Boat Insurance: AI Visibility Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

Questions This Section Answers

• Which brand led the Boat Insurance benchmark in October 2026, and by how much?
• Which brands declined beyond normal variation across the July–October window?
• Which brands moved beyond normal month-to-month variation within October 2026?

USAA led the Boat Insurance benchmark in October 2026 with a valid recommendation coverage of 66.4%, ahead of State Farm at 65.7%, a gap of 0.7 percentage points. Both figures sit below the same brands' July 2026 baseline levels — 71.7% for USAA and 69.0% for State Farm — though neither change clears normal month-to-month variation. The top two sit less than a point apart, and both remain below their July baselines.

Across the full July–October span, three brands declined beyond normal variation, all in the same direction. BoatUS (Geico) recorded the largest decline, falling from 5.9% valid recommendation coverage in July 2026 to 0.0% in October 2026, a drop of 5.9 points. Markel declined from 3.2% in July 2026 to 0.0% in October 2026, down 3.2 points, its third consecutive monthly decline. Foremost declined from 2.7% in July 2026 to 0.0% in October 2026, down 2.7 points; the series also reflects a tracking label transition to Foremost Insurance across the same window. Allstate recorded the largest rise across the full span, up 3.3 points from 36.9% to 40.2%, though that change falls within normal month-to-month variation — no brand posted a rise beyond normal variation across the full July–October span.

Within the most recent month, two brands moved beyond normal variation in opposite directions. State Farm rose from 54.1% in September 2026 to 65.7% in October 2026, a gain of 11.6 points that extends an upward run begun the prior month, though State Farm's October level remains below its July baseline. BoatUS (Geico) fell from 14.6% in September 2026 to 0.0% in October 2026, a loss of 14.6 points that extends its already-declining position across the full span. A single month produced an 11.6-point gain and a 14.6-point loss, while the full window produced no gains beyond normal variation.

The benchmark began with 800 prompt-surface observations in each month and produced 137 qualified observations in October 2026 after qualification.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Qualified surface breadth counts the canonical AI surface families with at least one qualified observation. The six families tested are ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode.

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending Boat Insurance

Research Scope and Qualification

The public benchmark reports 137 qualified observations for October 2026. Brand-level percentages use these qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection universe. See the AI Visibility Market Discovery Methodology for detail on how observations are qualified for public reporting.

Current Brand Standings

Questions This Section Answers

• Where did each tracked brand land on presence, valid recommendation coverage, and placement in October 2026?
• Which brands combined broad presence with weak top-three recommendation rates?

The table below reports presence, valid recommendation coverage, placement, and sentiment for every tracked brand in October 2026.

How to Read the Standings

Presence rate measures how often a brand appears in any capacity across qualified answers, whether recommended or simply mentioned. Valid recommendation coverage measures the share of qualified observations where the brand appears in a recommendation shortlist. Top-three rate is the share where the brand appears among the top three recommended options, while rank-one rate is the share where the brand is the single first recommendation. Net sentiment reflects the balance of positive over negative mention tone, scored per answer.

For formulas and denominator rules, see AI Visibility Market Discovery Metric Definitions.

Recommendation Coverage Movement

Questions This Section Answers

• Which brands declined in valid recommendation coverage since the July 2026 baseline, and by how much?
• Which brands moved beyond normal variation between September and October 2026?

The Foremost series appears under two tracking labels. Foremost was recorded in July 2026 and Foremost Insurance from August 2026 onward, so the two rows together describe the same underlying carrier across the window. Within the last month, two brands moved beyond normal variation: State Farm rose from 54.1% in September 2026 to 65.7% in October 2026, a gain of 11.6 points, and BoatUS (Geico) fell from 14.6% in September 2026 to 0.0% in October 2026, a loss of 14.6 points. Allstate, Nationwide, Progressive, Travelers, and USAA each moved from their September 2026 values by margins within normal month-to-month variation. Eight of eleven measured brands moved down over the window; only one moved up, and within normal variation.

Largest Decline: BoatUS (Geico)

BoatUS (Geico) fell from 5.9% valid recommendation coverage in July 2026 to 0.0% in October 2026, a decline of 5.9 points, beyond normal variation. The drop was concentrated in the final month: the brand recorded 14.6% in September 2026 before falling to 0.0% in October 2026, a loss of 14.6 points that also cleared normal variation. Presence moved from 6.4% in July 2026 to 0.0% in October 2026, down 6.4 points. The counts are small: 23 valid recommendation observations in September 2026 before none in October 2026.

Significant Decliners: Markel and Foremost

Markel fell from 3.2% valid recommendation coverage in July 2026 to 0.0% in October 2026, a decline of 3.2 points, beyond normal variation. The brand declined in each of the three months between its baseline and the current month, easing to 2.0% in August 2026, 0.6% in September 2026, and 0.0% in October 2026. Presence moved from 3.7% in July 2026 to 0.7% in October 2026, a decline of 3.0 points within normal variation. A steady three-month slide, not a single-month shock.

Foremost declined from 2.7% in July 2026 to 0.0% in October 2026, down 2.7 points, beyond normal variation. The series straddles a label change: Foremost Insurance was recorded from August 2026, when it posted 1.5%, then 0.6% in September 2026 and 0.0% in October 2026. The two labels together describe one carrier's gradual exit from the recommendation set rather than the collapse of a single tracked entry.

Category Leader: USAA

USAA retained the top position with 66.4% valid recommendation coverage in October 2026, down from 71.7% in July 2026, a decline of 5.3 points within normal variation. The brand rose from 60.5% in September 2026, a gain of 5.9 points. Presence stood at 99.3% in October 2026 versus 96.3% in July 2026, and the rank-one rate was unchanged at 13.9% across the series. State Farm closed the coverage gap to 0.7 points and leads the placement metrics.

Stable Brands

Allstate, National General, Nationwide, Progressive, Progressive RV Insurance, State Farm, Travelers, and USAA moved within normal month-to-month variation across the series. Allstate rose from 36.9% in July 2026 to 40.2% in October 2026, gaining 3.3 points and climbing in each of the last two months. National General eased from 7.0% in July 2026 to 5.1% in October 2026 after peaking at 8.2% in August 2026. Progressive RV Insurance, recorded only as a separate label in August 2026, posted no measurable coverage at baseline or in the current month. Stability at the top masks a pattern of broad, small declines across the rest of the set.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Questions This Section Answers

• How did top-three and rank-one rates diverge among the leading brands in October 2026?
• Which brands had strong coverage but weak first-position strength?

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. Among the leading brands in October 2026, placement diverged sharply: State Farm led on both top-three and rank-one rates while USAA led on coverage. Progressive matched Travelers on coverage exactly but sat far behind on first-position strength.

Close coverage can still hide very different first-position rates. State Farm and USAA sat 0.7 points apart on coverage in October 2026, yet State Farm held a rank-one rate of 24.8% against USAA's 13.9%, and Progressive matched Travelers on coverage while posting a rank-one rate of 1.5%. The coverage lead and the first-choice lead belong to different brands.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

Questions This Section Answers

• What buyer-intent classes does the current Boat Insurance benchmark include, and which are empty?
• Which recommendation intent drives the qualified observations in October 2026?

All qualified observations in this benchmark fell into the brand recommendation class, meaning the public series measures answers where a specific brand is recommended as a discovery outcome.

Price, value, and head-to-head comparison have no public signal in this data.

Historical Measurement Record

Questions This Section Answers

• How have qualified observations and the coverage leader changed across the July–October 2026 measurements?
• Does the current record show a durable coverage trend or only within-range movement?

This is an evergreen benchmark URL. New measurements are added to the same report.

Leadership has not changed hands in any of the four measurements, but the leader's coverage has moved 16.6 points across the window.

Evidence and Source Layer

The benchmark is built from prompt-level observations that retain the query, AI/search surface, answer, brand outcome, recommendation placement, sentiment, and, where exposed, citations or attributable evidence sources. Source presence is evidence about the information environment. It is not automatically proof that the source caused the recommendation.

Scope Boundaries

This public benchmark does not measure:

• Market share or revenue attributable to any brand
• Sales or conversion outcomes following an AI recommendation
• Every possible AI response or surface behavior
• Organic-search ranking position
• Social mention volume or engagement
• Private, sponsored, or gated channels
• Causality from any single metric movement

It records what AI search and chat surfaces presented for the Boat Insurance vertical across the six canonical surface families during the measurement window.

Top 10 Cited Domains

Questions This Section Answers

• Which domains were cited most often across AI platform responses in October 2026?
• What patterns appear in the source layer, and did any tracked brand's own domain appear in the top 10?

Across all AI platform responses in October 2026, the benchmark observed 7,017 citations drawn from 635 unique domains.

Citations are concentrated at the top of the list: the ten domains above account for roughly 41% of the 7,017 citations observed, and the leading three alone account for more than 20%. No tracked brand's own domain appears in the top 10. Aggregator and comparison sources dominate the layer, with nerdwallet.com, thezebra.com, insurify.com, lendingtree.com, and insurance.com all oriented toward insurance shopping research, alongside general business and news outlets such as usnews.com, marketwatch.com, and forbes.com. Google's own domain appears fifth and is cited only by AI Mode and AI Overviews, consistent with those surfaces drawing on first-party search results.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Visibility Market Discovery Index tracks how AI search and chat surfaces present brands within a defined vertical. It measures presence, recommendation coverage, placement, and sentiment across major AI surfaces on a month-by-month basis.

• AI Visibility Market Discovery Methodology
• AI Visibility Market Discovery Metric Definitions
• AI Visibility Market Discovery Research Standards
• Modeled AI Visibility Authority Value

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The public percentage cannot identify the prompts, competitors, or sources causing the result.

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