Brand mentions vs backlinks for AI visibility: what the data says.

For twenty years the SEO question was "how do we get more links?" For AI answers the better question is "how do we get named more often?"

The study

Ahrefs looked at 75,000 brands (domains with DR above 40) and checked how often each was mentioned in Google AI Overviews for its top query, using its Brand Radar data. It then measured how strongly common SEO factors correlated with that visibility. The study was published in May 2025.

The three strongest factors are all off-site and about the brand name, not the link graph.

How to read it

• It is correlation. Famous brands have more mentions, more links and more searches. The study can't say which one causes AI visibility.
• It is AI Overviews. Other assistants retrieve differently. ChatGPT, for example, leans on what its searches return; see how AI engines choose sources.
• It fits the mechanism. Language models learn which names go with which topics from text. A brand mentioned next to "ASO agency" a thousand times is easier to recall than one with a thousand links from unrelated pages.

What a small brand can do

1. Find where your category is discussed. The "best X" lists, comparison posts, forums and newsletters that AI assistants cite. Your prompt panel shows you which sources they use.
2. Be useful there. Original data, a free tool, a clear expert answer. People cite what helps them.
3. Use the same words every time. "Zeevron, an ASO and GEO agency" beats five different descriptions. Consistent co-occurrence is the point.
4. Earn branded search. Newsletters, talks, podcasts and tools that make people look you up by name.
5. Don't abandon links. They still drive rankings, and rankings drive what AI search retrieves. Mentions are additive.

Brand-rich anchor text scored 0.527, well above raw backlink count. When you do earn a link, ask for your brand name in the anchor rather than "click here".

Questions people ask

Are brand mentions more important than backlinks for AI search?

For Google AI Overviews, Ahrefs found branded web mentions correlated 0.664 with visibility against 0.218 for backlinks across 75,000 brands. It is a correlation, but a large gap.

Do unlinked brand mentions help SEO?

They correlate strongly with AI Overview visibility. For classic rankings, links still matter, so treat mentions and links as complementary.

How can a small brand get more mentions?

Contribute useful data, tools or expert answers where your category is discussed, describe your brand consistently, and build branded search through newsletters, talks and tools.