What mentions in AI answers mean
More and more people ask ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini which provider to choose. Whether the answers name your brand, and how far up, helps decide whether you make the shortlist.
How it works
A language model answers from two sources: what it learned in training and, when it uses a web search, the pages it fetches for that search. With web search it names its sources as links. Both draw on what the web says about you: on your website, on comparison sites, in business directories, articles and reviews.
bytereport asks the models the prompts of your project, the questions your customers would ask. There are four kinds: questions about the brand itself, category questions (“Which providers of … are there?”), comparisons with competitors and problem questions (“How do I solve …?”). The answers give several findings:
- Mentions: the share of answers that name your brand.
- Your site as a source: the share of answers with web search that cite your domain.
- Place in recommendations: where the brand appears in answers to category and problem questions.
- Models without a mention: models that name the brand for none of these questions.
- Share of voice: your share of all mentions of your brand and the competitors in the project.
- Most cited sources: the domains the models use most often with web search.
What matters
- Mention rate. From 60 % of answers bytereport rates this as good, from 25 % as fair, below that as weak.
- Citations. If at least 30 % of answers with web search cite your domain, that is good; from 10 % it is fair.
- Place. First place counts in full, third place half, from fifth place on nothing. An average of three quarters or more is good, from 40 % fair.
- Trend, not a single value. Answers vary from run to run. What counts is the development over several runs.
- Every model is different. Models use different sources and search engines. If the brand is missing in one, it is missing for that model's users.
How to get mentioned more often
Models name what their sources name. The most cited sources in your report show where to start:
- Appear on the cited pages. Check whether you are listed on the comparison sites, directories and articles the models use, with current details.
- Answer questions directly. Pages are cited when they answer a question briefly and verifiably: a clear sentence first, figures, sources, a date.
- Be reachable and readable. Without allowed AI crawlers and text without JavaScript, no web search can cite you.
- Be recognisable. Organization data with sameAs links your brand to its profiles.
What a model knows from training only changes with a new model version. Answers with web search react to changes more quickly.