AI Visibility Index: Oct 2026 Citation Rates

What is the AI Visibility Index?

The AI Visibility Index is a monthly measurement of how often AI search engines cite baadigi.com when someone asks a question we want to be the answer to. Every week we run a fixed list of 310 prompts through ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews, store every URL each engine cites, and count the answers where baadigi.com appears. The number we headline is the competitive rate: branded prompts (anything that names BaaDigi or Huntington Beach) are removed so the figure reflects questions where we compete with every other agency, not questions where we are the obvious answer. The full method and the weekly numbers live on our AI search data page.

How often was BaaDigi cited in October 2026, by engine?

Perplexity cited us most often this month at 33.6%. Google AI Overview cited us least at 7.1%. Including branded prompts, the all-in rate was 23.0% across 9,242 answers. At least one engine cited baadigi.com on 226 of the 310 prompts tracked.

How did we measure this?

Sample: 9,242 engine answers across 310 prompts, collected weekly through October 2026. Each prompt is sent to ChatGPT (with web search on), Perplexity and Google AI Overviews through their APIs or a search surface, and the cited URLs are stored as returned. An answer counts as a citation when any cited URL is on baadigi.com. Runs that returned an engine error are excluded. Branded prompts are excluded from the competitive rate but included in the all-in figure.

Caveats you should know before quoting these numbers. The prompts were written by BaaDigi, so they lean toward the questions we want to win: agency selection, lead costs, AI search and website care for contractors and local businesses. This is a convenience sample, not a random sample of what people actually ask AI engines. AI answers change between runs, so a single week can swing several points; the monthly figure smooths that but does not remove it. Google AI Overviews do not appear for every query, and an answer with no AI Overview counts as a run with no citation. We publish the method so you can judge the limits yourself, and you can test any page with our free AI search visibility checker.

Which domains did AI engines cite most for these prompts?

These are the 15 domains cited most often across all 9,242 answers this month, counting each domain once per answer. This is the real competition for AI citations on these questions, and it is a mix of agencies, review sites and publishers rather than a list of agencies alone.

Which baadigi.com pages got cited?

• baadigi.com/compare/best-lead-generation-companies-for-contractors: cited in 97 answers
• baadigi.com/compare/appliance-repair-marketing-agencies: cited in 63 answers
• baadigi.com/compare/craftjack-vs-baadigi: cited in 62 answers
• baadigi.com/data: cited in 59 answers
• baadigi.com/compare/septic-marketing-agencies: cited in 58 answers
• baadigi.com/compare/junk-removal-marketing-agencies: cited in 57 answers
• baadigi.com/compare/pressure-washing-marketing-agencies: cited in 57 answers
• baadigi.com/compare/gutter-marketing-agencies: cited in 57 answers
• baadigi.com/compare/painting-contractor-marketing-agencies: cited in 52 answers
• baadigi.com/services/digital-marketing/window-door: cited in 46 answers

Pages that earn citations share a pattern: they answer the question in the first paragraph, publish real figures, and carry a dated byline. That is the structure we teach in our LLM SEO guide and the one we build for clients through our AI SEO service.

What changed from last month?

Our competitive citation rate moved from 20.9% to 22.0% (+1.1 pts). The number of distinct prompts where at least one engine cited baadigi.com went from 189 to 226 out of 310 tracked. ChatGPT: 27.6% to 24.7%. Perplexity: 27.9% to 33.6%. Google AI Overview: 8.4% to 7.1%.

Who should use this index?

If you run a contractor or local service business and want to know whether AI search is worth chasing, use this as a benchmark: an agency that tracks its own citations weekly and publishes the misses is showing you the work. If you are an agency owner, copy the method; the prompt list and the per-engine split are the parts that matter. If you only want to see whether your own site shows up, skip the index and run the AI search visibility checker on your homepage first. If you are already being cited for your core questions, do not buy anything yet; keep publishing answer-first pages with real numbers and check back monthly.