Press Kit · For Journalists
Press Kit.
Everything you need to write about the 2026 AI Visibility Index for Trade Contractors. Logos, methodology, dataset, quotes, fact-check assets, contact.
The story (in one paragraph)
87% of US trade contractors are functionally invisible to AI search engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini). Mentioned audited 93+ companies across HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and roofing using a reproducible, peer-published methodology. The gap between top-tier visible operators (78.7/100) and median operators (32/100) is mechanical (schema markup, citation density, structured content) - not budget. The full report publishes Tuesday June 3, 2026, 9:00am ET at mentionedinai.com/benchmark.
Quick facts
- Companies audited: 93+ trade contractors + 8 trade SaaS vendors + 5 trade publications
- AI engines measured: ChatGPT (gpt-4o-mini), Perplexity (sonar), Claude (haiku-4-5), Gemini (3.5-flash)
- Queries per company: 30 standard homeowner queries x 4 engines = 120 measurements
- Citation precision (measured): 95.2% on hand-labeled ground truth (test suite public)
- Median operator score: 32/100
- Top operator: Cape Cod Cooling (Barnstable, MA) - 78.7/100
- Dataset license: CC-BY-4.0 (full reprint rights with attribution)
- Methodology version: 2026.06.1 (pinned model versions captured per audit)
Downloadable assets
Three pre-written quotes (attributable to Nick Beyer, founder)
Short (25 words): "87% of trade contractors are functionally invisible to AI search engines. The median score on our 100-point index is 14. The gap is mechanical, not budget."
Medium (50 words): "Most contractors are still optimizing for Google rankings while their customers are asking ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini for recommendations. We measured 100+ companies across HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and roofing. 87% are functionally invisible to AI search. The companies in the top 10 per metro are getting calls AI is routing to them."
Long (80 words): "The shift in how homeowners find local services in the last 24 months has been the biggest mechanical change to small-business marketing since Google AdWords launched. 41% of US adults now use AI search for local service decisions, up from 12% in 2024. But 87% of trade contractors haven't adapted. Median AI Visibility Score in our 2026 index is 14 out of 100. The companies above 50 are getting real calls. Everyone else is invisible to the channel that's eating local search."
Fact-check / methodology challenges
- Citation precision: 95.2% measured on 30-sample hand-labeled set. Test suite public in repo (tests/test_citation_ground_truth.py - 7 assertions, all passing).
- Test coverage: 43/43 unit + integration tests pass (run on every deploy).
- Engine reliability: Public dashboard at mentionedinai.com/engine-health shows per-engine error rates + latency.
- Reproducibility: Deterministic seed per (business, city). Same inputs always produce same outputs.
- Publisher self-disclosure: Mentioned scored 30.8/100 on its own methodology. Disclosed on /benchmark.
- Locked rule: Top-1 dominator capping prevents penalty in market-dominated trades.
Contact
Nick Beyer, founder
Email: press@mentionedinai.com
Available for: phone interviews, fact-check calls, embargoed dataset cuts, custom regional/trade analysis on request.
Embargo: Public release Tuesday June 3, 2026, 9:00am ET. Press partners with confirmed embargo agreements may publish earlier with notice.