On February 24, 2026, Profound made headlines by securing a $96 million Series C funding round, achieving a valuation of $1 billion. The investment was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with notable participation from Sequoia Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Evantic, Saga, and South Park Commons. This funding brought the company’s total financial backing to over $155 million, just a day shy of its eighteen-month anniversary.
Shortly after, on April 28, Adobe finalized its acquisition of Semrush in an all-cash deal valued at approximately $1.9 billion, translating to $12.00 per share—a significant leap from the previous day’s closing price of $6.76. Adobe referred to the acquisition as a strategic move to enhance its brand visibility capabilities.
What was once an unestablished market category now boasts a unicorn valuation, a significant exit near $2 billion, and a wave of new businesses eager to join. The high demand for these services is clear. However, the challenge lies in understanding what these companies actually offer and which aspects can serve as a competitive advantage.
The Demand Side is Clear
According to research from the Pew Research Center, data analyzing the online behavior of 900 adults in the U.S. revealed interesting trends. In March 2025, out of 68,879 unique Google searches, AI-generated summaries appeared in 12,593 instances. Results showed that when a summary was included, users clicked on standard search results 8% of the time compared to 15% when no summary was present. There was also only a 1% click rate on links within the summaries. Interestingly, sessions ended on the search results page 26% of the time when a summary was included, versus 16% without one.
This indicates a new layer of discovery in which users are drawn to the summary, even if they don’t click through. Yet, the metrics being used to evaluate these interactions can be misleading.
The Complexity of Measuring ChatGPT
Assessing the effectiveness of ChatGPT isn’t as straightforward as it first appears. Four key factors make a simple reading nearly useless:
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Variable Outputs: A single prompt can yield different brand recommendations each time it is asked.
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Multiple Versions: Different systems may produce distinct answers based on live web retrievals, user account details, and other factors.
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Untraceable Recommendations: If ChatGPT mentions a brand without providing a link, there’s no way for the brand to track the mention.
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Paid vs. Organic Visibility: OpenAI’s crawler documentation includes various roles for its bots, which influence how results appear in search contexts. Understanding the difference between organic and paid visibility is crucial for accurate measurement.
Rigorous Measurement Standards
In the realm of AI visibility, it’s essential to establish reliable measurement standards. A robust approach involves two components: effective sampling methods and transparent evidence behind the results.
First, a broad sample of prompts—ideally 50 to 100—should be run multiple times against competing brands. This creates a solid baseline for understanding visibility. A visibility tracker that measures mention rates, citation rates, and competitor comparisons can provide valuable insights.
Second, documenting the exact responses and sources for answers enables a clear audit trail.
Challenges in Evaluation
Despite efforts to establish precise measurements, discrepancies can arise between different vendors’ results due to the unique methodologies each uses. This highlights the importance of standard definitions and auditing practices in the industry.
In its recent funding round, Profound indicated that businesses are eager to export the data they generate, underscoring a growing demand for actionable insights, not just metrics.
Conclusion
As the field matures, several factors must be considered. First, many businesses still rely heavily on traditional channels for customer acquisition, making it essential to assess the proportion of traffic generated from AI assistants. Second, many AI referrals eventually surface as branded searches, complicating attribution.
To evaluate a platform effectively, potential users should seek clear answers regarding its sampling methods, visibility tracking, and the context of its findings. In a rapidly evolving environment, success will depend on the platform’s ability to transform visibility metrics into practical strategies for growth, rather than just presenting data on a dashboard. Companies that can navigate these challenges may thrive, while others risk becoming less relevant over time.
