{
  "slug": "ai-mention-count",
  "name": "AI mention count",
  "aliases": [
    "Mentions",
    "Total AI-answer mentions",
    "Brand mentions in AI answers"
  ],
  "definition": "The number of answer-engine responses in the period that named your brand.",
  "category": "AI visibility",
  "type": "raw measure",
  "unit": "mentions",
  "direction": "higher-better",
  "verification": "verified",
  "calculation": "The sum of your brand's mention counts across the answer-engine responses in the slice. Three differently named semantic-layer measures carry it depending on which source a verb reads, the grid's client-mention sum, the drilldown sources' all-mention sum for your row, and the prompt path's validated visible-mention sum, and all three sum the same underlying per-response counts.",
  "aggregation": "Additive across prompts and answer engines, the prompt-level verbs sum it per prompt to build the mention column and the share-of-voice input.",
  "grain": "One answer engine, prompt or competitor domain for one tracked segment over one date range.",
  "dimensions": [
    "answer engine",
    "prompt",
    "competitor domain",
    "intent",
    "branded vs non-branded"
  ],
  "requiredFilters": [
    "tracker (unified segment id) or tracked segment id",
    "date range"
  ],
  "sources": [
    "ai-visibility"
  ],
  "reports": [
    "ai-visibility-report"
  ],
  "skills": [
    "aeo-audit",
    "ai-citation-monitoring",
    "competitor-deep-dive",
    "quattr-iq"
  ],
  "verbs": [
    "ai_visibility_overview",
    "ai_visibility_competitors",
    "ai_visibility_drilldown",
    "ai_visibility_trend"
  ],
  "rungs": [
    "R4",
    "R3"
  ],
  "levers": [
    "L7"
  ],
  "questions": [
    "How many AI answers mentioned us last month?",
    "Do we get mentioned without being cited?"
  ],
  "interpretation": "Reported beside the citation count, never added to it. The two columns diverging is the normal case rather than a data problem.",
  "caveats": [
    "Three differently named semantic-layer fields feed this output key depending on which source a verb reads, the grid, the drilldown and the prompt-level path each name it differently, and the prompt path prefers validated visible mentions over legacy engine-reported counts where both exist.",
    "Every figure is scoped to a tracked prompt basket, a sample, not a census, so the basket's coverage belongs beside the number it produced.",
    "Engines are non-deterministic: the same prompt can answer differently twice, so this counts observations of a mention rather than distinct facts.",
    "It moves with basket size as well as with performance, so it is read next to the collected-prompt coverage rather than alone."
  ],
  "freshness": "~1 day behind, Daily prompt runs, available the following day.",
  "failureModes": [
    "Adding mentions to citations to produce one AI number.",
    "Reading a rise in mentions as a rise in favourable coverage without the sentiment split."
  ],
  "notSameAs": [
    {
      "slug": "ai-citation-count",
      "why": "Separate measures kept in separate columns: a mention names your brand in the answer, a citation sources your URL for it. Most citations carry no mention, so summing them double-counts nothing and describes nothing."
    },
    {
      "slug": "ai-answer-presence-score",
      "why": "A count and a weighted points total. Mentions are one input to the score at a weight of 1 against a citation's 1.25; the code guards against filling an absent score with mentions because they are not the same quantity."
    },
    {
      "slug": "serp-brand-mentions",
      "why": "On-SERP brand mentions are observed in Google search results. AI-answer mentions are counted inside answer-engine responses. A brand can be mentioned constantly on the SERP and never inside an answer."
    },
    {
      "slug": "ai-mention-share",
      "why": "A share and a count. The share needs a denominator of all tracked brands' mentions; the count is your mentions alone and moves with basket size.",
      "mirroredFrom": "ai-mention-share"
    }
  ],
  "related": [
    "ai-mention-share",
    "ai-positive-mention-count",
    "ai-citation-count"
  ],
  "workflows": [],
  "lastVerified": "2026-08-04"
}