The 2026 State of AI Search Visibility: Benchmarks, Citation Patterns, and What Marketers Should Do Next

The 2026 State of AI Search Visibility: Benchmarks, Citation Patterns, and What Marketers Should Do Next

SEO & AEO
Slate
Benchmark guide
A baseline for your own AI visibility numbers: which query types to run, what a normal range looks like, and which movements mean nothing.
Organisation
Slate
Written By
Abishek Balaji
PUBLISHED
August 5, 2026
Read
3
min

What it is.

A benchmark framework for AI search visibility, built on a standing prompt list run across informational, commercial, comparison, alternatives, job-to-be-done and brand-led queries.

Prompts are phrased the same way every time with neutral intent and run logged out where possible, which is what makes one month comparable to the next.

The output is ranges to read your own numbers against, plus the movements that look like wins and aren't.

Read it at the source.

Opens on Slate. Free, and the figures on this page all come from it.
Read the guide

Frequently Asked Questions

What do I need before this is useful?
Can I treat these as targets?
Which query types belong in a prompt set?
Should prompts be run logged in or logged out?
How often should the set be run?
Strengths
  • It gives you the query types to measure against, which is the part most teams improvise and then can't compare month to month.
  • The guidance on reading movement is honest about noise, and calls the figures directional ranges instead of scores.
  • It sits alongside the studies behind it, so you can go from the benchmark to the sample it came from.
Limitations
  • Slate is a TripleDart product and sells the tracking this describes.
  • The prompt set isn't published in full, so you'll be rebuilding the query list yourself.
  • Benchmarks describe patterns and carry no guarantee for a given category.
Skip this if
  • Skip it if you already run the same prompt set monthly and have a baseline you trust.
Ideal for
  • SEO and AEO leads setting a baseline
  • Marketing leads reporting AI visibility upward

The plays behind the reading.

We build inbound GTM engines for B2B software teams, and these are the frameworks we build from. Bring us a pipeline target and we'll map the route.