Profound has launched the Profound Index, a benchmark designed to help brands measure their visibility inside AI-generated search results and recommendations. The index analyzes more than 1.5 billion real-user prompts across 50+ industries and major AI platforms.

Measuring Brand Visibility in AI Search

As consumers increasingly use AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude to research products, services, and brands, traditional search rankings provide only part of the picture.

The Profound Index is designed to show how frequently brands appear in AI-generated answers and recommendations, giving marketers a way to track their presence beyond conventional search engines.

Built on Real-User Prompts

The index uses data from more than 1.5 billion real-user prompts across more than 50 industries. Profound says the dataset covers major large language models and is intended to provide an industry-wide view of AI Search performance.

Unlike static SEO reports, the Profound Index updates daily to capture changes in AI-generated visibility.

AI Search Can Differ From Traditional Rankings

Profound's early findings indicate that performance in AI-generated answers does not necessarily correspond with traditional search rankings or overall brand awareness.

AI model updates can also change which companies are recommended. For example, Profound reported shifts in visibility for brands across technology, travel, and health insurance categories following model updates.

The company highlighted examples including:

• IKEA gaining 19% visibility on ChatGPT while declining 11% across AI platforms overall.

• Travelocity, Orbitz, and Priceline declining between 35% and 56% on ChatGPT following a model update.

• Changes in health insurance visibility, with Ambetter and Humana declining by more than 50% while Aetna moved in the opposite direction.

Tracking Competitors and Emerging Brands

The Profound Index gives marketers tools to:

• Benchmark AI Search visibility against competitors.

• Track brand presence across major AI platforms.

• Monitor visibility changes and trends over time.

• Identify brands gaining or losing visibility within a category.

• Understand how AI-generated recommendations are changing across industries.

From SEO Rankings to AI Recommendations

The launch reflects a broader change in search measurement. Instead of focusing exclusively on where a brand appears in traditional search results, marketers can now examine whether AI systems mention, recommend, or surface that brand when users ask conversational questions.

Profound positions the index as a way for marketing teams to establish a baseline for this emerging form of search visibility and monitor how their brands perform as AI platforms and models continue to evolve.