Category Benchmarks aggregate AI visibility data across all ILLIXIS tenants in your business category. This gives you industry-standard metrics to compare against.
Your Mentions vs. Category Average: How many AI citations you're getting compared to the typical company in your category.
Category Median: The middle performer. Half the companies in your category are above this number, half below.
Top Performer Mentions: The industry leader's citation count. This shows what's possible.
Platform Distribution: How Google AI and ChatGPT mentions compare to category averages. Helps identify platform-specific gaps.
Your Position vs. Industry: Percentage of top performer's mentions. Example: 45% means you're 45% of the way to industry-leading performance.
Benchmarks are calculated monthly on the 1st at 3 AM via an automated process.
The process:
Sample size requirement: A category needs at least 3 tenants with visibility data to generate benchmarks. Categories with fewer than 3 active tenants show "No benchmark data available."
Category benchmark calculation runs automatically on a monthly schedule to keep your industry comparisons current.
Schedule: Monthly on the 1st at 2:00 AM UTC
The automated task compares your metrics to industry averages across several dimensions:
After the monthly calculation completes, benchmark reports are available in the Analytics dashboard. Navigate to Analytics > AI Visibility to see the updated Industry Comparison card with fresh data.
Note: If the calculation runs overnight (2:00 AM UTC), updated benchmarks typically appear by the time you check in the morning.
Your category is set in Settings > General > Business Category. Examples:
If your category isn't set, you won't see benchmark comparisons.
Navigate to Analytics > AI Visibility and scroll to the Industry Comparison card.
4 Key Numbers:
Status Badge:
Progress Bar: Visual representation of your position vs. top performer. Shows percentage completion toward industry-leading performance.
Platform Breakdown: Two bars showing:
Insight Message: Context-specific guidance based on your performance:
You're doing better than most companies in your category. This means:
Next step: Analyze what's working. Which content types get cited most? Double down on those patterns.
You're in the middle of the pack. Half the companies in your category perform better, half worse.
Next step: Study the top performers. Run competitor comparisons to see what they're doing differently.
Your AI visibility is lower than most competitors in your category.
Next step: Create more AI-optimized content. Focus on:
Sum of all tenant mentions in category ÷ number of tenants.
Example: 10 tenants with mention counts [5, 12, 8, 20, 15, 6, 10, 18, 9, 14] = average of 11.7 mentions.
Middle value when all tenant mentions are sorted. More resistant to outliers than average.
Using same example: Sorted [5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 18, 20] = median is 10.
Highest mention count in the category. This is the ceiling—the best anyone in your industry has achieved.
Separate calculations for Google AI and ChatGPT mentions. Shows which platform your category performs better on overall.
Update frequency: Monthly (1st of each month at 3 AM UTC)
Cache duration: Benchmarks are calculated once per month and stored in the database. You see the same benchmark data for 30 days.
Manual updates: Not available. Benchmarks require aggregating data from multiple tenants, so they're only recalculated on the monthly schedule.
Why monthly? AI visibility changes gradually. Weekly updates would show minimal movement and waste compute resources. Monthly provides meaningful trend data without excessive recalculation.
If the top performer has 50 mentions and you have 8, don't aim for 50 immediately. Target the median first, then the average, then top-tier performance.
Timeline: Expect 3-6 months to move from below average to above average with consistent effort.
If the category average for Google AI is 12 mentions and you have 3, but ChatGPT is closer to average, prioritize Google AI optimization.
Action: Create more FAQ-style content and structured data (what Google AI favors).
Check your benchmark comparison each month after the update (first week of the month).
What to look for:
If your category has a clear leader, they're doing something right. Run a competitor comparison scan to see:
Don't copy—learn the patterns and adapt them to your brand.
As more tenants in your category improve, the benchmarks rise. This creates a virtuous cycle where industry-wide AI visibility improves.
Your role: Share what works with peers (if not direct competitors). Rising benchmarks benefit everyone by proving the category's authority to AI platforms.
Categories with only 3-5 tenants produce less reliable benchmarks than categories with 20+ tenants.
Check sample size: Listed in the Industry Comparison card next to "Category Average."
Interpretation:
Benchmarks use the latest visibility history record for each tenant. If a tenant hasn't run a scan in 30 days, their data is outdated.
Impact: Benchmarks may lag behind real-time performance if many tenants aren't actively scanning.
Benchmarks assume all tenants correctly set their business category. If a tenant miscategorizes themselves, it skews the benchmark data.
ILLIXIS safeguard: Admin reviews new tenant categories during onboarding to minimize miscategorization.
If you see "No benchmark data available," possible reasons:
1. Category Not Set
2. Not Enough Tenants in Category
3. No Recent Scans
4. New Tenant
Q: Can I see benchmarks for multiple categories? No. Benchmarks only show for your configured business category. If you operate in multiple industries, choose your primary category.
Q: How do I move up in the rankings? Publish more AI-optimized content:
Q: Do benchmarks include free trial accounts? No. Only tenants with active subscriptions (Starter, Professional, Enterprise) contribute to benchmarks. This prevents data skew from abandoned trial accounts.
Q: What if I'm in a new/niche category? If fewer than 3 tenants exist in your category, benchmarks won't display. You can still track your absolute performance (mentions, visibility score) without category comparison.
Q: Can I opt out of benchmark aggregation? Yes. Contact support to exclude your tenant from category calculations. Your data remains private—only aggregated, anonymized metrics are used in benchmarks.
Q: Are competitor names visible in benchmarks? No. Benchmarks show aggregate statistics only (average, median, top performer count). Individual tenant names and domains are not exposed.
Q: How accurate are benchmarks? Accuracy depends on:
For categories with 20+ tenants, benchmarks are statistically reliable.
Q: What if the top performer is unrealistic? Some categories have outliers—established brands with 10x more mentions than typical competitors. Focus on the median and average as more achievable targets.
Q: Do benchmarks account for business size? No. A solo entrepreneur and a Fortune 500 company in the same category contribute equally to benchmarks. This is intentional—AI platforms don't favor large companies over small ones. Authority is earned through content quality, not company size.
Benchmarks not showing? Verify:
Questions about your category? Ask Maya: "How do I compare to other companies in [your category]?" for contextual analysis.
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