Long Distance Moving Carriers: AI Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

International Van Lines led the category in August 2026 with 45.3% valid recommendation coverage, down slightly from 46.0% in July 2026. The next closest brand, American Van Lines, held 41.3% valid recommendation coverage in August 2026, leaving a 4.0 percentage point gap between the leader and the second-place brand.

The benchmark recorded three significant declines rather than any leading increase. JK Moving Services fell from 44.7% valid recommendation coverage in July 2026 to 35.3% in August 2026, a decline of 9.4 percentage points. American Van Lines declined from 50.4% in July 2026 to 41.3% in August 2026, down 9.1 percentage points. Colonial Van Lines moved from 39.2% in July 2026 to 31.8% in August 2026, down 7.4 percentage points.

The month showed significant movement across the category, with three brands declining beyond normal month-to-month variation while the remaining three brands registered no significant change. The benchmark began with 800 prompt-surface observations in each month and produced 472 qualified observations in July 2026 and 532 qualified observations in August 2026 after qualification.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Qualified surface breadth counts the canonical AI/search surface families with at least one qualified observation: ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. All six families were represented in both months.

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending Long Distance Moving Carries

Research Scope and Qualification

The public benchmark is narrower than the raw collection universe by design. Brand-level percentages use the qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection.

For full methodology, see AI Market Discovery Methodology.

Current Brand Standings

How to Read the Standings

• Presence rate: share of qualified observations in which the brand is mentioned at all.
• Valid recommendation coverage: share of qualified observations in which the brand receives a valid recommendation.
• Top-three rate: share of qualified observations in which the brand appears among the top three recommended options.
• Rank-one rate: share of qualified observations in which the brand is the first recommendation.
• Net sentiment: positive mentions minus negative mentions divided by total mentions.

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

Recommendation Coverage Movement

Largest Decline: JK Moving Services

JK Moving Services fell from 44.7% valid recommendation coverage in July 2026 to 35.3% in August 2026, a decline of 9.4 percentage points. The brand's presence rate dropped from 46.0% to 38.0% in the same period. Despite the coverage decline, the brand's rank-one rate held steady at 8.5% in August 2026.

Largest Decline: American Van Lines

American Van Lines moved from 50.4% valid recommendation coverage in July 2026 to 41.3% in August 2026, down 9.1 percentage points. The brand's presence rate declined from 51.3% to 44.2% over the same period. Top-three placement held relatively steady at 19.6% in August 2026, up from 18.6% in July 2026.

Category Leader: International Van Lines

International Van Lines led the category with 45.3% valid recommendation coverage in August 2026, down slightly from 46.0% in July 2026. The brand also held the highest presence rate at 53.2% and the highest top-three rate at 30.8% in August 2026.

Safeway Moving: Current Position and Competitive Gap

Safeway Moving held 17.3% valid recommendation coverage in August 2026, down from 19.9% in July 2026, with a presence rate of 19.2%, a top-three rate of 10.7%, a rank-one rate of 4.0%, and net sentiment of 0.95. Among the six tracked brands, Safeway Moving's coverage figure is the lowest of any brand still generating measurable recommendation activity, ahead only of Wheaton World Wide Moving, which registered 0.2% coverage.

International Van Lines records 45.3% valid recommendation coverage, while Safeway Moving stands at 17.3% — a gap of 28.0 percentage points. The same pattern holds on placement: International Van Lines' 30.8% top-three rate compares with 10.7% for Safeway Moving, and International Van Lines' 17.7% rank-one rate compares with 4.0% for Safeway Moving. Net sentiment for Safeway Moving, at 0.95, is close to the category's better-performing brands, which indicates that when Safeway Moving is recommended, it is not being described unfavorably. The more important issue is that sentiment strength is not translating into being named, ranked, or placed first at anywhere near the rate of the category leader, and this gap held steady rather than closing between July and August 2026.

Highest-priority diagnostic: Given that Safeway Moving's net sentiment (0.95) is comparable to or better than several higher-coverage brands, what specific factors in prompt phrasing, source citation patterns, or content structure are preventing that favorable sentiment from converting into valid recommendation coverage, top-three placement, and first-choice recommendations at rates closer to the category leader?

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. International Van Lines led both coverage and placement, while American Van Lines held the second-highest coverage but the lowest rank-one rate among the leading brands.

Close coverage can still hide different first-position rates. International Van Lines and American Van Lines were separated by 4.0 percentage points in coverage in August 2026, but by 16.6 percentage points in rank-one rate.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

All qualified observations in both months fell into the brand recommendation class.

The current public series measures brand recommendation discovery specifically and does not yet contain qualified observations in the pricing and value or multi-brand comparison classes.

Historical Measurement Record

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

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 engine ranking positions
• Social media mention volume
• Private or sponsored channel performance
• Causality from a metric movement alone

The current dataset cannot answer pricing, value, or head-to-head comparison questions.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index measures how often tracked brands appear in AI-generated answers across major AI and search surfaces, how often they are recommended, and how prominently they are placed. The benchmark is built from a defined prompt set and applies consistent qualification rules across all brands and surfaces.

Research links:

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

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