Executive Summary
- Average AX Score across 513 brands: 42/100.
- Only 12% score above 70 (Good). Top performers share structured data, entity clarity, and active perception management.
- 34% score below 30 (Critical).
- SaaS leads at 54. Healthcare and Financial Services lag at 33 and 35.
- Claude has the highest accuracy (58); Gemini is the most conservative (44).
Methodology
513 brands across 10 categories, evaluated across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini on five dimensions (Discoverability, Navigability, Operability, Recoverability, Transparency). Period: January 6 to March 28, 2026.
The Big Picture
Distribution:
| Score Range | Grade | Brands | % of Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 70-100 | Good | 62 | 12% |
| 50-69 | Fair | 124 | 24% |
| 30-49 | Poor | 153 | 30% |
| 0-29 | Critical | 174 | 34% |
64% of brands score below 50. The median is 39, below the mean, indicating a long tail of low performers.
The top 12% average 82, nearly double the overall average of 42. This gap is a compounding advantage in AI-mediated discovery.
Performance by Category
| Category | Brands | Avg Score | Top Brand | Bottom Brand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SaaS | 87 | 54 | Stripe (89) | Alignable (14) |
| Dev Tools | 63 | 51 | GitHub (91) | CodeSee (11) |
| Cloud Infrastructure | 45 | 49 | AWS (86) | Vultr (19) |
| Marketing Tech | 58 | 46 | HubSpot (84) | Moosend (12) |
| Cybersecurity | 52 | 43 | CrowdStrike (81) | Pentera (15) |
| HR Tech | 41 | 40 | Workday (77) | Personio (16) |
| E-commerce | 54 | 38 | Shopify (83) | Volusion (9) |
| Media / Publishing | 38 | 37 | Reuters (76) | Patch Media (8) |
| Financial Services | 42 | 35 | Stripe (89) | Kabbage (10) |
| Healthcare | 33 | 33 | Epic Systems (72) | Practice Fusion (7) |
SaaS and Dev Tools lead because their audiences reward machine-readable interfaces and APIs. Healthcare and Financial Services lag from regulatory caution and a history of optimizing for human audiences.
Performance by AI Model
| AI Model | Avg Score (across all brands) | Strongest Dimension | Weakest Dimension |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude | 58 | Navigability (62) | Operability (48) |
| Perplexity | 55 | Discoverability (64) | Transparency (44) |
| ChatGPT | 51 | Discoverability (59) | Recoverability (41) |
| Gemini | 44 | Discoverability (52) | Operability (34) |
Claude produces the most accurate brand descriptions, likely from its longer context window and recent training data. Perplexity excels at discovery via real-time search. ChatGPT has the largest user base but weaker error handling. Gemini is conservative, often declining recommendations when data is ambiguous.
Dimension Analysis
| Dimension | Avg Score (out of 20) | % Brands Scoring 15+ | Assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discoverability | 10.4 | 18% | Strongest overall. Most brands are at least findable. |
| Navigability | 9.2 | 14% | Moderate. Agents can find brands but struggle to navigate their content. |
| Operability | 7.8 | 8% | Weak. Very few brands offer agent-usable APIs or interfaces. |
| Recoverability | 7.4 | 7% | Weak. Agents cannot handle errors or inconsistencies gracefully. |
| Transparency | 7.6 | 9% | Weakest. Agents struggle to explain brand offerings accurately. |
Discoverability is strongest because it benefits from SEO investments. The three weakest dimensions require APIs, error handling, and machine-readable docs.
Quarter-over-Quarter Trends
Q1 2026 vs Q4 2025:
- Average AX Score: 38 to 42 (+4), driven by top-quartile structured data investment.
- Good (70+): 9% to 12%.
- Critical (0-29): 39% to 34%.
- Discoverability improved most (+2.1). Schema.org adoption is accelerating.
- Operability improved least (+0.4). API development is a longer-term investment.
At the current rate, the average brand will not reach Fair (50+) until Q3 2027.
Top 10 Improvers
| Brand | Category | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Change | Key Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notion | SaaS | 52 | 74 | +22 | Comprehensive Schema.org overhaul + API documentation |
| Figma | Dev Tools | 58 | 78 | +20 | Entity clarity campaign + plugin API exposure |
| Canva | SaaS | 41 | 59 | +18 | Structured data + localized entity markup |
| Vercel | Cloud | 61 | 77 | +16 | Developer docs restructuring + FAQ schema |
| Linear | Dev Tools | 44 | 59 | +15 | Product schema + competitive positioning clarity |
| Deel | HR Tech | 29 | 43 | +14 | Entity disambiguation + trust signal campaign |
| Loom | SaaS | 38 | 51 | +13 | Structured data + integration documentation |
| Miro | SaaS | 47 | 59 | +12 | Category clarity + API access improvements |
| Plaid | Financial | 50 | 61 | +11 | Developer API docs + use case documentation |
| Airtable | SaaS | 45 | 55 | +10 | Schema.org markup + template catalog structuring |
Structured data is the single highest-impact action across top improvers, often combined with entity clarity and API documentation. No top-10 brand improved through content marketing alone.
Predictions for Q2 2026
- Average AX Score will reach 46-48.
- Operability will be the breakout dimension. Major platforms are launching agent APIs in Q2.
- Cross-model variance will decrease as training data becomes more current.
- Healthcare and Financial Services will improve most as regulatory guidance arrives in Q2.
- A dedicated APO role will emerge. At least 20 Fortune 500 companies will designate an APO role by end of Q2.
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