Revealing science behind urban legends
Skeptoid (skeptoid.com) earns a Brand Analyzer score of 77 out of 100, placing it in the Brand-Ready tier among Media & Entertainment brands, Education brands, Non-profit brands. Among 3927 Media & Entertainment brands analyzed, Skeptoid ranks in the 56th percentile (category average 75, leader 97). The score combines seven dimensions - name quality, digital presence, visual identity, messaging clarity, trust foundation, AI discoverability, and brand authority - into a single objective benchmark. Dimension scores: Name Quality 98/100, Digital Presence 100/100, Visual Identity 87/100, Messaging Clarity 95/100, Trust Foundation 82/100, AI Discoverability 64/100, Brand Authority 32/100.
Skeptoid is an award-winning, listener-supported nonprofit science podcast founded in 2008 and based in Bend. Each week it investigates popular urban legends, misinformation, and conspiracy theories, presenting evidence-based explanations grounded in scientific and historical research. The podcast positions itself as an independent, trustworthy source of critical-thinking content, free from commercial bias, aimed at curious audiences interested in separating fact from myth.
| Brand Name | Skeptoid |
|---|---|
| Domain | skeptoid.com |
| Industry | Media & Entertainment, Education |
| Founded | 2008 |
| Headquarters | Bend |
| Main Competitors | The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe (76/100), Science Vs (79/100), Snopes, RadioLab, Stuff You Should Know (78/100), QuackWatch |
Moz Domain Authority 69/100 vs category average 50 / leader 100 - a strong backlink profile, so AI systems frequently encounter mentions of the brand.
Ranked #143,455 on the Tranco list of most-visited sites - modest traffic makes the brand easy for AI models to overlook.
Skeptoid appears on Wikipedia but without a dedicated company entity, so AI models can confuse it with similarly named subjects.
The homepage meta description reads "Skeptoid is an award-winning weekly science podcast. Since 2006, Skeptoid has been revealing the true science behind popular misinformation and urban legends." (No meta description. OG description present and descriptive) - this is the summary AI engines are most likely to quote.
Structured data on the homepage: 1 JSON-LD block(s), og:title, og:description, og:image, og:type. Adding Organization and FAQ schema would further help AI crawlers parse the brand's identity.
AI-crawler access: robots.txt present, no AI bot restrictions - robots.txt controls whether engines like GPTBot and ClaudeBot can read the site at all.
Detected tech stack: Apache.
Social footprint: verified profiles on X (Twitter), Instagram, YouTube, GitHub; no detected presence on LinkedIn, Facebook - consistent profiles reinforce the brand's identity across the web.
0 Reddit mentions - community discussion signals real-world reputation to AI models.
Skeptoid scores 48/100 for AI visibility - how well ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews can discover, identify and cite the brand.
Skeptoid has a limited AI-visibility profile at 48/100 - a proxy for how readily ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews can recognise and cite it. Its strongest area is recommendation likelihood (58/100) and its weakest is visibility (44/100). It benefits from a Wikidata knowledge-graph entry, a global traffic rank of #143,455 (Tranco) and a Moz Domain Authority of 69/100. The main gaps holding it back: no clear Wikipedia entity to anchor it in LLM training data, thin schema.org structured data and no llms.txt to steer AI to its best pages. In a live check, Claude could already identify Skeptoid from memory (August 2026) - a sign these signals are paying off.
Live results from asking a general-purpose AI assistant about the brand, checked August 2026.
When asked "What is Skeptoid?", Claude could identify the brand as of August 2026. Skeptoid is a long-running weekly podcast hosted by Brian Dunning that examines popular myths, pseudoscience, and paranormal claims through a critical, evidence-based lens. Best known for Brian Dunning's skeptical podcast debunking myths, urban legends, and pseudoscience.
When asked "Best brands similar to Skeptoid?", Claude would recommend Skeptoid as of August 2026. It's one of the most established and widely cited skeptic podcasts, so it's a natural mention alongside similar critical-thinking or science media brands.
Common questions people ask in Google, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and other AI search engines.
Skeptoid's main competitors include The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, Science Vs, Snopes, RadioLab, Stuff You Should Know (78/100). These companies compete in the Media & Entertainment space for similar customers, offering comparable products or services.
Sources: Brand Analyzer scan
Skeptoid and Stuff You Should Know are competitors in Media & Entertainment. Brand Analyzer scores Skeptoid at 77/100 and Stuff You Should Know at 78/100. They target overlapping audiences; the right choice depends on your specific needs and priorities.
Sources: Brand Analyzer scan
Popular alternatives to Skeptoid include The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, Science Vs, Snopes, RadioLab, Stuff You Should Know (78/100). Each is an established option in the Media & Entertainment space; the best fit depends on your specific needs, budget, and required features.
Sources: Brand Analyzer scan
Skeptoid is an award-winning weekly science podcast that has been produced since 2006 by a nonprofit organization headquartered in Bend, founded in 2008. It focuses on examining popular misinformation and urban legends through a scientific and evidence-based lens.
Sources: Skeptoid official site
Skeptoid has limited AI-search visibility, scoring 48/100 on Brand Analyzer's AI visibility composite (visibility 44, trust 45, recommendation 58). This estimates how likely AI engines like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity are to know, trust, and recommend the brand.
Sources: Skeptoid official site
Skeptoid was founded in 2008. Skeptoid operates in the Media & Entertainment category. It is analyzed by Brand Analyzer across seven brand dimensions and AI-search visibility.
Sources: Wikidata
Skeptoid is headquartered in Bend. Skeptoid operates in the Media & Entertainment category.
Sources: Wikidata
Skeptoid produces weekly podcast episodes that investigate urban legends, popular myths, and misinformation, revealing the true science and history behind them. As a listener-supported nonprofit, it relies on donations rather than commercial sponsorship to maintain independence in its reporting.
Sources: Skeptoid official site
Skeptoid's primary offering is its weekly podcast episodes, which examine and explain the science and history behind urban legends and misinformation. As a nonprofit, it does not sell traditional commercial products but relies on listener support to fund its content production.
Sources: Skeptoid official site
Skeptoid scores 58/100 on Brand Analyzer's AI recommendation signal, indicating it is reasonably likely to be surfaced when AI assistants like ChatGPT suggest Media & Entertainment options. Recommendation depends on crawlability, structured data, and category authority; a Wikipedia presence helps.
Sources: Skeptoid official site
Skeptoid is known for its long-running, award-winning weekly podcast that debunks urban legends and misinformation using rigorous, evidence-based scientific analysis. It has been continuously produced since 2006, making it one of the more established shows in the science and skepticism podcast genre.
Sources: Skeptoid official site
Skeptoid can improve AI discoverability by strengthening structured data (Organization and FAQ schema), maintaining an accurate Wikipedia/Wikidata entity, earning authoritative citations, and keeping content crawlable for AI bots. Brand Analyzer measures these as visibility, trust, and recommendation signals.
Sources: Skeptoid official site
Skeptoid is used by curious, skeptical listeners who are interested in science, critical thinking, and uncovering factual explanations for popular myths, legends, and conspiracy theories.
Sources: Skeptoid official site
Ranked closest to Skeptoid: Shochiku Co., Ltd. (77/100), LTK (rewardStyle) (77/100), Soho House (77/100), SRF (77/100).
A step up - brands to learn from: Zeno Group (81/100), Zadar Tourist Board (81/100).
Category leader: Complex (97/100).