Glossary
What is Mention rate?
Mention rate is the percentage of AI answers to your tracked prompts that name your brand at all — whether or not they link to you. It's the broadest visibility metric: a low mention rate means AI assistants rarely bring you up when customers ask.
Why mention rate matters
Mention rate answers the first question in AI visibility: do assistants bring you up at all? If the answer is rarely, sharper metrics such as citations or sentiment have little to work with. It is also the simplest number to explain to a client or a team, which makes it a good starting baseline.
How mention rate is measured
Divide the number of answers that name your brand by the total number of answers to your tracked prompts, per engine. Because responses vary between runs, run each prompt more than once or repeat the set across weeks and look at the trend.
Report unbranded and branded prompts separately. Prompts that include your name mention you almost by definition, while unbranded prompts show whether engines bring you up unprompted. It also helps to note how prominently you appear, whether first, in a list or in passing, and how the answer describes you.
A hypothetical example
Suppose you track 12 unbranded prompts. On one engine you are named in 3 of the 12 answers, a mention rate of 25%. On another you are named in 8 of 12, about 67%. Those two numbers call for different work: the first engine may not know enough about you, while on the second the priority could be making sure the mentions are accurate and lead to citations.
Common mistakes
- Mixing branded prompts into the rate, which inflates it.
- Measuring once and treating the result as fixed.
- Counting every mention as a win. A mention that says your product is limited is not a recommendation.
- Comparing rates from different prompt sets, which are not comparable.
Common questions
What is a good mention rate?
There is no universal benchmark. It depends on your category and on the prompts you track, so compare against your own baseline over time and against the competitors named in the same answers.
What is the difference between mention rate and citation rate?
Mention rate counts answers that name your brand. Citation rate counts answers that link or list your website as a source. You can have one without the other.
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