GEO strategy should start with category structure
August visibility ranged from entrenched multi-brand leadership in accounting to a fragmented cybersecurity field.
- Published
- 2026-09-02
- Revised
- 2026-09-02
- Author
- Cleotic Research
- Method
- comparison-v1.1
Intuit visibility in accounting
Denominator: 2,371 successful sector responses
Octopus Energy visibility
Denominator: 2,375 successful sector responses
Darktrace visibility in cybersecurity
Denominator: 3,528 successful sector responses
The room to win differs sharply by category
Accounting had three tracked brands above 92% visibility. Cybersecurity had no tracked brand above 31%. A single generic GEO benchmark would hide that difference in competitive structure.
Cybersecurity
3,528 successful responses
Energy and home
2,375 successful responses
Fintech
2,940 successful responses
Insurance
2,532 successful responses
Legal tech
2,380 successful responses
SME accounting
2,371 successful responses
United Kingdom / August 2026 / Denominator: Successful responses from the four continuously observed model surfaces within each sector / Method: comparison-v1.1
View chart data as a table
| Sector | Leading tracked brand | Visibility | Second | Visibility | Third | Visibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cybersecurity | Darktrace | 30.2% | Entrust | 29.3% | CrowdStrike | 23.0% |
| Energy and home | Octopus Energy | 90.8% | British Gas | 50.9% | EDF Energy | 31.2% |
| Fintech | Starling Bank | 53.3% | Revolut | 44.5% | Monzo | 43.2% |
| Insurance | Direct Line | 45.6% | ManyPets | 31.2% | Cuvva | 29.9% |
| Legal tech | Luminance | 43.9% | Ironclad | 38.1% | DocuSign | 33.6% |
| SME accounting | Intuit | 97.9% | FreeAgent | 94.0% | Xero | 92.9% |
The same visibility score means different things in different markets
Accounting was highly concentrated in August. Intuit appeared in 97.9% of retained responses, FreeAgent in 94.0% and Xero in 92.9%. Energy and home also had a clear leader, with Octopus Energy at 90.8%.
Cybersecurity was more fragmented. Darktrace led at 30.2%, followed by Entrust at 29.3% and CrowdStrike at 23.0%. Insurance and legal tech also showed more room between the leaders and the ceiling than accounting did.
Challenger and leader programmes need different scorecards
In a concentrated category, a challenger is trying to displace names that appear almost by default in the selected prompt set. Comparative evidence, clear differentiation and credibility for a narrow use case matter more than a generic ambition to be visible.
In a fragmented category, the opportunity may be to strengthen category association across a wider set of prompts. Leaders still need defensive monitoring because a high overall position can hide model or prompt pockets where the brand is absent.
What marketers should do
- 01Benchmark against the structure of the relevant category, not the whole index.
- 02Give challengers a narrow displacement target tied to a use case or criterion.
- 03Give leaders a defensive coverage target across models and prompt clusters.
- 04Revisit the category map monthly before changing targets.