The DecaGEO Blog
Insights & Playbooks
Weekly data on the brands AI recommends — and the playbooks behind the rankings.
Best Help Desk Software in 2026: Which Ones Does ChatGPT Actually Recommend?
In DecaGEO's Q3 2026 data, Zendesk Suite, Freshdesk and Jira Service Management were ChatGPT's top three help desk tools in all 13 weeks measured.
Best GEO Tools in 2026: Which Ones Does ChatGPT Actually Recommend?
Semrush ranked #1 in DecaGEO's ChatGPT GEO data in 9 of 10 weeks from July 26. Scrunch AI, Profound, Otterly.AI and Peec.ai were recommended in 40%+ of answers.
Best AI Writing Assistants in 2026: Which Ones Does ChatGPT Actually Recommend?
In DecaGEO's Q3 2026 data, ChatGPT recommended Grammarly in more answers than any other tracked AI writing assistant, ahead of Jasper and Writer.
Best AI Image Generators in 2026: Which Ones Does ChatGPT Actually Recommend?
In DecaGEO's Q3 2026 data, ChatGPT recommended Adobe Firefly in more answers than any other tracked AI image generator, ahead of Canva and Midjourney.
Best SEO Tools in 2026: Which Ones Does ChatGPT Actually Recommend?
ChatGPT recommends Semrush first among SEO tools, then Ahrefs, in all 3 weeks DecaGEO measured on GPT-5.4 and all 10 on GPT-5.6 Terra (Jul to Sep 2026).
Best Project Management Tools in 2026: Which Ones Does ChatGPT Actually Recommend?
Asana, ClickUp, Jira, monday, Smartsheet and Wrike were ChatGPT's top 6 project management tools each week of Q3 2026. ClickUp led 7 of 10 GPT-5.6 Terra weeks.
Best Marketing Automation Tools in 2026: Which Ones Does ChatGPT Actually Recommend?
In DecaGEO's data, Braze was ChatGPT's #1 marketing automation tool every week from July 26 to September 27, 2026. HubSpot Marketing Hub was #2 in 8 of them.
Best Influencer Marketing Platforms in 2026: Which Ones Does ChatGPT Actually Recommend?
In DecaGEO's Q3 2026 data, CreatorIQ was ChatGPT's #1 influencer marketing platform in 9 of 13 weeks and Aspire in 3. Aspire was recommended in more answers.
Best Email Marketing Tools in 2026: Which Ones Does ChatGPT Actually Recommend?
In DecaGEO's data, Brevo was ChatGPT's #1 email marketing tool in every week from July 5 to September 27, 2026. Klaviyo was #2 in every week from July 26.
Best CRM Software in 2026: Which Ones Does ChatGPT Actually Recommend?
Dynamics 365 Sales, HubSpot Sales Hub, Zoho CRM and Salesforce Sales Cloud were ChatGPT's top four CRMs in all 13 weeks of Q3 2026. Dynamics was #1 most often.
Which Pages ChatGPT Actually Cites and Why
Among the vendor pages ChatGPT retrieves, pricing pages get cited 34.5% of the time and blog posts 6.1%. The gap is decided on the search results page, where 99.7% of citations match a result-list URL and only 1.2% come from pages the model opened. What that suggests building, from DecaGEO's retriev…
What ChatGPT Does After It Opens Your Pricing Page
Does ChatGPT read your pricing page? In DecaGEO's retrieval logs it opened 416 pages in nine weeks, 43% of them pricing pages, and searched inside 47 of them for a price, a plan limit or a plan name. What it opens and what it cites turn out to be different pages.
What is DecaGEO?
DecaGEO is the open, weekly ranking of AI brand visibility, with actionable insights to improve how ChatGPT recommends your brand. Free to explore, no sign-up.
When Everyone's GEO Looks the Same, What Decides Who AI Recommends?
Two new research papers predict that repeated GEO optimization reshapes content ecosystems and that the optimal strategy shifts as competitors adopt it. We tested both predictions against 14 weeks of on-page audit data across two boards: pattern adoption converged on both, but the ranking consequenc…
Do Semrush & Ahrefs Have llms.txt? SEO vs GEO Top 5
DecaGEO scanned the SEO and GEO Top 5 AI-recommended products for llms.txt. Semrush and Ahrefs don't have it; most GEO tools do. One brand ranks in both.
Readable Is Not Recommended: What 8 #1 AI-Recommended Products Actually Have
DecaGEO scanned 8 #1 AI-recommended products for three technical GEO setups. Only one had all three measured setups — suggesting these files are not prerequisites for #1 AI recommendation rankings.
Project Management AI Rankings: All 5 Top Brands Have llms.txt — But #1 Changed 3 Times
DecaGEO tracked 3 different #1 AI-recommended Project Management brands in 3 weeks and audited the GEO assets behind the top 5 brands, from llms.txt to MCP-related AI agent documentation.
Influencer Marketing GEO Patterns: What Top AI-Recommended Brands Skip
8 weeks of DecaGEO data show how Influencer Marketing AI recommendations concentrated, which visible GEO assets top brands have, and which common tactics are mostly absent.
ChatGPT's site: Searches Jumped From 38% to 90%. Its Citations Barely Moved.
GPT-5.6 scopes ~90% of its fan-out searches with the site: operator, up from 38% on GPT-5.4. Vendor pages still take ~95% of citations. What that means for optimizing your own site vs third-party mentions, from DecaGEO's weekly retrieval logs.
Zendesk vs Intercom: Which Help Desk Tool Does ChatGPT Recommend More? (2026)
ChatGPT recommends Zendesk far more than Intercom for help desk — 82% vs 32% of responses. See the DECA data, six-week trend, and what it means for your brand.
Semrush vs BrightEdge: Which Does ChatGPT Recommend More? (2026)
ChatGPT recommends Semrush far more than BrightEdge for SEO — #1 vs #7, named 77% vs 16% of the time. See the six-week DECA data and why.
Semrush vs Ahrefs: Which Does ChatGPT Recommend More? (2026)
ChatGPT recommends Semrush far more than Ahrefs for SEO — #1 vs #2, DECA 100 vs 49.5. See the six-week data and why Semrush leads on both frequency and position.
HubSpot Sales Hub vs Agentforce Sales: Which CRM Does ChatGPT Recommend More? (2026)
The lead just flipped: as of July 5, 2026, ChatGPT ranks Agentforce Sales (#3) just ahead of HubSpot Sales Hub (#4) in CRM. See the DECA data and why.
ClickUp vs Asana: Which Project Management Tool Does ChatGPT Recommend More? (2026)
ChatGPT ranks ClickUp #2 and Asana #3 for project management — ClickUp leads most metrics, but Asana edges the head-to-head. Inside DecaGEO's 3-way race.
BrightEdge vs Ahrefs: Which Does ChatGPT Recommend More? (2026)
ChatGPT recommends Ahrefs far more than BrightEdge for SEO — #2 vs #7, 54% vs 16% of responses. See the DECA data, six-week trend, and why.
Asana vs monday.com: Which Does ChatGPT Recommend More for Project Management? (2026)
ChatGPT ranks monday.com #1, ClickUp #2, Asana #3 for project management — yet Asana is mentioned more often. Inside DecaGEO's 3-way AI recommendation race.
AI Ranking Movers — Week of October 18
Jira took #1 from ClickUp on DecaGEO's Project Management board, week of October 18, 2026. ChatGPT named ClickUp in 42 of 79 answers, Jira in 32.
AI Ranking Movers — Week of October 11
In the week of October 11, 2026, the #2 brand was named in more ChatGPT answers than the #1 on three of DecaGEO's ten boards: Marketing Automation, Help Desk and Influencer Marketing.
AI Ranking Movers — Week of October 4
No ChatGPT category #1 changed on DecaGEO's ten boards in the week of October 4, 2026, a first on record, and three brands that rose a week earlier lost rank.
AI Ranking Movers — Week of September 27
Two of ten ChatGPT category #1s changed hands in DecaGEO's week of September 27, 2026 data, both to a brand named in fewer responses than the one it passed.
AI Ranking Movers — Week of September 20
Two of ten ChatGPT category leaders changed hands in the week of September 20, 2026, and DecaGEO's closest race, ties aside, came down to one prominence point.
AI Ranking Movers — Week of September 13
ChatGPT's category leaders mostly held in the week of September 13, 2026, but eight of ten races tightened and CRM changed hands. DecaGEO's weekly AI recommendation index covers 10 software categories, with the prominence totals behind every gap.
AI Ranking Movers — Week of September 6
Seventh week on GPT-5.6: one of ten category #1s changed hands, and the boards that were close a week earlier stopped being close. The median #1-to-#2 DECA gap more than doubled from 10.6 to 23.2 points, and single-digit races fell from four to one.
AI Ranking Movers — Week of August 30
Sixth week on GPT-5.6: both of last week's top-line changes rolled back — Dynamics 365 Sales retook CRM after HubSpot's one-week reign, and the Help Desk tie resolved back to Zendesk Suite — while ClickUp logged only the second back-to-back #1 hold of the GPT-5.6 era. Klaviyo cut the Email mention-r…
AI Ranking Movers — Week of August 23
Fifth week on GPT-5.6: HubSpot Sales Hub ended Dynamics 365 Sales' six-week CRM run, ClickUp retook Project Management for the board's fourth #1 change in five weeks, and Freshdesk pulled level with Zendesk Suite at the top of Help Desk. Semrush reset the closest race on the index, widening its GEO…
AI Ranking Movers — Week of August 16
Fourth week on GPT-5.6: nine of ten #1s held while Project Management flipped again (Jira retook the top from ClickUp), and the GEO board reignited — Semrush's lead shrank from 20.2 to 2.0 points as GEO tools took four of the week's five biggest gains. Volatility stayed below 10% for a third straigh…
AI Ranking Movers — Week of August 9
Third week on GPT-5.6: three category #1s changed hands in the quietest week we have tracked — ClickUp took Project Management from Jira, CreatorIQ retook Influencer Marketing from Aspire, and Semrush retook GEO after Profound's one-week reign. Klaviyo's Email challenge receded, the recommendation s…
AI Ranking Movers — Week of August 2
Second week on GPT-5.6: Profound took GEO #1 from Semrush (a first in our tracking), the smaller recommendation set held (399 → 421, still below the GPT-5.4 range), all three new #1s from the model change defended their spots, and Klaviyo closed within 1 point of Email's top. Volatility hit a tracke…
AI Ranking Movers — Week of July 26
First week on GPT-5.6: three of ten category #1s changed hands (the most in any tracked week), the recommendation set fell below its GPT-5.4 range (445 → 399, GEO 90 → 39), and general-purpose AI assistants surged in AI Writing. Every difference is read against the GPT-5.4 band, not claimed as cause…
AI Ranking Movers — Week of July 19
This week in ChatGPT's software recommendations: HubSpot Marketing Hub took the Marketing Automation #1 from Braze, GEO rebounded from 74 to 90 brands with Scrunch AI up +47.2, and the CRM #1 stopped flipping — the final weekly report on GPT-5.4.
AI Ranking Movers — Week of July 12
This week in ChatGPT's software recommendations: Marketing Automation's mid-tier surged together (Klaviyo +33.9) leaving Braze just 2 points ahead, GEO contracted from 99 to 74 brands, and the CRM #1 flipped for a fourth straight week.
AI Ranking Movers — Jul 5, 2026
This week in ChatGPT's software recommendations: GEO reversed again, CRM's #1 flipped for a third straight week, and the tracked set pulled back.
AI Ranking Movers — Jun 28, 2026
This week in ChatGPT's software recommendations: GEO surgers split, the CRM #1 changed hands again, and Marketing Automation flipped back to Braze.
AI Ranking Movers — Jun 21, 2026
This week in ChatGPT's software recommendations: Profound surged +63.3 to reshape GEO's top, Zoho CRM took the CRM #1 spot, and last week's biggest gainer gave it back.
AI Ranking Movers — Week of June 14
This week in ChatGPT's software recommendations: Agentforce Marketing surged +22.6, HubSpot Sales Hub climbed in CRM, and the tracked set widened to 473 brands.
AI Ranking Movers — Week of June 7
This week in AI rankings: HubSpot AEO surged 43 spots in GEO, Claude entered the AI Writing Top 10, and local-SEO tools climbed. See every category's risers, drops, and new entries.
Top 5 in ChatGPT but "Not Mentioned" for One Buyer? How to Tell a Gap From a Fit
A top-5 brand in ChatGPT can go unrecommended for one kind of buyer for weeks. Treat that card as a gap only when your own site says you sell to that buyer.
Blocking GPTBot Won't Stop ChatGPT Recommending You. Five Brands Block It and Still Rank.
Blocking GPTBot doesn't keep you out of ChatGPT, and DecaGEO's weekly rankings show five brands that block it still recommended, so check OAI-SearchBot instead.
Tracking 25 Prompts for AI Visibility? Which 25 Matters More Than How Often You Run Them
In a week of DecaGEO's ChatGPT data, 25 random CRM questions kept the full set's #1 in 46.6% of draws. In AI Image Generators, with a far-ahead leader, 99.98%.
Do ChatGPT Brand Recommendations Fade as Fast as AI Citations? 78% Stay a Week Later
Not in ChatGPT's B2B software answers. In DecaGEO's weekly panel, 44% of cited URLs and 78% of recommended brands showed up again the next week.
Did Your ChatGPT Ranking Drop Because of the Model? It Changed Once in 22 Weeks
Probably not the model. DecaGEO's ChatGPT model changed once in 22 weeks. In the other weeks, about 1 in 4 ranked brands fell 3+ places every week.
Not in ChatGPT's Top 10 for Your Category? 13% of Brands Outside It Were Top 3 for One Buyer Every Week
Missing ChatGPT's top 10 doesn't mean it won't recommend you. In DecaGEO's data, 67 of 509 brands outside it were top 3 for one buyer question all four weeks.
Reddit Was in the Search Results of ChatGPT Answers We Track. None Cited It.
Judge Reddit work by recommendations, not citation share. Reddit was in the search results of 31.5% of DecaGEO's ChatGPT software answers. None cited it.
Is GEO Worth It? A Full-Pipeline Test Split the Answer in Two
KDD 2026 research ran 10 popular GEO tactics through a full AI search pipeline. Body-text edits cut retrieval visibility 9% on average, while structure edits raised it 22%. A separate August 2026 study reports detecting GEO content at an F1 score of 0.944. What holds up, and what to build instead.
AI Is Answering Instead of Linking. Which Engine Should Your Brand Focus On First?
People now read AI answers instead of clicking links, and those answers are splitting across ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity. With limited resources, here's which engine to optimize for first in 2026, and why.
AI Visibility Has Two Filters: Why 91.6% of Software Brands Never Get Recommended
AI recommendations have two filters most brands don't know about. The first eliminates 91.6% of products. The second concentrates attention among the survivors. We measured both across 10 categories — and mapped which markets are locked and which are still open.
SEO Tools Built Empires on Google. GEO Tools Are Building Theirs Inside AI
We compared AI recommendation data for SEO (57 brands) and GEO (147 brands). Only 15 brands appear in both — an overlap of 26.3%. 70% of GEO's top 20 are brands that don't exist in SEO rankings. This cross-category analysis reveals how AI draws boundaries between related software categories
GEO Strategy Depends on Category Structure: Why the Same Playbook Produces 2× Different Results
The same GEO checklist can produce very different results depending on category structure. We compare CRM and Email Marketing to show how AI Visibility Rate, Gini coefficient, and DECA concentration determine GEO ROI.
Profound led GEO for 3 weeks. This week, it dropped to #4.
Profound just lost 66.7% of its AI mentions in 7 days. Semrush jumped 6 ranks to #1. See this week's GEO ranking and why AI visibility shifts weekly.
GEO Tools AI Visibility Nearly Doubled: 26% to 44% in 8 Weeks
GEO Tools had the highest AI Visibility Rate among 10 tracked SaaS categories at 43.5%, with 3 #1 brand changes and 342 new-entry events over 8 weeks.
Why Open Rankings Matter
Private dashboards track your brand. Open Rankings show what AI actually sees — the full category. Here's why that difference changes everything for GEO.
GEO Opportunity Depends on Category Openness: 4 AI Recommendation Markets Are Still Open, 6 Are Already Closed
AI recommendation windows are closing at different speeds by category. We classify 10 software categories using Gini coefficients and AI Visibility Rates to show where GEO opportunity is still open — and where standard GEO playbooks now face structural limits.
CRM AI Rankings Show Four GEO Paths in One Week
DecaGEO scanned all 34 CRM products for llms.txt. Close surged 6 spots with competitive positioning in its file. Capsule surged 5 without one. Daylite entered the chart with 15K words of docs. The #1 product has none.
The Category-First GEO Playbook: 30/90-Day Strategies for Monopoly, Oligopoly, and Distributed Markets
GEO strategy should start with category structure, not a universal checklist. This playbook maps Monopoly, Oligopoly, and Distributed AI recommendation markets into specific 30-day and 90-day action plans, success metrics, and common mistakes.
Midjourney vs Adobe Firefly: Which Does ChatGPT Recommend More? (2026)
Midjourney is the more famous AI image generator — but ChatGPT recommends Adobe Firefly. Firefly ranks #1 (DECA 100) to Midjourney's #2 (58). Inside DecaGEO's data.
Klaviyo vs Mailchimp: Which Email Marketing Tool Does ChatGPT Recommend More? (2026)
ChatGPT mentions Klaviyo and Mailchimp equally, but ranks Klaviyo far higher — Mailchimp is never named #1. Inside DecaGEO's email marketing data.
AI CRM Rankings (Apr 26, 2026): HubSpot Holds #1, Microsoft Passes Zoho
This week's AI CRM ranking on ChatGPT: HubSpot #1 with a 100.0 DECA Score, Salesforce #2, Microsoft #3. See what AI recommends for CRM, refreshed weekly.
8 Weeks of AI Recommendations: 5 of 10 Markets Changed
DecaGEO tracked 4,123 AI recommendation data points across 10 SaaS categories for 8 weeks. Five changed their #1 brand, most after GPT-5.5.
The Reddit Paradox: Why Google Loves It, But Your Brand Shouldn't Rely On It
Reddit ranks because your content is missing. Learn the Content Void theory and how to reclaim your brand authority using DECA's Target Prompt strategy.
The State of GEO 2026: Market Radar & Strategic Roadmap
Go beyond SEO to GEO (Generative Engine Optimization). Discover 'Share of Model' the new success metric for the AI search era and a 3-step execution strategy for enterprises.
How did Tally.so grow its traffic via ChatGPT? A Case Study in Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
Discover how Tally.so reached $4M ARR and a 9.6% traffic share via ChatGPT. Learn the 3-step Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) strategy to replicate their success.
What is GEO? The Definitive Guide to Generative Engine Optimization
What is GEO? It’s your second chance at search visibility. Move beyond backlinks and domain authority learn how to build Answer-Ready Content that AI engines prefer and quote
The 3 Pillars of GEO: Trust, Context, and Structure
A deep dive into the core methodology of Generative Engine Optimization. Learn how to optimize for Trust (Authority), Context (Semantics), and Structure (Machine Readability).
Why Your Domain Must Be the Source of Truth: Technical Authority in GEO
AI cites sources it trusts. Learn why owning your domain is critical for Generative Engine Optimization and how to establish technical authority using Schema and Entity validation.
Entity Optimization: Teaching AI Who You Are
Move beyond keywords. Learn how Entity Optimization helps AI models recognize your brand as a distinct authority using the Knowledge Graph and JSON-LD.
The "Context Lock" Protocol: How to Structure Content for AI Citation
Stop AI hallucinations. Learn the Context Lock Protocol—a 4-step formatting strategy (BLUF, Semantic HTML) to ensure ChatGPT and Perplexity quote your content accurately.
The GEO Distribution Matrix: Architecting Your Content for AI Citation
Stop giving away your authority. Discover how to build a content ecosystem that prioritizes your domain as the Source of Truth while using platforms to amplify AI signals.
GEO Strategy: Target Prompt Reverse-Engineering
Stop optimizing for keywords. Learn to reverse-engineer user prompts and master the 'Query Fan-Out' mechanism to capture traffic from ChatGPT and Gemini.
