Pest Control Services: AI Visibility Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

Questions This Section Answers

• Which pest control brand led AI recommendation coverage in October 2026, and by how much?
• Which brands posted significant coverage gains or declines across the July–October series?

Orkin led the October 2026 benchmark with 47.5% valid recommendation coverage, ahead of Terminix at 46.1%, a gap of 1.4 points. The two leaders have remained within two points of each other in every tracked month since July 2026.

No brand posted a significant increase or decline from September 2026 to October 2026. The month-to-month picture was quiet. Across the full July 2026 to October 2026 series, six brands declined significantly: Arrow Exterminators, Bulwark, Orkin, Rentokil, Terminix, and Western Exterminator. Hawx Pest Control was the only significant riser over the same span, moving from 1.9% in July 2026 to 5.2% in October 2026, a rise of 3.3 points. Aptive, Massey Services, and Truly Nolen were stable across the series.

Orkin moved from 57.8% in July 2026 to 47.5% in October 2026, a decline of 10.3 points, and Terminix moved from 56.8% to 46.1%, a decline of 10.7 points. Both leaders declined in each of the first three tracked months before recovering modestly in October 2026, neither beyond normal month-to-month variation.

The benchmark began with 800 prompt-surface observations in each month and produced 438 qualified observations in October 2026 after qualification.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Qualified surface breadth counts the six canonical AI/search surface families with at least one qualified observation: ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. August 2026 and September 2026 qualified observations were 441 and 454 respectively.

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending Pest Control Services

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. AI Visibility Market Discovery Methodology

Current Brand Standings

Questions This Section Answers

• How far ahead of the rest of the field are Orkin and Terminix in valid recommendation coverage?
• What separates Orkin's rank-one rate from Terminix's in the October standings?

Orkin and Terminix hold 47.5% and 46.1% valid recommendation coverage, while every other tracked brand sits below 20%.

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 appears in a valid recommendation shortlist.
• Top-three rate is the share of qualified observations where the brand appears among the top three recommendations.
• Rank-one rate is the share of qualified observations where the brand is the top-ranked recommendation.
• Net sentiment is the balance of positive over negative mentions, from -1.0 to 1.0.

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

Recommendation Coverage Movement

Questions This Section Answers

• Which pest control brand posted the largest recommendation coverage gain since the July baseline?
• Which brand recorded the steepest decline in valid recommendation coverage across the series?

Six of ten tracked brands declined significantly across the July–October period, and one posted a significant increase.

Largest Increase: Hawx Pest Control

Hawx Pest Control's valid recommendation coverage rose from 1.9% in July 2026 to 5.2% in October 2026, an increase of 3.3 points, and moved upward in each of the three months since baseline. Its presence rate rose from 2.6% in July 2026 to 7.3% in October 2026, an increase of 4.7 points. Its top-three rate and rank-one rate held at low levels, at 0.5% and 0.0% respectively in October 2026, so the rise reflects broader appearance in recommendation shortlists rather than first-position placement.

Largest Decline: Terminix

Terminix's valid recommendation coverage fell from 56.8% in July 2026 to 46.1% in October 2026, a decline of 10.7 points. Its top-three rate fell from 49.5% in July 2026 to 42.2% in October 2026, a decline of 7.3 points. Its rank-one rate rose from 15.0% in July 2026 to 18.7% in October 2026. Terminix declined in the August 2026 and September 2026 months before recovering 3.8 points from September 2026 to October 2026, within normal month-to-month variation.

Orkin, Rentokil, Bulwark, Arrow Exterminators, and Western Exterminator also declined significantly across the series. Rentokil fell from 24.9% in July 2026 to 15.3% in October 2026, Bulwark fell from 9.6% to 3.6%, Arrow Exterminators fell from 13.6% to 7.8%, and Western Exterminator fell from 7.0% to 1.8%. Bulwark, Rentokil, and Western Exterminator each declined in every month from July 2026 through October 2026.

Category Leader: Orkin

Orkin led with 47.5% valid recommendation coverage in October 2026, ahead of Terminix at 46.1%. Its rank-one rate of 21.7% led the category, though down from 34.5% in July 2026. Orkin declined in each of the first three tracked months before recovering 3.7 points from September 2026 to October 2026, within normal month-to-month variation.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Questions This Section Answers

• What does Orkin's and Terminix's top-three versus rank-one pattern say about first-choice placement?
• How have top-three and rank-one rates shifted for the two leading brands since July?

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. The leading brands show distinct placement patterns:

Orkin's rank-one rate of 21.7% exceeds Terminix's 18.7%, meaning close coverage continues to mask a first-choice gap. Orkin's top-three rate fell 8.1 points across the series while its rank-one rate fell 12.8 points, whereas Terminix's top-three rate fell 7.3 points while its rank-one rate rose 3.7 points.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

All qualified observations in both months fell into the brand discovery and consideration class.

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

Historical Measurement Record

Orkin has retained the coverage lead in all four months. Its lead over Terminix widened from 1.0 point in July 2026 to 1.5 points in August and September 2026, before narrowing slightly to 1.4 points in October 2026.

Evidence and Source Layer

Questions This Section Answers

• What evidence does each prompt-level observation retain, and how should source presence be interpreted?
• Does appearing as a cited source prove that a source caused an AI recommendation?

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 attributable sales.
• It does not capture every possible AI response.
• It does not measure organic-search ranking or social mention volume.
• It does not cover private or sponsored channels.
• It does not establish causality from a metric movement alone.

Top 10 Cited Domains

Across all AI platform responses in October 2026, 6,739 citations were observed across 1,294 unique domains.

Citations are concentrated in a small number of domains, with the top 10 accounting for a combined 38.2% of all citations. Two tracked brand domains appear in the top 10: terminix.com at rank 2 and orkin.com at rank 3, both cited across all six canonical AI surface families. The remaining top-cited sources are dominated by home-improvement publishers, consumer review sites, and news outlets, with Google's own domain leading at 11.3% share from AI Mode and AI Overviews responses.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Visibility Market Discovery Index tracks how AI assistants discover, evaluate, and recommend brands across a vertical. It is an evergreen benchmark updated monthly.

• 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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