3D Chess Media, LLC is a U.S. digital media, research, marketing, publishing, and technology company. We develop and operate businesses focused on artificial intelligence search, digital discovery, market intelligence, customer acquisition, data-driven publishing, and comparative research. Our portfolio is built around a simple idea: The way people discover companies, products, and services is changing. For years, digital discovery was dominated by search engines, publishers, review websites, social platforms, and company websites.
Those channels remain important. But consumers and business buyers increasingly ask artificial intelligence systems to help them: Find providers, Compare companies, Evaluate products, Identify alternatives, Research complex decisions, Build shortlists, Understand pricing and differences, Determine who to trust, and Decide what to buy, That introduces a new layer into the customer journey. 3D Chess Media builds businesses around understanding, measuring, and participating in that shift.
Our Business Model
3D Chess Media operates across three complementary areas: AI search intelligence, AI search strategy and implementation, and owned research and digital publishing. Each serves a different purpose. Together, they create an operating portfolio focused on modern digital discovery.
AI Search Intelligence
LLM Authority Index
LLM Authority Index is the research, data, and measurement business within The 3D Chess Media Portfolio. It studies how companies, competitors, industries, websites, publishers, and sources appear across AI-generated answers and modern search environments. Its research is designed to help answer questions such as: Which companies are being recommended? Which competitors are gaining visibility? Who receives the strongest recommendation positions? Which companies disappear when buyer intent becomes more specific? Which sources are being cited?
Which publishers repeatedly appear around important commercial questions? Where do AI platforms agree? Where do they disagree? How is recommendation behavior changing over time? LLM Authority Index focuses on areas including: AI recommendation measurement, Competitive benchmarking, High-intent prompt research, Citation intelligence, Source analysis, Industry datasets, Company and competitor research, Cross-platform comparison, Longitudinal AI visibility tracking, and Market intelligence, The objective is to move AI visibility away from isolated screenshots and anecdotes and toward structured, repeatable measurement.
AI Search Strategy and Implementation
CiteWorks Studio
CiteWorks Studio is the strategy and implementation business within The 3D Chess Media Portfolio. It works with organizations seeking to improve how they are understood, retrieved, cited, compared, and recommended across AI-driven discovery environments. Its work can include: Generative Engine Optimization, Answer Engine Optimization, AI Search Optimization, AI visibility strategy, Citation architecture, Source ecosystem strategy, Entity clarity, Semantic positioning, Competitive analysis, High-intent prompt research, Technical SEO, Content architecture, Digital authority development, Research publishing, and Ongoing measurement and optimization, The relationship between the two businesses is straightforward: LLM Authority Index measures what is happening.
CiteWorks Studio works on what companies can do about it. Measurement and implementation are related, but they are not the same thing. A strategy should be capable of being tested against the data. If the expected improvement does not occur, the measurement should be capable of showing that.
Owned Research and Digital Publishing
The 3D Chess Media Portfolio
3D Chess Media also develops and operates a growing portfolio of category-specific digital research properties. These businesses focus on defined consumer and business markets where people frequently compare companies, products, and services before making a purchase decision. The portfolio currently includes: Aging In Place Index, Credit Consensus Index, Life Insurance Consensus Index, Mortgage Consensus Index, Home Services Consensus Index, Business Software Consensus Index, Home Improvement Consensus Index, Moving Consensus Index, and Hosting Consensus Index, Each property is designed around a particular market rather than attempting to combine unrelated industries into one general publication.
That allows individual properties to develop their own: Research, Data, Subject-matter expertise, Publishing structure, Consumer or business audience, Comparative frameworks, Commercial model, and Historical datasets, Collectively, these properties form The 3D Chess Media Portfolio.
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Why These Businesses Belong Together
At first glance, AI search intelligence, marketing services, and category-specific publishing might look like separate businesses. We see them as different parts of the same system. A customer has a need. They ask a question. A search engine, publisher, AI system, or other discovery platform interprets that question. Information is retrieved from: Company websites, Publishers, Reviews, Research, Videos, Communities, Data sources, Search results, and Other parts of the public information environment, Companies are compared.
Some brands enter the answer. Others do not. Some are mentioned. Some are cited. Some are recommended. A much smaller group may ultimately enter the buyer's shortlist. That process sits at the center of what 3D Chess Media studies. Our businesses approach it from different directions. LLM Authority Index measures it. CiteWorks Studio works on it. The 3D Chess Media Portfolio operates within it. Together, they give us a broader view of how modern digital discovery is changing.
From Search Results to AI Shortlists
For much of the last two decades, a commercial discovery journey often looked something like this: Search engine to Publisher or comparison website to Company website to Reviews and research to Purchase decision, That journey still exists. But another path is becoming increasingly important: AI platform to Generated answer or shortlist to Follow-up questions to Citations and supporting sources to Company comparison to Purchase decision, That creates a significant change for businesses. A potential customer may now begin evaluating companies before visiting any of their websites.
The AI system may already have: Introduced certain competitors, Excluded others, Framed the category, Compared features, Identified perceived strengths, Raised objections, Recommended a shortlist, and Provided supporting sources, The customer may arrive at the company website with much of the consideration process already underway. Or the company may never enter that process at all. That creates a new commercial question: What happens when an AI system becomes part of the customer's research process before the customer ever reaches your website?
Much of 3D Chess Media's current work begins there.
Built by Operators
3D Chess Media was not created as an academic research organization or a traditional media holding company. It was built from direct experience operating digital businesses. The leadership behind the company has experience across: Digital publishing, Search engine optimization, Affiliate marketing, Customer acquisition, Performance marketing, Content operations, Technology, Business operations, Sales, Financial management, Entrepreneurship, Regulated industries, Legal analysis, and Executive leadership, That operating background influences the way we approach research.
We are interested in what the data says. We are also interested in what the data means commercially. Questions such as: Does visibility lead to consideration? Does consideration lead to opportunity? Which forms of visibility occur closest to a buying decision? What changes competitive position? Which investments are worth making? Where is the measurable business value? matter throughout the portfolio.
Experience at Digital Publishing Scale
The experience behind 3D Chess Media includes leadership within large-scale digital publishing operations. That background has included strategic responsibility across hundreds of websites and large digital publishing teams involving: Writers, Editors, Developers, Designers, Analysts, SEO professionals, Marketing teams, and Operations personnel, It has also included experience with: High-volume content production, Large affiliate programs, Customer acquisition, Technology development, Publishing systems, Monetization, Conversion, Business growth, and Significant operating budgets, That experience matters because AI discovery does not exist separately from the rest of the digital ecosystem.
It intersects with: publishing, search, content, website architecture, authority, data, technology, brand positioning, customer acquisition, conversion, and commercial economics. 3D Chess Media approaches AI search from that broader operating perspective.
Measurement Before Assumption
AI search is developing quickly. That creates opportunity. It also creates speculation. There are already countless theories about what causes a company to appear in an AI-generated answer. Our preference is to begin with what can actually be measured. If an AI platform recommends a company: record the recommendation. If six systems agree: record the agreement. If they disagree: preserve the disagreement. If a source is cited: distinguish the citation from a recommendation. If a company appears frequently but rarely receives a top recommendation: treat those as different forms of visibility.
If an intervention is followed by increased visibility: measure the change without automatically claiming causation. This principle informs the work of LLM Authority Index, CiteWorks Studio, and the research properties within The 3D Chess Media Portfolio.
Commercially Relevant Research
Not every AI mention has the same commercial significance. There is an important difference between a user asking: What is web hosting?, and Which hosting company should I use for a high-traffic WordPress website? Both questions involve the same industry. Only one is immediately close to choosing a provider. Our research therefore pays particular attention to commercially meaningful questions involving: Best companies, Best products, Comparisons, Alternatives, Pricing, Cost, Trust, Reputation, Specific use cases, Buyer circumstances, Recommendation position, Competitive inclusion, and Provider selection, Visibility matters.
Visibility closest to a purchasing decision may matter more.
Building, Testing, and Learning Across Our Own Portfolio
Operating our own digital properties gives 3D Chess Media an additional perspective. We are not limited to studying digital discovery from outside the publishing environment. Across our own properties, we can observe how factors such as: Research, Content architecture, Internal linking, Entity clarity, Structured information, Authority, Citations, Publishing frequency, Original datasets, Third-party references, and Brand positioning, interact across different markets. Different industries behave differently. A company selecting enterprise software may research very differently from a family evaluating aging-in-place products.
A mortgage buyer may ask questions that have very different commercial, regulatory, and informational characteristics from someone selecting a hosting provider. Operating across multiple categories gives us an opportunity to identify: what appears consistent across markets, and what appears industry-specific. Those observations can inform future research, products, publishing strategies, and commercial decisions.
Building Long-Term Data Assets
A single research project provides a snapshot. Repeated research can create something more valuable: a historical record. Longitudinal datasets can potentially show: Which companies gained recommendation visibility, Which companies lost visibility, Which sources became more influential, Which publishers disappeared, Whether platform agreement increased, Whether certain competitors consistently dominate particular prompt categories, and How industries changed as AI systems evolved, That means the value of a research property may grow not only through new content, but through the accumulation of historical data.
3D Chess Media is interested in building that kind of long-term information asset.
Data, Research, Publishing, and Technology
We do not view these disciplines as isolated from one another. They can form a recurring system: Data to Research to Publishing to Distribution to Measurement to New Data, Research can create publishable information. Publishing can create authority and distribution. Distribution can create citations and additional visibility. Technology can automate measurement. Measurement produces new data. That data can generate the next research question. The businesses within The 3D Chess Media Portfolio are designed to participate at different points in that cycle.
Our Research Principles
Several principles guide how we approach these businesses.
Measure What Actually Happened
Observed results should not be replaced by what we expected or hoped to see. A mention, a citation, and a recommendation are different forms of visibility, and disagreement between AI systems is useful information. An observed relationship should also not be treated as proof of why a system produced a result.
Follow Commercial Intent Over Time
Not every prompt represents the same level of buyer intent. Snapshots matter, but trends and repeated measurement can matter more when the goal is to understand commercially meaningful change.
Disclose Interests and Preserve the Result
Research businesses, service businesses, affiliate relationships, and owned publishing properties can overlap, so relevant conflicts should be disclosed rather than hidden. A useful research process must remain capable of producing an uncomfortable result—one that benefits a competitor, disadvantages a client, contradicts an assumption, or simply does not tell the story we expected.
Research and Commercial Interests
3D Chess Media is a commercial company. We build businesses with the intention of generating revenue and long-term asset value. Different portfolio properties may generate revenue through: Client services, Research products, Data products, Subscriptions, Affiliate marketing, Advertising, Lead generation, Sponsorship, Partnerships, Referral relationships, Licensing, and Other commercial models, Commercial interests can create conflicts. We do not believe the answer is to pretend those interests do not exist. Our preferred principle is: Disclose the relationship. Preserve the underlying result.
If a commercial partner performs poorly in structured research, the data should remain capable of showing that. If a company with no commercial relationship performs strongly, the data should remain capable of showing that too.
A Portfolio, Not a Collection of Unrelated Websites
3D Chess Media is building more than individual websites. The portfolio can create and accumulate assets including: Brands, Websites, Proprietary datasets, Research methodologies, Historical benchmarks, Publishing systems, Technology, Audiences, Commercial relationships, Intellectual property, and Category expertise, An individual property can have value independently. The broader objective is to create additional value through the relationships among those assets. That is why we refer to them collectively as: The 3D Chess Media Portfolio.
A Portfolio Designed for What Comes Next
3D Chess Media was formed in 2023 during a period when generative artificial intelligence was rapidly changing how information is created, retrieved, summarized, and delivered. We expect that transition to continue creating opportunities across: Market intelligence, Search, Publishing, Research, Software, Data, Marketing, Consumer decision support, and Business decision support, Not every property will look the same. Not every market will behave the same. Not every hypothesis will prove correct. But the underlying question remains consistent: How is technology changing the way people decide who and what to trust, compare, and choose?
That is the environment 3D Chess Media is built to study. And participate in.
Explore 3D Chess Media
AI Search Intelligence
LLM Authority Index
Measure AI recommendations, citations, competitive visibility, and market movement.
AI Search Strategy and Implementation
CiteWorks Studio
Improve how companies are understood, retrieved, cited, compared, and recommended across AI-driven discovery environments.
Research and Publishing
The 3D Chess Media Portfolio
Explore our category-specific consumer and business research properties.
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Leadership
Learn more about the experience and research philosophy behind 3D Chess Media.
Partnerships
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Corporate Information
Learn more about 3D Chess Media, LLC, corporate information, contracting, and procurement.