Window Replacement: AI Visibility Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

Questions This Section Answers

• Which window replacement brands led the October 2026 benchmark, and by how much?
• Which brands showed the largest coverage gains and declines since the July 2026 baseline?

In October 2026, Pella led the Window Replacement benchmark with valid recommendation coverage of 81.3%, a gap of 12.4 percentage points over the next brand. Both leaders strengthened in the month: Pella rose 7.7 percentage points from 73.6% in September 2026, and Marvin rose 5.5 points, each beyond normal month-to-month variation.

ProVia was the only significant cumulative riser, climbing to 24.5% in October 2026 from 17.2% in July 2026, a gain of 7.3 percentage points, with upward movement in each of the three months since July 2026. Window World recorded the largest decline, falling to 30.6% in October 2026 from 44.0% in July 2026, a drop of 13.4 percentage points, and has declined in each of the three months since baseline. Milgard also recorded a significant cumulative decline, to 42.0% in October 2026 from 55.1% in July 2026, down 13.1 points.

The month was mixed: one significant riser (ProVia), three significant decliners (Champion Windows, Milgard, and Window World), five stable brands, and one watch item (Simonton). The benchmark began with 800 prompt-surface observations in each month and produced 653 qualified observations in October 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 four months in the series reached the maximum breadth of six. In September 2026, the intermediate month, qualified observations stood at 673, recommendation-shaped answer share at 38.8%, and valid recommendation shortlist share at 74.7%.

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending Window Replacement

Research Scope and Qualification

Questions This Section Answers

• How many prompt-surface observations qualified for the public window replacement benchmark, and what was removed?
• What is the public denominator used for brand-level recommendation coverage rates?

The public benchmark is narrower than the raw collection universe by design. The funnel below shows how observations were qualified in July 2026 and in October 2026.

Brand-level percentages use the qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection. See AI Visibility Market Discovery Methodology.

Current Brand Standings

Questions This Section Answers

• Which window replacement brands rank highest by valid recommendation coverage?
• How do presence, top-three placement, and rank-one rates differ across the leading brands?

The table below shows the primary current-month benchmark view, sorted by valid recommendation coverage.

How to Read the Standings

• Presence rate: Share of qualified observations where the brand appeared in the response.
• Valid recommendation coverage: Share of qualified observations where the brand appeared in a recommendation shortlist, the primary ranking metric.
• Top-three rate: Share of qualified observations where the brand appeared in the top three recommended positions.
• Rank-one rate: Share of qualified observations where the brand was the first recommendation.
• Net sentiment: Positive minus negative mention sentiment across the response set, scaled from 0 to 1.

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

Recommendation Coverage Movement

Questions This Section Answers

• Which brands moved beyond normal month-to-month variation between September and October 2026?
• Why did ProVia and Window World record the largest cumulative coverage changes since July 2026?

Between September 2026 and October 2026, several brands moved beyond normal month-to-month variation: Pella rose 7.7 points, Andersen rose 8.6 points, JELD-WEN rose 5.7 points, and Marvin rose 5.5 points. Champion Windows, Milgard, and Window World recorded significant declines, while ProVia was the only significant cumulative riser.

Largest Increase: ProVia

ProVia's valid recommendation coverage rose to 24.5% in October 2026 from 17.2% in July 2026, an increase of 7.3 percentage points, beyond normal cumulative variation. It is the only significant riser in the benchmark. Presence rate climbed to 28.0% in October 2026 from 20.1% in July 2026, and top-three rate rose to 5.4% from 3.5%. With 160 valid recommendation counts in October 2026 versus 112 in July 2026, the gains were consistent across the series. ProVia's rise has narrowed its coverage gap with Window World from 26.8 points in July 2026 to 6.1 points in October 2026.

Largest Decline: Window World

Window World's valid recommendation coverage declined to 30.6% in October 2026 from 44.0% in July 2026, a drop of 13.4 percentage points, beyond normal cumulative variation. The brand declined in each of the three months since July 2026. Presence rate fell to 35.4% in October 2026 from 49.6% in July 2026, top-three rate declined to 11.2% from 13.8%, and rank-one rate fell to 3.7% from 6.3%. Net sentiment was 0.94 in July 2026 and 0.87 in October 2026.

Category Leader: Pella

Pella led the benchmark with valid recommendation coverage of 81.3% in October 2026, up from 78.9% in July 2026, a move within normal cumulative variation. Despite the stable cumulative picture, Pella rose 7.7 points in the month, a move beyond normal month-to-month variation, and held the widest coverage lead in the series. Presence rate was 95.6% in October 2026, compared with 96.9% in July 2026, top-three rate rose to 63.9% from 59.3%, and rank-one rate improved to 7.5% from 6.9%.

Other stable brands moved within normal cumulative variation since baseline: Andersen rose to 67.7% in October 2026 from 65.7% in July 2026, Marvin rose to 68.9% from 67.8%, Simonton rose to 41.3% from 39.1%, Renewal by Andersen declined to 38.4% from 40.6%, and JELD-WEN held at 42.0% versus 42.1%. Champion Windows was a significant cumulative decliner, falling to 13.5% in October 2026 from 17.8% in July 2026, a drop of 4.3 percentage points. Simonton carried a watch item: three consecutive monthly increases that remain within normal cumulative variation, and this is not yet a trend.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Questions This Section Answers

• How do the top window replacement brands differ in rank-one placement despite similar coverage?
• Which brand had the highest first-position rate in October 2026?

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. The leading brands by coverage show distinct placement profiles.

Similar coverage shares can still hide different first-position rates. Andersen's 33.1% rank-one rate was substantially higher than Marvin's 10.4% and Pella's 7.5%, even though all three brands held top-three rates within about thirteen points of each other.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

Questions This Section Answers

• Which buyer-intent classes contain qualified observations in the current window replacement series?
• What buyer-intent categories have no public signal yet?

All qualified observations in both months fell into the Brand Recommendation class, which captures discovery and consideration queries.

The current public series measures brand recommendation discovery and does not yet contain qualified observations in the Pricing & Value or Multi-Brand Comparison classes. Price, value, and head-to-head comparison therefore have no public signal in this data.

Historical Measurement Record

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

Evidence and Source Layer

Questions This Section Answers

• What source and citation data is retained for each window replacement prompt observation?
• How should source presence be interpreted alongside a brand 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, attributable sales, every possible AI response, organic-search ranking, social mention volume, or private or sponsored channels. A metric movement alone does not establish causality.

Top 10 Cited Domains

Questions This Section Answers

• Which domains were cited most often in AI platform responses for window replacement?
• What types of sources dominate the citation mix for this vertical?

Across all AI platform responses in this measurement period, 7,321 citations were observed across 1,064 unique domains.

Citations are broadly distributed: the top ten domains together account for a minority of the 1,064 unique domains cited, with the highest single share at 10.3%. No tracked brand's own domain appears in the top 10. Third-party sources dominate the list, including home-improvement and remodeling guides (modernize.com, thisoldhouse.com), consumer review and advocacy sites (consumerreports.org, consumeraffairs.com), video and community platforms (youtube.com, reddit.com), and retail sources (homedepot.com). AI recommendations in this vertical draw on a wide range of editorial, review, and retailer content rather than a single dominant source type.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Visibility Market Discovery Index tracks how AI/search surfaces present and recommend brands within a vertical, using a consistent, audited methodology across monthly measurement periods. Research links:

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

Get a Company-Level Authority Index

The public industry benchmark shows category-level standings. A company-level Authority Index can go deeper.

Get my free AI Company Index