Service Corporation International (SCI), the company behind Dignity Memorial, is the funeral provider AI engines name most often. In 5W's measured Funeral Services AI Visibility Index, run on October 28, 2026, SCI appeared in 111 of 288 answers from ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity (38.5 percent), ahead of Neptune Society at 76 of 288 (26.4 percent). Google AI Overviews appeared on 58 of 59 searches, and After.com was named most often inside them.
Summary
- 5W asked 24 consumer questions three times on each of four AI engines, producing 288 answers, and added 58 Google AI Overviews from 59 searches.
- SCI was named in 38.5 percent of answers and was the first provider named in 62 of 288 answers, with an average first position of 1.6.
- Neptune Society (26.4 percent), NFDA (16.0 percent), Trust & Will (13.2 percent) and Carriage Services (11.5 percent) followed.
- The most-cited domain was us-funerals.com, which appeared in 23.3 percent of grounded answers, followed by dignitymemorial.com at 16.8 percent.
- Gemini named After.com in 13 of 72 answers, while the other engines named it in 0 to 4 of 72, so each engine needs separate checking.
Contents
- What did the index measure?
- Which funeral providers do AI engines name most often?
- How do the engines differ?
- Which sources do the engines cite?
- What happened in Google AI Overviews?
- How can a funeral or end-of-life provider improve its AI visibility?
- How does this version differ from the April 2026 edition?
- What are the limits of the study?
- Frequently asked questions
What did the index measure?
The index measures which funeral and cremation providers AI engines name when consumers ask common questions. According to the 5W report, the study used 24 questions, each asked three times on ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity, plus 59 U.S. desktop Google searches, and was measured on October 28, 2026 for the United States in English. Questions included "How much does a funeral cost?", "What is the cheapest way to get cremated?", "What is the best online will maker?" and "What does the FTC Funeral Rule require funeral providers to disclose?". Providers count as named when they appear in the answer text. Twenty of 26 tracked providers were named at least once.
Which funeral providers do AI engines name most often?
| Rank | Provider | Answers naming it | Appearance rate |
|---|
| 1 | Service Corporation International (Dignity Memorial) | 111 of 288 | 38.5% |
| 2 | Neptune Society | 76 of 288 | 26.4% |
| 3 | NFDA | 46 of 288 | 16.0% |
| 4 | Trust & Will | 38 of 288 | 13.2% |
| 5 | Carriage Services | 33 of 288 | 11.5% |
| 6 | Legacy.com | 30 of 288 | 10.4% |
| 7 | Foundation Partners Group | 28 of 288 | 9.7% |
| 8 | Everstory Partners | 27 of 288 | 9.4% |
| 9 | Park Lawn Corporation | 25 of 288 | 8.7% |
| 10 | Eterneva | 24 of 288 | 8.3% |
| 11 | INELDA | 24 of 288 | 8.3% |
| 12 | After.com | 21 of 288 | 7.3% |
| 13 | NorthStar Memorial Group | 16 of 288 | 5.6% |
| 14 | Forest Lawn | 8 of 288 | 2.8% |
| 15 | Matthews International | 6 of 288 | 2.1% |
The report notes that SCI's and Neptune Society's 95 percent confidence intervals (33.1 to 44.3 percent and 21.6 to 31.8 percent) do not overlap, so SCI's lead is statistically clear, while overlapping intervals lower in the table cannot be told apart at this sample size. Digital end-of-life brands such as Trust & Will, Eterneva and INELDA appear in the top 12, and Trust & Will had a first-mention position of 1.1.
How do the engines differ?
The four engines agree on the leaders but not on the order or the long tail. ChatGPT named SCI in 50.0 percent of answers, Gemini in 41.7 percent, Claude in 37.5 percent and Perplexity in 25.0 percent. Gemini named After.com in 18.1 percent of answers, against 0 to 4 of 72 on the other engines.
| Engine | Top names |
|---|
| ChatGPT | SCI 50.0%, Neptune Society 30.6%, NFDA 20.8% |
| Claude | SCI 37.5%, Neptune Society 29.2%, NFDA 19.4% |
| Gemini | SCI 41.7%, Neptune Society 29.2%, NFDA 19.4%, After.com 18.1% |
| Perplexity | SCI 25.0%, Neptune Society 16.7%, Trust & Will, Legacy.com, Eterneva and INELDA at 8.3% |
Which sources do the engines cite?
The four engines produced 2,434 citations. Company and brand sites supplied 45 percent, institutions and trade bodies 16.1 percent, directories and rankings 9.0 percent and official or government sites 8.8 percent. The most-cited domains, as a share of 279 grounded answers, were us-funerals.com (23.3 percent), dignitymemorial.com (16.8 percent), after.com and en.wikipedia.org (12.5 percent each), funerals.org (11.8 percent), cnbc.com (11.1 percent), memorials.com (10.8 percent) and ftc.gov and neptunesociety.com (9.3 percent each). SCI's own domains were cited in 19.4 percent of grounded answers, more than any other tracked name, and After.com's own domains were cited in 12.5 percent despite being named in only 7.3 percent of answers.
What happened in Google AI Overviews?
Google AI Overviews appeared on 58 of 59 searches (98.3 percent). Within those 58 overviews, After.com was named most often, in 11 (19 percent), followed by SCI in 9 (15.5 percent) and Neptune Society and Legacy.com in 6 each (10.3 percent). Community and social sites supplied 11.7 percent of AI Overview citations against 1.5 percent in the four chat engines, and YouTube and Facebook were each cited in 10.3 percent of overviews. In the five-engine ranking, SCI led at 34.7 percent and Neptune Society followed at 23.7 percent.
How can a funeral or end-of-life provider improve its AI visibility?
The report offers steps that follow from its measurements and says they are not a guarantee of results.
- Put your facts on your own domain. Own-site citations ranged from 19.4 percent for SCI to 9.3 percent for Neptune Society.
- Keep your facts accurate on the sites engines cite. Reference and directory sites such as Wikipedia, funerals.org and memorials.com appear often.
- Check each engine separately. ChatGPT and Perplexity named SCI at 50 and 25 percent.
- Do not ignore video and community sites. They supplied more than a tenth of AI Overview citations.
- Watch names outside the tracked list. Funeral Consumers Alliance, Ever Loved, LegalZoom, Rocket Lawyer and Smart Cremation were named often but not tracked.
- Re-run the same questions monthly and compare counts and intervals, not ranks.
For the method behind studies like this, see EPR's guides to GEO vs SEO and how to rank on ChatGPT. Other citation studies on Everything-PR include The Cannabis Index and the baby brand AI visibility study.
How does this version differ from the April 2026 edition?
5W published a first edition of the funeral index in April 2026 that estimated citation shares across 65 or more prompts, including a figure of roughly 16 to 18 percent of category citations for SCI and an estimate that approximately 88 percent of independent funeral homes had effectively zero AI citation share in their own metro. The October 28 version replaces it and uses measured counts of answers, so the two versions are not comparable. The measured version does not repeat the 88 percent estimate. The industry context in the first edition, about 19,000 independent and family-owned funeral homes and more than $20 billion in annual U.S. revenue, comes from NFDA estimates cited by 5W.
What are the limits of the study?
The report states its limits. It was measured on one day, each engine answered 24 questions three times, and answers came from each engine's API, so consumer apps can answer differently. Only 26 providers were scored, and Google AI Overview figures rest on 58 overviews, so individual estimates are less precise. Thirteen Google searches could not be fetched and are excluded, and nine Claude answers had no search sources. The report describes what the engines said and makes no judgment about the organizations named.
