{
  "measured_by": "GetIntel",
  "measured_on": "2026-08-11",
  "question": "Does 'rank' mean anything in an AI answer, the way position means something in a search result?",
  "method": "For every pair of consecutive runs of the same prompt on the same engine, we took the ordered list of cited domains (first appearance order, deduplicated) and asked two things: for domains present in both runs, did they hold the same position, and did the first-cited domain stay the same.",
  "window": {
    "start": "2026-07-10",
    "end": "2026-08-10"
  },
  "answer_shape": {
    "mean_sources_per_answer": 8.82,
    "max_sources_in_one_answer": 30
  },
  "position_stability": {
    "domains_present_in_both_runs": 14008,
    "held_the_same_position": 5532,
    "pct": 39.5,
    "mean_position_shift_places": 1.73
  },
  "first_citation_stability": {
    "consecutive_pairs": 3672,
    "first_source_unchanged": 1185,
    "pct": 32.3,
    "pct_changed": 67.7
  },
  "finding": "Position is not a stable property of an AI answer. Even when a domain survives from one run to the next, it keeps its place only 39.5% of the time and moves 1.73 places on average. The first-cited source changes in 67.7% of consecutive run pairs.",
  "why_it_matters": "A rank tracker exists because position in a search result is stable enough to be worth watching daily. Nothing in an AI answer behaves that way, so a product that reports an average position is reporting the mean of a quantity that does not persist.",
  "limits": "One brand's prompt set, four engines, 10 July to 10 August 2026. Citation order is taken as order of first appearance in the returned citation list, which is not necessarily an engine's own notion of importance."
}