Gold IRAs and Precious Metals Dealers: AI Market Discovery Index
Tracking how AI platforms recommend gold iras and precious metals dealers. This public AI Market Discovery Index is updated monthly since May 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 Increase: American Hartford Gold
- 08Category Leader: JM Bullion
- 09Recommendation Placement Snapshot
- 10Buyer-Intent Distribution
- 11Historical Measurement Record
- 12Evidence and Source Layer
Benchmark Summary
In August 2026, JM Bullion led the category with valid recommendation coverage of 47.4%, slightly ahead of American Hartford Gold at 46.6% and APMEX at 44.8%. Measured against the May 2026 baseline, nine of the ten tracked brands recorded coverage gains beyond normal month-to-month variation, with the largest increase recorded by American Hartford Gold, which rose from 12.9% in May 2026 to 46.6% in August 2026. The largest decline from the prior month was Birch Gold Group, which fell from 23.8% in July 2026 to 17.6% in August 2026, though it remains well above its May 2026 baseline of 4.9%.
The benchmark began with 800 prompt-surface observations in each month and produced 629 qualified observations in August 2026 after qualification.
AI recommendation trend
valid recommendation coverage, May 2026 to Aug 2026
- JM Bullion47.4%
- American Hartford Gold46.6%
- APMEX44.8%
- Augusta Precious Metals38.5%
- Goldco33.4%
- Birch Gold Group17.6%
- Noble Gold Investments13.2%
- Orion Metal Exchange5.4%
- Advantage Gold3.8%
- Thor Metals Group0.0%
Current Benchmark at a Glance
Measure | May 2026 | August 2026 | Movement |
|---|---|---|---|
Qualified benchmark observations | 1,299 | 629 | Down 670 |
Tracked brands | 10 | 10 | No change |
Qualified surface breadth | 6 | 6 | No change |
Recommendation-shaped answer share | 13.5% | 41.7% | Up 28.2 points |
Valid recommendation shortlist share | 28.3% | 64.5% | Up 36.2 points |
Leader by valid recommendation coverage | JM Bullion (19.4%) | JM Bullion (47.4%) | Up 28.0 points |
Qualified surface breadth refers to the number of canonical AI surface families with at least one qualified observation: ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. Both months recorded observations across all six families.
For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending Gold IRAs and Precious Metals Dealers
Research Scope and Qualification
The public benchmark is narrower than the raw collection universe by design.
Research stage | May 2026 | August 2026 | What it represents |
|---|---|---|---|
Source prompt-surface observations | 800 | 800 | Raw prompts collected across surfaces |
Unique questions | Not supplied | 555 | Distinct questions after deduplication |
Brand / competitor mentions | Not supplied | 800 | Prompts containing brand or competitor names |
Relevant observations | Not supplied | 790 | Prompts relevant to the vertical |
Irrelevant observations | Not supplied | 10 | Prompts not relevant to the vertical |
Qualified benchmark observations | 1,299 | 629 | Public denominator used in this report |
Brand-level percentages use the qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection. AI Market Discovery Methodology
Current Brand Standings
Brand | Presence rate | Valid recommendation coverage | Top-three rate | Rank-one rate | Net sentiment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
JM Bullion | 78.9% | 47.4% | 36.1% | 8.9% | 0.68 |
American Hartford Gold | 50.9% | 46.6% | 32.1% | 5.2% | 0.94 |
APMEX | 76.0% | 44.8% | 35.9% | 23.7% | 0.67 |
Augusta Precious Metals | 41.2% | 38.5% | 30.2% | 19.1% | 0.96 |
Goldco | 35.4% | 33.4% | 24.0% | 2.7% | 0.97 |
Birch Gold Group | 22.3% | 17.6% | 4.3% | 0.2% | 0.82 |
Noble Gold Investments | 13.8% | 13.2% | 1.1% | 0.2% | 0.97 |
Orion Metal Exchange | 5.7% | 5.4% | 0.5% | 0.0% | 1.00 |
Advantage Gold | 4.3% | 3.8% | 1.1% | 0.2% | 0.93 |
Thor Metals Group | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.00 |
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How to Read the Standings
- Presence rate: the share of qualified observations in which the brand was mentioned.
- Valid recommendation coverage: the share of qualified observations in which the brand received a valid recommendation.
- Top-three rate: the share of qualified observations in which the brand appeared among the top three recommendations.
- Rank-one rate: the share of qualified observations in which the brand was the first recommendation given.
- Net sentiment: the share of positive mentions minus the share of negative mentions.
For formulas and denominator rules, see AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions.
Recommendation Coverage Movement
Brand | May 2026 | August 2026 | Movement since baseline |
|---|---|---|---|
Advantage Gold | 0.3% | 3.8% | Up 3.5 points |
American Hartford Gold | 12.9% | 46.6% | Up 33.7 points |
APMEX | 18.9% | 44.8% | Up 25.9 points |
Augusta Precious Metals | 12.0% | 38.5% | Up 26.5 points |
Birch Gold Group | 4.9% | 17.6% | Up 12.7 points |
Goldco | 11.9% | 33.4% | Up 21.5 points |
JM Bullion | 19.4% | 47.4% | Up 28.0 points |
Noble Gold Investments | 4.0% | 13.2% | Up 9.2 points |
Orion Metal Exchange | 0.7% | 5.4% | Up 4.7 points |
Thor Metals Group | 0.0% | 0.0% | No change |
Nine of the ten tracked brands recorded coverage gains beyond normal month-to-month variation between May 2026 and August 2026. The immediate prior month, however, showed a retreat for several brands: Birch Gold Group declined from 23.8% in July 2026 to 17.6% in August 2026, a move beyond normal variation, while American Hartford Gold, Goldco, Augusta Precious Metals, and JM Bullion each posted smaller declines from their July 2026 levels that did not exceed normal month-to-month variation.
Largest Increase: American Hartford Gold
American Hartford Gold recorded the largest coverage increase in the category, rising from 12.9% in May 2026 to 46.6% in August 2026, a gain of 33.7 points. The brand's presence rate climbed from 13.4% to 50.9% over the same period, and its top-three rate rose from 9.8% to 32.1%. The largest single month-to-month gain in this series was 36.7 points, which occurred between May 2026 and July 2026.
Category Leader: JM Bullion
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JM Bullion led the category in August 2026 with 47.4% valid recommendation coverage, up from 19.4% in May 2026. The brand's presence rate was 78.9% in August 2026, the highest in the category, and its top-three rate of 36.1% was the strongest as well.
Recommendation Placement Snapshot
Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. The following table shows how often the leading brands appeared in the top three positions and in the first position.
Brand | August 2026 top-three rate | August 2026 rank-one rate | May 2026 top-three rate | May 2026 rank-one rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
JM Bullion | 36.1% | 8.9% | 13.9% | 7.9% |
American Hartford Gold | 32.1% | 5.2% | 9.8% | 1.8% |
APMEX | 35.9% | 23.7% | 14.2% | 5.5% |
Close coverage can hide very different first-position rates. While JM Bullion led on coverage, APMEX recorded a rank-one rate of 23.7% in August 2026, well above JM Bullion's 8.9% and American Hartford Gold's 5.2%.
Buyer-Intent Distribution
In August 2026, all qualified observations fell into the Brand Recommendation class.
Buyer-intent class | May 2026 | August 2026 |
|---|---|---|
Brand Recommendation | 745 | 629 |
Pricing & Value | 157 | 0 |
Multi-Brand Comparison | 397 | 0 |
Total qualified observations | 1,299 | 629 |
The current public series measures brand recommendation discovery and does not yet contain qualified observations in the Pricing & Value or Multi-Brand Comparison classes for August 2026.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
May 2026 | 1,299 | JM Bullion | 19.4% | Baseline |
July 2026 | 633 | American Hartford Gold | 49.6% | American Hartford Gold, up 36.7 points from May |
August 2026 | 629 | JM Bullion | 47.4% | American Hartford Gold, up 33.7 points from May |
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 sales attribution
- Every possible AI response to a given query
- Organic-search ranking positions
- Social media mention volume or engagement
- Private or sponsored channel performance (such as paid placements or brand-controlled surfaces)
- Causality from a metric movement alone
About This Benchmark
The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index is a neutral, recurring measurement of how major AI and search surfaces discuss brands in response to real market questions. It tracks presence, recommendation coverage, placement, sentiment, and buyer-intent class across six canonical surface families.
- AI Market Discovery Methodology
- AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions
- AI Market Discovery Research Standards
- Modeled AI Authority Value
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The public industry benchmark shows category-level standings. A company-level Authority Index can go deeper.
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