Service Corporation International was the provider that ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity named most often. Service Corporation International appeared in 111 of 288 answers (38.5%) measured on October 28, 2026. Neptune Society came next at 76 of 288 (26.4%). Service Corporation International was named first more often than any other provider, in 62 of 288 answers. Google AI Overviews appeared on 58 of 59 searches (98.3%).
RESEARCH · Published April 4, 2026 · Updated October 29, 2026
Funeral Index 2.0: SCI Named in 38.5% of Answers
Published April 4, 2026 · Updated October 29, 2026
288
AI answers analyzed across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity
38.5%
of answers named Service Corporation International, the most-named (111 of 288)
20
tracked providers named at least once (of 26)
98.3%
of Google searches showed an AI Overview (58 of 59)
Version 2. This version replaces the first version of this study, first published April 4, 2026. It uses measured counts, so the two versions are not comparable. Version 2 asks 24 questions three times each on ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity (288 answers) and adds Google AI Overviews. Every rate comes with its count and a 95% interval.
What the data shows
01
111/288 (38.5%)
Service Corporation International appeared in 111 of 288 four-engine answers (CI 33.1–44.3%). Neptune Society appeared in 76 of 288 (26.4%, CI 21.6–31.8%). The intervals do not overlap.
02
62/288 (21.5%)
Service Corporation International was the first provider named in 62 of 288 answers, more than any other tracked provider. Average first position: 1.6.
03
13/72 (18.1%)
Gemini named After.com in 13 of 72 answers. The other engines did so in 0 to 4 of 72.
04
58/59 (98.3%)
Google AI Overviews appeared on 58 of 59 searches (CI 91–99.7%). On the other search, no overview was shown.
05
11/58 (19%)
After.com was the provider named most often in AI Overviews, at 11 of 58, followed by Service Corporation International at 9 of 58 (15.5%). In the four-engine set, After.com was named in 21 of 288 answers (7.3%).
06
65/279 (23.3%)
us-funerals.com was cited in 65 of 279 grounded four-engine answers, with 92 of 2,434 citations (3.8%). dignitymemorial.com came second with 82 citations in 47 answers (16.8%).
07
0/12 (0%)
For 'Which national organizations offer grief and bereavement resources?', none of the tracked providers was named in any of 12 four-engine answers.
08
54/279 (19.4%)
Service Corporation International's own domains were cited in 54 of 279 grounded answers (19.4%), more than any other tracked name. After.com followed at 35 of 279. In Google AI Overviews, After.com's site was cited in 9 of 58 overviews. 9 tracked names had no own-site citation.
Appearance rate across 288 four-engine answers. The bar is the 95% confidence interval; overlapping bars cannot be told apart at this sample size.
Which providers AI engines name
Service Corporation International
38.5%
Neptune Society
26.4%
NFDA
16.0%
Trust & Will
13.2%
Carriage Services
11.5%
Legacy.com
10.4%
Foundation Partners Group
9.7%
Everstory Partners
9.4%
Park Lawn Corporation
8.7%
Eterneva
8.3%
INELDA
8.3%
After.com
7.3%
NorthStar Memorial Group
5.6%
Forest Lawn
2.8%
Matthews International
2.1%
| # | Name | Named in | Appearance rate | 95% interval |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Service Corporation International | 111/288 | 38.5% | 33.1–44.3% |
| 2 | Neptune Society | 76/288 | 26.4% | 21.6–31.8% |
| 3 | NFDA | 46/288 | 16.0% | 12.2–20.6% |
| 4 | Trust & Will | 38/288 | 13.2% | 9.8–17.6% |
| 5 | Carriage Services | 33/288 | 11.5% | 8.3–15.7% |
| 6 | Legacy.com | 30/288 | 10.4% | 7.4–14.5% |
| 7 | Foundation Partners Group | 28/288 | 9.7% | 6.8–13.7% |
| 8 | Everstory Partners | 27/288 | 9.4% | 6.5–13.3% |
| 9 | Park Lawn Corporation | 25/288 | 8.7% | 5.9–12.5% |
| 10 | Eterneva | 24/288 | 8.3% | 5.7–12.1% |
| 11 | INELDA | 24/288 | 8.3% | 5.7–12.1% |
| 12 | After.com | 21/288 | 7.3% | 4.8–10.9% |
| 13 | NorthStar Memorial Group | 16/288 | 5.6% | 3.4–8.8% |
| 14 | Forest Lawn | 8/288 | 2.8% | 1.4–5.4% |
| 15 | Matthews International | 6/288 | 2.1% | 1.0–4.5% |
The full list
Own-domain citation is the share of 279 grounded answers that cited the official domains of each name (subdomains included). Citation share is of all 2,434 citations.
| # | Provider | Named in | Appearance rate | 95% interval | First mention | Own-domain citation | Citation share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Service Corporation International | 111/288 | 38.5% | 33.1–44.3% | 1.6 | 19.4% (54/279) | 3.9% |
| 2 | Neptune Society | 76/288 | 26.4% | 21.6–31.8% | 2 | 9.3% (26/279) | 1.1% |
| 3 | NFDA | 46/288 | 16% | 12.2–20.6% | 1.4 | 5.7% (16/279) | 0.9% |
| 4 | Trust & Will | 38/288 | 13.2% | 9.8–17.6% | 1.1 | 5% (14/279) | 0.7% |
| 5 | Carriage Services | 33/288 | 11.5% | 8.3–15.7% | 3.2 | 4.3% (12/279) | 0.5% |
| 6 | Legacy.com | 30/288 | 10.4% | 7.4–14.5% | 1.6 | 6.5% (18/279) | 0.9% |
| 7 | Foundation Partners Group | 28/288 | 9.7% | 6.8–13.7% | 3.4 | 0.4% (1/279) | 0% |
| 8 | Everstory Partners | 27/288 | 9.4% | 6.5–13.3% | 3.6 | 0.4% (1/279) | 0% |
| 9 | Park Lawn Corporation | 25/288 | 8.7% | 5.9–12.5% | 4.5 | 1.1% (3/279) | 0.1% |
| 10 | Eterneva | 24/288 | 8.3% | 5.7–12.1% | 1 | 5.7% (16/279) | 0.7% |
| 11 | INELDA | 24/288 | 8.3% | 5.7–12.1% | 1 | 6.1% (17/279) | 0.7% |
| 12 | After.com | 21/288 | 7.3% | 4.8–10.9% | 2.6 | 12.5% (35/279) | 2.2% |
| 13 | NorthStar Memorial Group | 16/288 | 5.6% | 3.4–8.8% | 5.4 | 0% (0/279) | 0% |
| 14 | Forest Lawn | 8/288 | 2.8% | 1.4–5.4% | 1.4 | 2.2% (6/279) | 0.2% |
| 15 | Matthews International | 6/288 | 2.1% | 1–4.5% | 4.7 | 0% (0/279) | 0% |
| 16 | Everplans | 4/288 | 1.4% | 0.5–3.5% | 2 | 3.6% (10/279) | 0.4% |
| 17 | Cake | 2/288 | 0.7% | 0.2–2.5% | 3 | 0% (0/279) | 0% |
| 18 | Cremation Society of America | 2/288 | 0.7% | 0.2–2.5% | 2 | 0% (0/279) | 0% |
| 19 | Newcomer Funeral Service Group | 2/288 | 0.7% | 0.2–2.5% | 4.5 | 0% (0/279) | 0% |
| 20 | Lantern | 1/288 | 0.3% | 0.1–1.9% | 3 | 0% (0/279) | 0% |
The top eight, side by side
| # | Name | Appearance rate | Answers and interval | Other measures |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Service Corporation International | 38.5% | 111/288 answers · 95% CI 33.1–44.3% | first-mention position: 1.6; owned-domain citation (54/279): 19.4%; citation share: 3.9% |
| 2 | Neptune Society | 26.4% | 76/288 answers · 95% CI 21.6–31.8% | first-mention position: 2; owned-domain citation (26/279): 9.3%; citation share: 1.1% |
| 3 | NFDA | 16.0% | 46/288 answers · 95% CI 12.2–20.6% | first-mention position: 1.4; owned-domain citation (16/279): 5.7%; citation share: 0.9% |
| 4 | Trust & Will | 13.2% | 38/288 answers · 95% CI 9.8–17.6% | first-mention position: 1.1; owned-domain citation (14/279): 5%; citation share: 0.7% |
| 5 | Carriage Services | 11.5% | 33/288 answers · 95% CI 8.3–15.7% | first-mention position: 3.2; owned-domain citation (12/279): 4.3%; citation share: 0.5% |
| 6 | Legacy.com | 10.4% | 30/288 answers · 95% CI 7.4–14.5% | first-mention position: 1.6; owned-domain citation (18/279): 6.5%; citation share: 0.9% |
| 7 | Foundation Partners Group | 9.7% | 28/288 answers · 95% CI 6.8–13.7% | first-mention position: 3.4; owned-domain citation (1/279): 0.4%; citation share: 0% |
| 8 | Everstory Partners | 9.4% | 27/288 answers · 95% CI 6.5–13.3% | first-mention position: 3.6; owned-domain citation (1/279): 0.4%; citation share: 0% |
Gemini named After.com in 13 of 72 answers. The other engines did so in 0 to 4 of 72.
ChatGPT
72 asked · 72 returned · 72 grounded
Same questions, different answers
Service Corporation International
50.0%
Neptune Society
30.6%
NFDA
20.8%
Carriage Services
16.7%
Trust & Will
12.5%
Everstory Partners
12.5%
Claude
72 asked · 72 returned · 63 grounded
Service Corporation International
37.5%
Neptune Society
29.2%
NFDA
19.4%
Everstory Partners
16.7%
Trust & Will
15.3%
Legacy.com
11.1%
Gemini
72 asked · 72 returned · 72 grounded
Service Corporation International
41.7%
Neptune Society
29.2%
NFDA
19.4%
After.com
18.1%
Trust & Will
16.7%
Carriage Services
15.3%
Perplexity
72 asked · 72 returned · 72 grounded
Service Corporation International
25.0%
Neptune Society
16.7%
Trust & Will
8.3%
Legacy.com
8.3%
Eterneva
8.3%
INELDA
8.3%
Google AI Overviews were captured through 59 U.S. desktop searches and scored only where an overview appeared, so five-engine figures use 288 + 58 = 346 answers.
The fifth engine
98%
Trigger rate: 58 of 59 searches
Google AI Overviews appeared on 58 of 59 searches (98.3%, CI 91–99.7%). The other search showed no overview. Within the 58 overviews, After.com was named in 11 (19%), Service Corporation International was named in 9 (15.5%), Neptune Society was named in 6 (10.3%), Legacy.com was named in 6 (10.3%). after.com was the most-cited source, with 9 citations and an appearance in 9 of 58 overviews.
| Five-engine rank | Name | Five-engine rate | Four-engine rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Service Corporation International | 34.7% | 1 |
| 2 | Neptune Society | 23.7% | 2 |
| 3 | NFDA | 14.2% | 3 |
| 4 | Trust & Will | 12.1% | 4 |
| 5 | Carriage Services | 10.4% | 5 |
| 6 | Legacy.com | 10.4% | 6 |
| 7 | After.com | 9.2% | 12 |
| 8 | Everstory Partners | 8.7% | 8 |
| 9 | Foundation Partners Group | 8.1% | 7 |
| 10 | INELDA | 7.8% | 11 |
Who each question surfaces first
Six questions from the set. Each tile uses that question's own four-engine answers as the denominator.
| Question | Leader | Next | AI Overview |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q01 · 12 answers | Service Corporation International 83.3% | NFDA 50.0%; Legacy.com 41.7% | AI Overview shown on 3 of 3 searches |
| Q02 · 12 answers | NFDA 75.0% | Service Corporation International 50.0%; Neptune Society 33.3% | AI Overview shown on 3 of 3 searches |
| Q03 · 12 answers | Service Corporation International 91.7% | NFDA 75.0%; Neptune Society 66.7% | AI Overview shown on 0 of 0 searches |
| Q04 · 12 answers | Neptune Society 66.7% | After.com 25.0%; Service Corporation International 16.7% | AI Overview shown on 3 of 3 searches |
| Q05 · 12 answers | Service Corporation International 100.0% | Neptune Society 100.0%; After.com 66.7% | AI Overview shown on 3 of 3 searches |
| Q06 · 12 answers | Trust & Will 100.0% | AI Overview shown on 3 of 3 searches |
The four engines produced 2,434 citations in total. us-funerals.com was cited most often, with 92 citations (3.8%) across 65 answers. Next came dignitymemorial.com (82), ftc.gov (57), after.com (53), en.wikipedia.org (52), funerals.org (49).
Four AI engines · share of 279 grounded answers
Most-cited domains
us-funerals.com
23.3%
dignitymemorial.com
16.8%
after.com
12.5%
en.wikipedia.org
12.5%
funerals.org
11.8%
cnbc.com
11.1%
memorials.com
10.8%
ftc.gov
9.3%
neptunesociety.com
9.3%
dfsmemorials.com
7.9%
Google AI Overviews · share of 58 overviews
after.com
15.5%
youtube.com
10.3%
facebook.com
10.3%
us-funerals.com
8.6%
usa.gov
8.6%
funerals.org
6.9%
ncoa.org
6.9%
aarp.org
6.9%
legacy.com
6.9%
memorials.com
6.9%
Citation share by source type
Share of all citations by the type of site cited. Source types were reclassified on October 29, 2026. 'Company / brand sites' now covers only the official sites of companies, brands and schools; publishers, directories, trade bodies and other sites have their own types, and sites that could not be placed are 'Other / unclassified'.
| Source type | Four AI engines (of 2,434 citations) | Google AI Overviews (of 180 citations) |
|---|---|---|
| Company / brand sites | 1,095 (45%) | 74 (41.1%) |
| Institutions / trade bodies | 393 (16.1%) | 34 (18.9%) |
| Directories / rankings | 220 (9%) | 13 (7.2%) |
| Official / government | 215 (8.8%) | 18 (10%) |
| Review / comparison publishers | 200 (8.2%) | 12 (6.7%) |
| General news / business press | 101 (4.1%) | 4 (2.2%) |
| Reference | 80 (3.3%) | 0 (0%) |
| Research / data providers | 37 (1.5%) | 1 (0.6%) |
| Community / social | 36 (1.5%) | 21 (11.7%) |
| Trade / specialist press | 24 (1%) | 3 (1.7%) |
| Health publishers | 23 (0.9%) | 0 (0%) |
| Other / unclassified | 9 (0.4%) | 0 (0%) |
| General news / sports media | 1 (0%) | 0 (0%) |
How can a funeral or end-of-life provider improve its AI visibility?
These steps follow from the measured results above. They describe what the engines cited in this study and are not a guarantee of results.
| Step | What this study measured |
|---|---|
| Put your facts on your own domain. | Service Corporation International's own domains were cited in 19.4% of grounded answers, After.com's in 12.5% and Neptune Society's in 9.3%. After.com was named in only 7.3% of answers, yet its own domains were cited in 12.5%. |
| Keep your facts accurate on the sites engines cite. | The most-cited sites other than the tracked names' own were us-funerals.com (in 23.3% of grounded answers), en.wikipedia.org (12.5%), funerals.org (11.8%), cnbc.com (11.1%) and memorials.com (10.8%). Institutions and trade bodies supplied 16.1% of citations and directories and rankings 9.0%. |
| Check each engine separately. | ChatGPT named Service Corporation International in 50.0% of answers against 25.0% on Perplexity. Gemini named After.com in 18.1% of answers against 0.0% on Perplexity. |
| Do not ignore video and community sites. | Community and social sites supplied 11.7% of Google AI Overview citations against 1.5% in the four chat engines. youtube.com was cited in 10.3% of overviews, facebook.com in 10.3% and quora.com in 5.2%. |
| Watch names outside the tracked list. | Funeral Consumers Alliance (18), Ever Loved (17), LegalZoom (16), Rocket Lawyer (16), Smart Cremation (14) were named often but were not tracked. |
| Re-run the same questions every month. | Compare counts and intervals, not ranks. The 24 questions are in the appendix. |
Frequently asked questions
Which provider do AI engines name most often?
Service Corporation International, named in 111 of 288 four-engine answers (38.5%, CI 33.1–44.3%). Neptune Society was second at 76 of 288 (26.4%).
Which provider is named first most often?
Service Corporation International was the first provider named in 62 of 288 answers, with an average first position of 1.6.
How often do Google AI Overviews appear for these questions?
An overview appeared on 58 of 59 searches (98.3%, CI 91–99.7%). Within those 58 overviews, After.com was named most often, in 11 (19%).
Which sources do the engines cite?
Across 2,434 four-engine citations, us-funerals.com was cited most (92 citations, in 65 of 279 grounded answers), followed by dignitymemorial.com (82 citations).
Do the four engines agree?
Only in part. Gemini named After.com in 13 of 72 answers, against 0 to 4 of 72 on the other engines. ChatGPT named Service Corporation International in 36 of 72 answers, against 18 to 30 of 72 on the other engines.
How this study was measured
24 questions × 3 runs each × 4 AI engines = 288 answers + 59 Google searches · 58 AI Overviews
24 questions, each asked 3 times on each engine, measured October 28, 2026. Market: United States, English. The destination site was not mentioned to any engine. Gemini answers were produced by gemini-3.6-flash; every Gemini answer in this report used that one model. All 72 Gemini answers had search sources. Providers count as named when they appear in the answer text; products and name variants roll up to the tracked name. Longer names take precedence over shorter overlapping ones, and common words count only in context. Unicode apostrophes and dashes are normalized.
| Engine | Model IDs called | Asked | Returned | Grounded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | gpt-5-mini | 72 | 72 | 72 |
| Claude | claude-sonnet-5-5 | 72 | 72 | 63 |
| Gemini | gemini-3.6-flash | 72 | 72 | 72 |
| Perplexity | sonar-pro | 72 | 72 | 72 |
| Google AI Overviews | DataForSEO Google SERP (live, advanced) | 59 | 58 shown | 58 |
Own-domain citations count a domain plus all its subdomains, with the same rule in every table.
Definitions
- Appearance rate: answers naming the provider ÷ answers returned, with Wilson 95% intervals.
- First mention: average order in which the provider first appears (1 = first).
- Own-domain citation: grounded answers citing the provider's domains ÷ grounded answers.
- Citation share: citations to the provider's domains ÷ all citations.
Limits
- Measured on one day, October 28, 2026. Each engine answered 24 questions 3 times. Answers came from each engine's API (model IDs above); the consumer apps can answer differently.
- Only 26 tracked providers were scored. Untracked names that appeared often were not scored, including Funeral Consumers Alliance (18), Ever Loved (17), LegalZoom (16), Rocket Lawyer (16), Smart Cremation (14).
- AI Overview figures are based on only 58 overviews, so estimates for individual providers are less precise than the four-engine figures.
- 13 Google searches could not be fetched by DataForSEO after three tries. They are excluded from the AI Overview figures, so the trigger rate uses 59 searches.
- 9 Claude answers had no search sources after retries. They count for appearance but contribute no citations.
- Mentions of StoneMor, the former name of Everstory Partners, are counted as Everstory Partners.
- Reports describe what the engines said, attributed to the engines. They make no judgement about the people or organizations named and are not legal or financial advice.
- Some answers were asked again on October 28, 2026 after a storage error. The earlier texts are kept in the evidence archive and are not used in the counts.
- Intervals treat each answer as independent, so they understate uncertainty for the 24 repeated questions.
- Corrected October 29, 2026: own-domain citation now uses each name's official domains (subdomains included), listed in the evidence file entity_rollups.csv. Names without a resolvable official site count zero.
Appendix: The 24 questions
Questions marked "Core question" are the original study questions, asked word for word. The others are added neutral questions.
| # | Question | Group | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | How do I plan a funeral? | Funeral Services AI Visibility Index 2026 | Core question |
| 02 | How much does a funeral cost? | Funeral Services AI Visibility Index 2026 | Core question |
| 03 | Cremation vs burial: which costs less? | Funeral Services AI Visibility Index 2026 | Core question |
| 04 | What is the cheapest way to get cremated? | Funeral Services AI Visibility Index 2026 | Core question |
| 05 | What are the best pre-need cremation plans? | Funeral Services AI Visibility Index 2026 | Core question |
| 06 | What is the best online will maker? | Funeral Services AI Visibility Index 2026 | Core question |
| 07 | Will vs trust: which do I need? | Funeral Services AI Visibility Index 2026 | Core question |
| 08 | What should I do when a family member dies? | Funeral Services AI Visibility Index 2026 | Core question |
| 09 | What is a death doula and how do I find one? | Funeral Services AI Visibility Index 2026 | Core question |
| 10 | How can I turn ashes into a memorial keepsake? | Funeral Services AI Visibility Index 2026 | Core question |
| 11 | Where can I post an obituary online? | Funeral Services AI Visibility Index 2026 | Core question |
| 12 | What are the largest funeral home companies in the US? | Funeral Services AI Visibility Index 2026 | Core question |
| 13 | Which national funeral operators publish general price lists online? | Funeral Services AI Visibility Index 2026 | Added question |
| 14 | Which direct cremation providers operate in multiple US states? | Funeral Services AI Visibility Index 2026 | Added question |
| 15 | What does the FTC Funeral Rule require funeral providers to disclose? | Funeral Services AI Visibility Index 2026 | Added question |
| 16 | Which sources publish US funeral and cremation cost surveys? | Funeral Services AI Visibility Index 2026 | Added question |
| 17 | Which online estate-planning platforms disclose attorney support and state coverage? | Funeral Services AI Visibility Index 2026 | Added question |
| 18 | Which organizations publish information about pre-need funeral contracts? | Funeral Services AI Visibility Index 2026 | Added question |
| 19 | Which memorial companies offer products made with cremated remains? | Funeral Services AI Visibility Index 2026 | Added question |
| 20 | Which obituary platforms allow families to publish online tributes? | Funeral Services AI Visibility Index 2026 | Added question |
| 21 | Which national organizations offer grief and bereavement resources? | Funeral Services AI Visibility Index 2026 | Added question |
| 22 | Which organizations provide directories of end-of-life doulas? | Funeral Services AI Visibility Index 2026 | Added question |
| 23 | Which sources publish checklists of administrative tasks after a death? | Funeral Services AI Visibility Index 2026 | Added question |
| 24 | Which cemetery operators provide online information about burial options and prices? | Funeral Services AI Visibility Index 2026 | Added question |
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