Body Care Brands: AI Market Discovery Index
Tracking how AI platforms recommend body care brands. This public AI Market Discovery Index is updated monthly since July 2026.
On this page
- 01Benchmark Summary
- 02Current Benchmark at a Glance
- 03Research Scope and Qualification
- 04Current Brand Standings
- 05How to Read the Standings
- 06Recommendation Coverage Movement
- 07Largest Decline: Kiehl’s
- 08Category Leader: CeraVe
- 09Recommendation Placement Snapshot
- 10Buyer-Intent Distribution
- 11Historical Measurement Record
- 12Evidence and Source Layer
Benchmark Summary
CeraVe led valid recommendation coverage in August 2026 at 89.9%, down from 90.8% in July 2026. The gap to the next closest brand, Neutrogena, was 8.8 percentage points in August 2026, with Neutrogena at 81.1% versus 84.6% in July 2026.
The largest coverage decline was Kiehl's, which fell to 44.8% in August 2026 from 51.7% in July 2026, a 6.9 percentage point drop beyond normal month-to-month variation. No tracked brand recorded a significant coverage increase.
The full July-to-August series shows relative stability across most brands. CeraVe's top-three rate rose to 74.3% in August 2026 from 65.8% in July 2026, while its overall coverage eased slightly. Kiehl's was the only significant decliner in the series. The benchmark produced 634 qualified observations in August 2026, up from 623 in July 2026.
AI recommendation trend
valid recommendation coverage, Jul 2026 to Aug 2026
- CeraVe-0.9%Jul 202690.8%Aug 202689.9%
- Neutrogena-3.5%Jul 202684.6%Aug 202681.1%
- Cetaphil-1.4%Jul 202673.2%Aug 202671.8%
- Kiehl’s-6.9% · beyond normal variationJul 202651.7%Aug 202644.8%
- Sun Bum-0.7%Jul 20264.8%Aug 20264.1%
- Origins-1.2%Jul 20264.2%Aug 20263.0%
- Kopari Beauty-0.3%Jul 20260.5%Aug 20260.2%
- Billieno changeJul 20260.0%Aug 20260.0%
Current Benchmark at a Glance
Measure | Jul 2026 | Aug 2026 | Movement |
|---|---|---|---|
Qualified benchmark observations | 623 | 634 | Up 11 |
Tracked brands | 8 | 8 | No change |
Qualified surface breadth | 6 | 6 | No change |
Recommendation-shaped answer share | 67.9% | 67.2% | Down 0.7 points |
Valid recommendation shortlist share | 90.2% | 92.0% | Up 1.8 points |
Leader by valid recommendation coverage | CeraVe 90.8% | CeraVe 89.9% | Down 0.9 points |
Qualified surface breadth counts the canonical AI surface families with at least one qualified observation: ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. The benchmark held breadth across all six families in both months.
For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending Body Care Brands
Research Scope and Qualification
The public benchmark denominator is the qualified observation count for each month. July 2026 produced 623 qualified observations and August 2026 produced 634 qualified observations, with each qualified observation representing a unique prompt. Brand-level percentages in this report use the qualified benchmark observations as the denominator, not a raw collection total. AI Market Discovery Methodology
Current Brand Standings
This table is the primary current-month benchmark view, sorted by valid recommendation coverage.
Brand | Presence rate | Valid recommendation coverage | Top-three rate | Rank-one rate | Net sentiment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
CeraVe | 97.2% | 89.9% | 74.3% | 49.7% | 1.0 |
Neutrogena | 90.5% | 81.1% | 47.6% | 7.4% | 0.9 |
Cetaphil | 77.3% | 71.8% | 51.6% | 6.6% | 1.0 |
Kiehl’s | 50.3% | 44.8% | 31.2% | 3.3% | 0.9 |
Sun Bum | 5.7% | 4.1% | 2.1% | 0.5% | 0.8 |
Origins | 4.6% | 3.0% | 1.4% | 0.3% | 0.6 |
Kopari Beauty | 0.5% | 0.2% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.3 |
Billie | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0 |
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How to Read the Standings
Presence rate is the share of qualified observations where the brand appears in any form. Valid recommendation coverage is the share of qualified observations where the brand receives a valid recommendation. Top-three rate is the share where the brand appears in the first three recommendation positions. Rank-one rate is the share where the brand is the first recommendation. Net sentiment is the balance of positive over negative mentions, scaled from 0 to 1.
For formulas and denominator rules, see AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions.
Recommendation Coverage Movement
Brand | Jul 2026 | Aug 2026 | Movement since baseline |
|---|---|---|---|
Billie | 0.0% | 0.0% | No change |
CeraVe | 90.8% | 89.9% | Down 0.9 points |
Cetaphil | 73.2% | 71.8% | Down 1.4 points |
Kiehl’s | 51.7% | 44.8% | Down 6.9 points |
Kopari Beauty | 0.5% | 0.2% | Down 0.3 points |
Neutrogena | 84.6% | 81.1% | Down 3.5 points |
Origins | 4.2% | 3.0% | Down 1.2 points |
Sun Bum | 4.8% | 4.1% | Down 0.7 points |
Largest Decline: Kiehl’s
Kiehl’s valid recommendation coverage declined to 44.8% in August 2026 from 51.7% in July 2026, a 6.9 percentage point drop beyond normal month-to-month variation. Presence rate also declined to 50.3% in August 2026 from 56.7% in July 2026. The brand remained in the top three more often, with its top-three rate rising to 31.2% in August 2026 from 28.9% in July 2026, but fewer recommendations overall drove the coverage decline. Absolute counts show valid recommendations fell to 284 in August 2026 from 322 in July 2026.
Category Leader: CeraVe
CeraVe held the top valid recommendation coverage position in August 2026 at 89.9%, down 0.9 percentage points from 90.8% in July 2026. The brand's top-three rate rose to 74.3% in August 2026 from 65.8% in July 2026, and its rank-one rate rose to 49.7% from 44.5%. Valid recommendation counts held steady at 570 in August 2026 versus 566 in July 2026.
The remaining brands were stable within normal month-to-month variation. Neutrogena and Cetaphil saw moderate coverage declines, while Billie, Kopari Beauty, Origins, and Sun Bum moved minimally from low bases.
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Recommendation Placement Snapshot
Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. Top-three and rank-one rates reveal where brands land in the recommendation order.
Brand | Aug 2026 top-three rate | Aug 2026 rank-one rate | Jul 2026 top-three rate | Jul 2026 rank-one rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
CeraVe | 74.3% | 49.7% | 65.8% | 44.5% |
Cetaphil | 51.6% | 6.6% | 46.9% | 7.5% |
Neutrogena | 47.6% | 7.4% | 42.4% | 8.7% |
Similar coverage can hide very different first-position rates. CeraVe ranked first in 49.7% of August 2026 observations, while Neutrogena and Cetaphil ranked first far less often despite comparable top-three rates.
Buyer-Intent Distribution
All qualified observations in July and August 2026 fell into the Brand Recommendation class.
Buyer-intent class | Jul 2026 | Aug 2026 |
|---|---|---|
Brand Recommendation | 623 | 634 |
Pricing & Value | 0 | 0 |
Multi-Brand Comparison | 0 | 0 |
Total qualified observations | 623 | 634 |
The current public series measures brand recommendation discovery and does not yet contain qualified observations in the Pricing & Value or Multi-Brand Comparison classes.
Historical Measurement Record
This is an evergreen benchmark URL. New measurements are added to the same report.
Measurement | Qualified observations | Coverage leader | Leader coverage | Largest coverage movement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Jul 2026 | 623 | CeraVe | 90.8% | Kiehl’s, down 6.9 points in Aug |
Aug 2026 | 634 | CeraVe | 89.9% | Kiehl’s, down 6.9 points |
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, attributable sales, every possible AI response, organic-search ranking, social mention volume, private or sponsored channels, or causality from a metric movement alone.
About This Benchmark
The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index tracks how often and how prominently brands appear in AI-generated recommendations across major AI surfaces. This public industry benchmark provides category-level standings from qualified observations.
- AI Market Discovery Methodology
- AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions
- AI Market Discovery Research Standards
- Modeled AI Authority Value
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