Does Topical Authority Still Win in AI Search?

New Semrush data shows topical authority still matters in AI search, helping brands earn and defend category ownership over time. Some brands get away with broad topical focus. But most brands are more visible in search when focusing their content strategy on core topics.

What Happened

Kevin Indig published a Semrush-backed study in Search Engine Land examining whether topical authority still governs visibility in AI search. Using the Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit, the analysis covered 1,094 US categories, five prompts each, tracked monthly in ChatGPT from January through June 2026 across 220,000+ domains and 50,000+ brands. The finding: topical authority translates directly to AI answer engines, and category owners tend to hold their position once established.

Why This Matters for HR Tech and FinTech Marketers

Only 15.2% of the categories studied had a clear owner in June 2026. Another 53.7% were unsettled, meaning no brand had locked down mention share across even three of five prompts. If you sell payroll software, applicant tracking, benefits administration, or embedded finance, your category almost certainly sits in that unsettled majority right now. Product and service landing pages were the most-cited page type, followed by editorial content. Homepages appeared in only 4% of citations. That tells you where to invest: deep, prompt-aligned product pages and topically concentrated editorial, not brand-level real estate or scattered thought pieces chasing volume.

The Starr Conspiracy's Take

The payroll example Indig uses maps cleanly onto every HR tech and FinTech buyer we work with. Chasing broad finance keywords feels productive, but ChatGPT rewards the brand that consistently answers the tight cluster of questions a category owner should answer. This is why we tell clients to stop measuring content by traffic and start measuring it by category mention share. If you want the mechanics, our guide to building an AEO content strategy for B2B categories lays out how to pick the prompts you must own and structure content to defend them. The window is measured in quarters, not years.

What to Watch Next

Watch whether the 53.7% of unsettled categories consolidate over the next two Semrush snapshots. If ownership rates climb past 25% by mid-2027, the land grab is likely closing. Also watch for ChatGPT to expose sentiment signals, which would raise the bar from mention share to recommendation share.

Related Questions

How many AI search categories already have a dominant brand?

According to the June 2026 Semrush data, 15.2% of the 1,094 US categories analyzed have a clear owner in ChatGPT, defined as at least 80% share of voice and a five-point lead over the runner-up. The majority remain contestable.

Should B2B brands still invest in glossary and editorial content for AI search?

Yes, but with discipline. Editorial content was the second most-cited page type in the study. The winning move is concentrating editorial around the exact prompts your category owner should answer, not publishing broad explainers. Our breakdown of how AI answer engines choose sources explains the citation logic.

What page types get cited most in ChatGPT answers?

Product and service landing pages lead citation frequency, followed by classic editorial content. Homepages account for only 4% of citations, which means brand-level pages are not doing the work marketers assume they are in AI search.