To gain more visibility in AI search
results, health & wellness CPG brands need to focus on different content strategies depending on their product category, according to research from marketing and communications agency
Avenue Z.
“The most striking through-line…is how specific a category strategy has to be,” Tina Fleming, vice president of AI strategy at the agency, explained in a
statement. “The mix of institutional, editorial, review and retail sources that matters in multivitamins looks nothing like what moves the needle in protein or hydration.”
One
source that's powerful in AI search across all categories, however, is the institutional domain like government agencies, universities, nonprofit organizations, professional associations and
public health organizations.
advertisement
advertisement
Beyond those domains, the results vary widely.
Here are topline results from Avenue Z’s “AI Visibility Findings”
research across five health and wellness product categories, along with what the research found to be the most AI-visible brands in each.
Multivitamins
Institutional domains are the source for 52% of citations, far ahead of trade publications (6%) and editorial media (5%). Nature Made has a 23% share of voice, followed by Thorne at 20%, both
far ahead of number three, Ritual (8%).
Greens & Gut Supplements
Institutional domains, editorial media, competitor content and trade publications are fairly equal as
AI sources. AG1 leads in share of voice with 31%, followed by Amazing Grass at 20% and Bloom at 15%.
Hydration Supplements
“Institutional domains, editorial media and
trade publications exert more influence on AI citations than user-generated content, retailer pages and review platforms, despite the volume of content in those channels,” notes Avenue Z. Liquid
I.V. and LMNT both have 21% share of voices, followed by DripDrop (13%), Ultima Replenisher (11%) and Pedialyte (8%).
Protein & Performance
Institutional domains represent
40% of cited sources, with “review platforms and reference media more influential than in other segments,” Avenue Z says. Optimum Nutrition has 17% share of voice, followed by Dymatize
(14%) and Transparent Labs (12%), but the report finds “a long tail of brands gaining ground, with Isopure, Levels and NOW Sports all posting strong year-over-year ranking gains.”
GLP-1 & Peptides
Institutional domains account for 67% of citations, reflecting the category’s high level of regulation, Avenue Z says. The top six brands per
share-of-voice are Teladoc (28%), Ro Body (12%), Hims (12%), PlushCare (10%) and Hers (9%). For these providers, the agency notes, “building credible expertise around safety,
eligibility, approval, coverage and access through authoritative, regulated sources is central to maintaining visibility. “
The overall results, Avenue Z concludes, show that “a
broad, one-size-fits-all approach to PR and content is unlikely to perform" well.