Surety Bonds: AI Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

Travelers led the Surety Bonds benchmark in September 2026 with 46.6% valid recommendation coverage. The Hartford followed at 42.9%, a gap of 3.7 points. CNA posted the largest coverage increase this month, rising from 0.0% in August 2026 to 16.4% in September 2026, reflecting the tracking transition back to CNA. CNA Surety registered the largest coverage decline, falling from 16.4% in August 2026 to 0.0% in September 2026; both changes reflect the tracking transition back to CNA in the September data. Multiple brands posted month-over-month declines beyond normal variation, including Travelers, down 14.6 points from 61.2% in August 2026; SuretyBonds.com, down 13.7 points from 24.3%; and The Hartford, down 12.4 points from 55.3%.

Across the full baseline-to-current series, CNA declined from 25.1% valid recommendation coverage in July 2026 to 16.4% in September 2026, a movement beyond normal variation, while Merchants Bonding Company fell from 4.8% to 1.1% over the same span. The two leaders held steady across the series: Travelers moved from 51.7% in July 2026 to 46.6% in September 2026, and The Hartford from 52.0% to 42.9%. This measurement covered 189 qualified observations in September 2026, drawn from 800 prompt-surface observations collected in each month, which produced 189 qualified observations after qualification.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

The August 2026 measurement registered 152 qualified observations, between the July and September totals. Qualified surface breadth counts the canonical AI/search surface families with at least one qualified observation. The six families 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 Surety Bonds

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 the full research process, see AI Market Discovery Methodology.

Current Brand Standings

How to Read the Standings

• Presence rate: share of qualified observations where the brand is mentioned at all.
• Valid recommendation coverage: share of qualified observations where the brand is recommended in a way that qualifies as a valid recommendation.
• Top-three rate: share of qualified observations where the brand appears in the top three recommendations.
• Rank-one rate: share of qualified observations where the brand is the first recommendation.
• Net sentiment: positive mentions minus negative mentions divided by total mentions; ranges from -1 to 1.

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

Recommendation Coverage Movement

CNA Surety appeared in the August 2026 tracking data with 16.4% valid recommendation coverage but was not present as a separate entity in the July or September 2026 brand set. Some brands registered August-to-September moves beyond normal variation, including Liberty Mutual Surety, down 17.5 points from 35.5% in August 2026, and SuretyBonds.com, down 13.7 points from 24.3% in August 2026.

Largest Decline: CNA

CNA's valid recommendation coverage fell from 25.1% in July 2026 to 16.4% in September 2026, a movement beyond normal variation. Presence rate declined from 43.2% in July 2026 to 36.5% in September 2026, within normal month-to-month variation. The decline occurred despite a month-over-month recovery from 0.0% in August 2026, when the tracking data used the CNA Surety brand name instead.

Largest Decline: Merchants Bonding Company

Merchants Bonding Company's valid recommendation coverage fell from 4.8% in July 2026 to 1.1% in September 2026, a movement beyond normal variation, with a 2-month downward streak. This reflects only 2 valid recommendations in September 2026 against 13 in July 2026. Presence rate moved from 11.8% to 9.5% over the same span, and the top-three rate fell from 0.7% to 0.0%, both within normal variation.

Category Leader: Travelers

Travelers led with 46.6% valid recommendation coverage in September 2026, down from 51.7% in July 2026. Travelers also held the highest presence rate at 88.4% in September 2026.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. The table below shows the leading brands by valid recommendation coverage.

Close coverage can still hide very different first-position rates: The Hartford trails Travelers on coverage by just 3.7 points in September 2026, yet The Hartford leads on rank-one rate at 18.0% versus 8.5%.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

All qualified observations in both months fell into the Brand Recommendation class.

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

Historical Measurement Record

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, 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 AI and search surfaces discover, mention, and recommend brands across industries. Each monthly measurement reflects a qualified set of prompt-level observations across six canonical AI/search surface families. Canonical research links:

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

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