# Mention Rate

> The Mention Rate is the share of AI answers in a prompt set in which a brand is mentioned by name, measured across many runs, per system, as a probability rather than a position.

Source: https://www.codaai.ai/en/knowledge/geo-glossary/mention-rate/
Published: 2026-09-03
May be quoted with attribution and a link to the source.

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The Mention Rate is the share of answers in which a brand is mentioned, relative to all answers to a fixed [prompt set](https://www.codaai.ai/en/knowledge/geo-glossary/prompt-set/). If a prompt is asked ten times and the brand appears in four answers, the Mention Rate for this prompt is 40%. Across all prompts of a category or the entire set, this yields the metric for basic visibility in a topic area.

## How does measuring the Mention Rate work?

Three steps come first. First: identify typical question patterns. For which prompts do AI systems mention brands at all? They rarely do for general research questions, almost always for recommendation and comparison questions. Second: collect the Mention Rate, several times per prompt and system, because every answer is unique. Third: analyse the [Sentiment](https://www.codaai.ai/en/knowledge/geo-glossary/sentiment/), because mentioned is not recommended. In addition, the model knowledge is queried: does the system hold all correct information about the brand without web search?

## Why does the Mention Rate matter for AI visibility?

Because it answers the question that decides over enquiries: does my company appear when someone asks about my service? The study "AI Blind Test 2026" by CodaAI analysed 7,184 AI answers on 449 mid-sized B2B companies in Germany: in 55% of buyer questions the name of the company under review does not appear, and in 47% the AI recommends competitors instead. Without the Mention Rate, this state remains invisible because it shows up in no website statistic.

## What does this mean for your website?

Collect the Mention Rate separately by prompt category and system. A high rate on brand-specific questions and a low one on brand-neutral questions means: the AI knows you but does not recommend you. The lever then lies with third-party sites ([Brand Mentions](https://www.codaai.ai/en/knowledge/geo-glossary/brand-mentions/)), not with the website. More is not always better: where do I want to be mentioned, and where not? A mention in the wrong context is not visibility.