation rate vs. 15% without. AI Mode uses fan-out technique with up to 16 sub-queries. Only 13.7% overlap between the two surfaces.
Claude (Anthropic)
16.8%
AI referral conversion rate, highest measured
Weights traceable evidence: first-party research, original frameworks, clearly attributed expertise. Favors analytical rigor and penalizes promotional language. Audience is high-intent and high-converting.
Microsoft Copilot
Bing
index is the citation source
Launched February 2026. Bing Webmaster Tools tracks Copilot citation rates directly. Critical for enterprise B2B clients in Microsoft 365 environments. AEO for Copilot starts with Bing SEO fundamentals.
AI engines don't rank pages. They recommend brands. The Index measures which brands they recommend, and why.
Related Reading
Understand the mechanics of AI search, then see the other Measure lane platforms that turn visibility into revenue.
AEO
AI Is the New Search Engine: Get Your Brand Cited
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Read article →AEO
How AI Search Engines Understand and Rank Content in 2026
The specific signals that determine whether ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI cite your brand.
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The Transaction Layer: Optimizing Paid and Organic for AI Shopping
How AI agents are replacing search for transactional queries and what readiness looks like.
Read article →Measure Lane
Galileo
Multi-touch attribution that closes the loop between every channel and closed revenue.
Explore →Measure Lane
Compass
Search intelligence that converts organic rankings into dollar-denominated financial terms.
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QMA
Quantitative market assessment. Validate opportunity size before committing budget.
Explore →
The Full Picture
See how the AEO Index fits into the complete intelligence model.
The AEO Index tracks AI visibility on an ongoing basis. Compass provides the organic competitive baseline it builds on. Galileo connects the full picture to revenue. Together they give you a measurement system with no blind spots.
Common Questions
Questions about the AEO Index
What is the AEO Industry Index?
How is AEO visibility measured?
Arcalea sends 50 to 64 standardized prompts to each AI platform per weekly run. Prompts never contain brand names; the AI decides who to mention. Mentions are scored on five metrics: Entity Mention Frequency (25 percent), Category Breadth (20 percent), Position Power (20 percent), Platform Consistency (20 percent), and First-Position Rate (15 percent).
Which AI platforms does the Index track?
The AEO Industry Index tracks ChatGPT (OpenAI GPT-4o), Perplexity AI, Google Gemini, Anthropic Claude, and Microsoft Copilot. All five platforms are collected weekly with standardized system prompts and temperature settings to ensure cross-platform comparability.
What does an AEO Index report include?
Each AEO Index report is a 21-slide interactive HTML report with a composite index leaderboard, platform-by-platform breakdown, mention trend analysis, category coverage gaps, content gap keyword matrix, and prioritized recommendations. Reports are delivered weekly and maintained longitudinally for trend tracking.
Can the AEO Index work for any industry?
Yes. Arcalea configures the Index for any competitive landscape by building a custom prompt library spanning six buyer journey categories: Discovery, Comparison, Solution-Seeking, Educational, Community, and Decision. Active verticals include executive education, egg donation and surrogacy, commercial debt collection, and wholesale electrical supply.
How quickly can we get AEO results?
If Arcalea is already running an AEO Index in your industry, a current competitive snapshot is available within days. If not, Arcalea scopes a new vertical configuration with custom prompts tailored to your buyer journey and competitive set, then begins weekly collection and reporting.
See where your brand ranks in AI search.
Request a benchmark for your industry. If we're already running it, you'll have a current competitive snapshot within days. If not, we'll scope a new vertical configuration.