{"id":193211,"date":"2025-11-26T08:31:30","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T13:31:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/?p=193211"},"modified":"2025-11-27T03:12:42","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T08:12:42","slug":"ai-citations-vs-impressions-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-citations-vs-impressions-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Do AI Assistants Link When Mentioning Brands? For Ahrefs, Only 28% of the&nbsp;Time"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"intro-txt\">AI assistants mention brands constantly but they rarely include links. When I tracked brand mentions for Ahrefs across six AI platforms, I found they linked to Ahrefs as rarely as 10% of the time for AI Overviews, and as often as 50% of the time for Perplexity.<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>But here\u2019s what matters more: in our case, the mentions that <em>do<\/em> include links appear on high-volume queries. This means your actual visibility\u2014measured in impressions rather than raw citation counts\u2014can be far higher than your link percentage suggests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this analysis, I\u2019ll show you how tracking mentions alone paints an incomplete picture, why search volume is your best proxy for AI prompt popularity, and how to measure your own brand\u2019s AI citation rate.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"intro-tok\" id=\"intro_tok\" style=\"display:none;\"><div class=\"intro-title\">Contents<\/div><a href=\"#\" class=\"expand-dots\"><span><\/span><span><\/span><span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"recommendation\"><div class=\"recommendation-title\">A quick note on terminology<\/div><div class=\"recommendation-content\">\n\n\n\n<p>Throughout this article, I\u2019ll use three&nbsp;terms:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Mentions<\/strong>: When AI says your brand name in a response.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Citations<\/strong>: When AI includes a link to your website.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Impressions<\/strong>: Mentions weighted by Google search volume to estimate potential exposure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The source of the data is <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/brand-radar\">Ahrefs Brand Radar<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"The key finding: you'll get mentioned often, but linked to rarely\" data-section=\"the-key-finding-youll-get-mentioned-often-but-linked-to-rarely\"> The key finding: you\u2019ll get mentioned often, but linked to rarely&nbsp;<\/div><\/div><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>AI assistants mentioned our brand far more often than they linked to&nbsp;us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Out of more than 31,000 brand mentions pulled from a database of 150 million prompts using Brand Radar, I found that AI Overviews were the stingiest\u2014they included a link only 10.7% of the time. Perplexity, on the other hand, was the most generous, linking 51.6% of the time. The other platforms fell somewhere in between.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>10.7% of the time on AI Overviews<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>16.8% on Gemini<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>26.1% on Copilot<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>26.9% on ChatGPT<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>36.8% on AI&nbsp;Mode<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>51.6% on Perplexity<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1696\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/mention_share.png\" alt=\"Bar graph: Mentions of &quot;Ahrefs&quot; in AI indexes. Orange bars: mentions without Ahrefs cited. Pink: with Ahrefs cited. Perplexity cites Ahrefs most.\" class=\"wp-image-193593\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/mention_share.png 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/mention_share-401x425.png 401w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/mention_share-768x814.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/mention_share-1449x1536.png 1449w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This means on these AI assistants, our brand got mentioned without a link 50-90% of the time; about 28% of the time on average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s how to check that for your brand with <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/brand-radar\">Brand Radar<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Plug in the name of your&nbsp;brand.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Go to the AI responses report.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Set the filters to exclude your domain scope (like in the screenshot below)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Note down the difference and repeat for each AI&nbsp;index.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1357\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/screenshot-of-ahrefs-ai-responses-dashboard-sh.png\" alt=\"Screenshot of Ahrefs' &quot;AI responses&quot; dashboard. Shows filtering for brand mentions and a results graph trending over time. Queries shown below.\" class=\"wp-image-193213\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/screenshot-of-ahrefs-ai-responses-dashboard-sh.png 2048w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/screenshot-of-ahrefs-ai-responses-dashboard-sh-641x425.png 641w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/screenshot-of-ahrefs-ai-responses-dashboard-sh-768x509.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/screenshot-of-ahrefs-ai-responses-dashboard-sh-1536x1018.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"Mentions weighted by search volume tell a different story\" data-section=\"mentions-weighted-by-impressions-tell-a-different-story\"> Mentions weighted by impressions tell a different story&nbsp;<\/div><\/div><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I wanted to see how often people actually see brand mentions that link to our site (i.e. their impressions) compared to mentions that don\u2019t. Once I factored in Google search volume, the share of mentions with links jumped much higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So even though most AI mentions don\u2019t include a link, the ones that do tend to show up on higher-traffic queries, meaning they\u2019re seen by more people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s how often linked mentions appeared, weighted by impressions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>78.4% of the time on Perplexity<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>71.3% on Gemini<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>46.2% on AI&nbsp;Mode<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>36.6% on ChatGPT<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>31.7% on Copilot<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>13.0% on AI Overviews<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1879\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/impression_share.png\" alt=\"Bar graph comparing Ahrefs citations in AI tools. Orange: not cited, pink: cited. Higher citation in Gemini &amp; Perplexity. Data weighted by Google Search volume.\" class=\"wp-image-193594\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/impression_share.png 1600w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/impression_share-362x425.png 362w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/impression_share-768x902.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/impression_share-1308x1536.png 1308w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In other words, you might get linked only 20% of the time, but because those links appear on high-volume queries, way more than 20% of people actually see your citations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To check this for your own brand, follow the same steps described above, just switch from the Mentions tab to the Impressions tab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1796\" height=\"1314\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ahrefs-dashboard-ai-responses-showing-impressi.png\" alt=\"Ahrefs dashboard, &quot;AI responses&quot; showing &quot;Impressions&quot; tab selected with a trending graph for &quot;ahrefs&quot; brand.\" class=\"wp-image-193215\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ahrefs-dashboard-ai-responses-showing-impressi.png 1796w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ahrefs-dashboard-ai-responses-showing-impressi-581x425.png 581w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ahrefs-dashboard-ai-responses-showing-impressi-768x562.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ahrefs-dashboard-ai-responses-showing-impressi-1536x1124.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1796px) 100vw, 1796px\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"Why your brand\u2019s linked mentions in AI answers don\u2019t always match their visibility\" data-section=\"why-your-brands-linked-mentions-in-ai-answers-dont-always-match-their-visibility\"> Why your brand\u2019s linked mentions in AI answers don\u2019t always match their visibility&nbsp;<\/div><\/div><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>At Ahrefs, we\u2019ve always focused on going after high-volume keywords in our SEO strategy. Because of that, we can\u2019t say for sure whether AI platforms naturally cite sources more often on popular queries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What we can say is that our focus on high-traffic topics in our SEO strategy seems to carry over into AI visibility. Our brand tends to get cited on the more popular keywords\u2014the same keywords we\u2019ve been prioritizing in our SEO&nbsp;work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s why mentions with links end up being seen by more people, even though there are more overall mentions without citations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"What this means for your AI visibility strategy\" data-section=\"what-this-means-for-your-ai-visibility-strategy\"> What this means for your AI visibility strategy&nbsp;<\/div><\/div><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Every AI platform has its own way of citing sources, and that\u2019s something we can\u2019t fully control. But we can improve <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-visibility\/\">AI visibility<\/a> by using SEO to optimize for keywords popular in traditional Google Search.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Think of search volume as a proxy for prompt popularity. For example, if 10,000 people search \u201cbest SEO tools\u201d on Google each month, thousands of others are probably asking AI assistants similar questions, even if they phrase them differently. By focusing on high-volume keywords, you\u2019re really aligning with the most common AI prompts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And because AI assistants don\u2019t rely on a single exact query, this matters even more. When someone asks a question, the AI often runs several related \u201cfan-out queries\u201d in the background\u2014basically different versions or breakdowns of the original prompt\u2014to gather more context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can\u2019t predict those exact variations, but if you cover a topic thoroughly, you\u2019re more likely to be cited across all of&nbsp;them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sure, AI might only mention or link to your site 20\u201330% of the time. But when you\u2019re showing up for high-traffic topics, those small percentages happen across thousands of queries, creating a big visibility boost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Got questions or comments? Find me on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/mateusz-makosiewicz\/\">LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">&nbsp;<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>But here\u2019s what matters more: in our case, the mentions that do include links appear on high-volume queries. This means your actual visibility\u2014measured in impressions rather than raw citation counts\u2014can be far higher than your link percentage suggests. In this<span class=\"ellipsis\">\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\">Read more \u203a<\/div>\n<p><!-- end of .read-more --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":159,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[469],"tags":[],"coauthors":[412],"class_list":["post-193211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ai-search","odd"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Do AI Assistants Link When Mentioning Brands? For Ahrefs, Only 28% of the Time<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Most of our AI mentions don&#039;t link back to us, but those that do reach a wider audience. Here&#039;s why and how to check that for your brand.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-citations-vs-impressions-study\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Do AI Assistants Link When Mentioning Brands? For Ahrefs, Only 28% of the Time\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Most of our AI mentions don&#039;t link back to us, but those that do reach a wider audience. Here&#039;s why and how to check that for your brand.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-citations-vs-impressions-study\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SEO Blog by Ahrefs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Ahrefs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-26T13:31:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-27T08:12:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/mention_share.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mateusz Makosiewicz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@m_makosiewicz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ahrefs\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/ai-citations-vs-impressions-study\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/ai-citations-vs-impressions-study\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mateusz Makosiewicz\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c7e64c851ecc4eabb77eaefae90a440c\"},\"headline\":\"Do AI Assistants Link When Mentioning Brands? For Ahrefs, Only 28% of the&nbsp;Time\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-26T13:31:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-27T08:12:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/ai-citations-vs-impressions-study\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":926,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/ai-citations-vs-impressions-study\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/do-ai-assistants-link-when-mentioning-by-mateusz-makosiewicz-ai-search.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"AI Search\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/ai-citations-vs-impressions-study\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/ai-citations-vs-impressions-study\\\/\",\"name\":\"Do AI Assistants Link When Mentioning Brands? For Ahrefs, Only 28% of the Time\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/ai-citations-vs-impressions-study\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/ai-citations-vs-impressions-study\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/mention_share.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-26T13:31:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-27T08:12:42+00:00\",\"description\":\"Most of our AI mentions don't link back to us, but those that do reach a wider audience. Here's why and how to check that for your brand.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/ai-citations-vs-impressions-study\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/ai-citations-vs-impressions-study\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/mention_share.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/mention_share.png\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":1696},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"SEO Blog by Ahrefs\",\"description\":\"Link Building Strategies &amp; SEO Tips\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Ahrefs\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/06\\\/ahrefs-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/06\\\/ahrefs-logo.png\",\"width\":2048,\"height\":768,\"caption\":\"Ahrefs\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/Ahrefs\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/ahrefs\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/ahrefs\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/c\\\/ahrefscom\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c7e64c851ecc4eabb77eaefae90a440c\",\"name\":\"Mateusz Makosiewicz\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/06\\\/mateusz-makosiewicz.png8bf90d5a58159ff233b11073a8215049\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/06\\\/mateusz-makosiewicz.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/06\\\/mateusz-makosiewicz.png\",\"caption\":\"Mateusz Makosiewicz\"},\"description\":\"Marketing researcher and educator at Ahrefs. Mateusz has over 15 years of experience in marketing gained in agencies, SaaS and hardware businesses. When not writing, he's composing music or enjoying long walks.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/mateusz-makosiewicz-38154b67\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/m_makosiewicz\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/mateusz-makosiewicz\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Do AI Assistants Link When Mentioning Brands? For Ahrefs, Only 28% of the Time","description":"Most of our AI mentions don't link back to us, but those that do reach a wider audience. Here's why and how to check that for your brand.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-citations-vs-impressions-study\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Do AI Assistants Link When Mentioning Brands? For Ahrefs, Only 28% of the Time","og_description":"Most of our AI mentions don't link back to us, but those that do reach a wider audience. Here's why and how to check that for your brand.","og_url":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-citations-vs-impressions-study\/","og_site_name":"SEO Blog by Ahrefs","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Ahrefs\/","article_published_time":"2025-11-26T13:31:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-11-27T08:12:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":1696,"url":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/mention_share.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Mateusz Makosiewicz","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@m_makosiewicz","twitter_site":"@ahrefs","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-citations-vs-impressions-study\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-citations-vs-impressions-study\/"},"author":{"name":"Mateusz Makosiewicz","@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c7e64c851ecc4eabb77eaefae90a440c"},"headline":"Do AI Assistants Link When Mentioning Brands? For Ahrefs, Only 28% of the&nbsp;Time","datePublished":"2025-11-26T13:31:30+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-27T08:12:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-citations-vs-impressions-study\/"},"wordCount":926,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-citations-vs-impressions-study\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/do-ai-assistants-link-when-mentioning-by-mateusz-makosiewicz-ai-search.jpg","articleSection":["AI Search"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-citations-vs-impressions-study\/","url":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-citations-vs-impressions-study\/","name":"Do AI Assistants Link When Mentioning Brands? For Ahrefs, Only 28% of the Time","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-citations-vs-impressions-study\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-citations-vs-impressions-study\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/mention_share.png","datePublished":"2025-11-26T13:31:30+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-27T08:12:42+00:00","description":"Most of our AI mentions don't link back to us, but those that do reach a wider audience. Here's why and how to check that for your brand.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-citations-vs-impressions-study\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/ai-citations-vs-impressions-study\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/mention_share.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/mention_share.png","width":1600,"height":1696},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/","name":"SEO Blog by Ahrefs","description":"Link Building Strategies &amp; SEO Tips","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Ahrefs","url":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/ahrefs-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/ahrefs-logo.png","width":2048,"height":768,"caption":"Ahrefs"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Ahrefs\/","https:\/\/x.com\/ahrefs","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/ahrefs\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/ahrefscom"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/c7e64c851ecc4eabb77eaefae90a440c","name":"Mateusz Makosiewicz","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/mateusz-makosiewicz.png8bf90d5a58159ff233b11073a8215049","url":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/mateusz-makosiewicz.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/mateusz-makosiewicz.png","caption":"Mateusz Makosiewicz"},"description":"Marketing researcher and educator at Ahrefs. Mateusz has over 15 years of experience in marketing gained in agencies, SaaS and hardware businesses. When not writing, he's composing music or enjoying long walks.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/mateusz-makosiewicz-38154b67\/","https:\/\/x.com\/m_makosiewicz"],"url":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/author\/mateusz-makosiewicz\/"}]}},"as_json":null,"json_reviewers":[194],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/159"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193211\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193211"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=193211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}