For years, the goal of off-site SEO was simple: get more backlinks. Now AI search adds a second question. When ChatGPT or Google’s AI Overviews answer a question in your field, does your brand get named at all?
A large Ahrefs study looked at exactly this, and its numbers make brand mentions vs backlinks a fair thing to ask about. This post explains what the study found, what it can’t tell us, and what a small business should do with it.
Quick summary, if you’re short on time:
- In Ahrefs’ study of 75,000 brands, branded web mentions correlated with AI Overview visibility at 0.664. Backlinks correlated at 0.218.
- Ahrefs itself says “correlation ≠ causation,” and that every factor it tested showed only moderate to very weak correlations.
- The brands in the study were fairly large, so a small business shouldn’t expect the same numbers.
- Google says there are no extra requirements to appear in AI Overviews. Normal SEO still applies.
- Backlinks still matter for ranking. This is not a reason to stop earning them.
Jump to a section:
- What the study found
- What the study can’t tell you
- Why mentions might matter to AI
- What Google says
- What a small business can do
- A prompt to find where your brand could be mentioned
- Questions worth answering directly
What the study found
Ahrefs studied 75,000 brands. It looked at how often each brand was named in Google AI Overviews, and compared that to a list of factors like links, ads and web mentions. The company published the results in Ahrefs’ brand visibility study.
Here are the numbers it reported, using a Spearman correlation. A higher number means a stronger link between the factor and AI Overview mentions.
- Branded web mentions: 0.664
- Branded anchors (the brand name used as link text): 0.527
- Branded search volume: 0.392
- Domain Rating: 0.326
- Referring domains: 0.295
- Backlinks: 0.218
The top three are all things that happen away from your own website. Ahrefs also found that brands in the top quarter for web mentions averaged 169 AI Overview mentions. That’s over ten times the 14 averaged by the next quarter down. Brands in the bottom half averaged 0 to 3, and about 26% of brands had none at all.
What the study can’t tell you
Before you change your plan, read the limits. Ahrefs is upfront about them, and they matter.
It shows a pattern, not a cause. Ahrefs writes that “correlation ≠ causation.” A brand that gets talked about a lot is probably also large, well known and popular. Those things might drive both the mentions and the AI visibility. The study can’t separate them.
The correlations are not strong. Ahrefs says all the factors it studied showed “moderate to very weak” correlations. Even the best one, 0.664, leaves a lot unexplained.
The brands were fairly big. The study only included domains with a Domain Rating above 40, and it took each brand’s top keyword with at least 800 searches a month. Many local and small business sites are smaller than that. Don’t assume a small firm sees the same effect.
It measured Google AI Overviews. Other AI tools may weigh things differently.
Why mentions might matter to AI
The study’s authors offer a reason, and it’s a reasonable one. AI models learn from huge amounts of text. So the way a brand is talked about across the web may shape how the model understands it.
The study quotes Ahrefs’ Ryan Law on this: “Unlinked mentions… have very little impact on SEO, but a much bigger impact on GEO.” In plain words, a mention without a link may do little for a normal Google ranking, and still help an AI system learn who you are.
This is an idea to test, not a proven rule. But it fits what we’ve covered before. Our post on the three pillars of GEO lists brand context as one of them, and our guide to entity clarity explains why AI tools want to know exactly who a business is.
What Google says
Google’s own guidance on AI features is short. In its documentation on AI features, Google says: “There are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, nor other special optimizations necessary.” It also says the best practices for SEO “remain relevant” for these features.
To be shown as a supporting link, Google says a page “must be indexed and eligible to be shown in Google Search with a snippet.” So the basics still come first. A page Google can’t index can’t be cited, however many times your brand is mentioned elsewhere.
Google also has a rule you need to respect while chasing mentions. Its spam policies define link spam as creating links “primarily for the purpose of manipulating search rankings.” Buying links, or trading links at scale, breaks the rules. That’s true whether you want rankings or AI mentions.
What a small business can do
You don’t have to pick a side. Real mentions and real links usually come from the same actions. Here is a sensible order.
- Get the basics right first. Make sure your key pages are indexed and load properly. Nothing else works without this.
- Be easy to name. Use the same business name, description and details on your website, Google Business Profile and social profiles. Our post on branded vs non-branded search shows how to see whether people are starting to search for you by name.
- Earn mentions in places your buyers read. That means local news, industry sites, partner websites, and directories in your field. Aim for a few relevant ones, not many random ones.
- Say something worth quoting. Share real experience, real numbers from your own work, or a clear opinion. Journalists and writers mention people who give them something useful.
- Use your brand name in link text when others link to you. The study found branded anchors correlate at 0.527. You can’t control this, but you can make your name easy to use.
- Keep earning links. Backlinks still help normal rankings. Nothing in this study says otherwise.
- Don’t buy your way in. Paid links and mass guest posting are the shortcuts Google warns about.
Progress here is slow, and you can’t fully track it. That’s a fair reason to keep the effort small and steady, not to skip it.
A prompt to find where your brand could be mentioned
You can not force other sites to mention your business, but you can find the places where businesses like yours already get mentioned. The prompt below asks an AI tool to map those places for you. Fill in your own details, run it in ChatGPT, Claude or Perplexity, and treat the answer as a starting list to check by hand.
Act as a research assistant helping a small business find honest ways to get mentioned online.
Here is my business:
– What I do, in one sentence: [describe your business and main service]
– City or area I serve: [for example Bengaluru]
– My website: [paste your URL]
– Who my customers are: [describe them]Please do the following:
1. List 8 types of places where businesses like mine get mentioned by name, such as local news sites, industry directories, partner websites, podcasts or community groups.
2. For each type, give one realistic example of the kind of site to look for, and say how a business like mine could earn a mention there.
3. Suggest 3 things I could publish or share that other people would want to quote, based only on real work I have done.Rules:
– Do not suggest buying links or mentions, link swaps at scale, or fake reviews.
– Do not invent websites, names or statistics. If you are not sure a site exists, say so.
– Keep the advice simple enough for a small team with a few hours a week.
Check every site the AI names to make sure it is real and still active. Then pick two or three to try this month. A few real mentions from places your customers read are worth more than a long list you never act on.
Questions worth answering directly
Are brand mentions more important than backlinks for AI search?
In Ahrefs’ study of 75,000 brands, mentions correlated more strongly with AI Overview visibility than backlinks did (0.664 vs 0.218). But Ahrefs stresses that correlation isn’t causation, so treat it as a strong hint, not proof.
Should I stop building backlinks?
No. The study looked at AI Overview mentions, not ordinary rankings, and links were still positively correlated. Links help Google find and trust your pages, so keep earning them from relevant, real sources.
Does a mention without a link count?
Ahrefs counted branded web mentions whether they were linked or not, and found them to be the strongest factor. Its Ryan Law argues unlinked mentions matter more for AI visibility than for classic SEO. That’s an idea, not a confirmed rule.
Does this study apply to a small local business?
Only partly. The study included brands with a Domain Rating above 40 and a top keyword of at least 800 monthly searches, which is bigger than many local firms. The direction may still hold, but the size of the effect could be different.
Do I need special markup or files to appear in AI Overviews?
No. Google says there are no additional requirements or special optimizations, and that you don’t need new AI text files or special schema.org markup. Your page must be indexed and eligible to show in Google Search with a snippet.
Is it okay to pay for mentions or links?
Buying links to help rankings goes against Google’s link spam policy, unless the links are marked with rel=”nofollow” or rel=”sponsored”. Paid features that are clearly labelled as advertising are a different thing, but don’t expect them to be a shortcut.
Where this actually matters
The lesson is not “links are dead.” It’s that being known for the right things, in more places than your own website, seems to help in AI search. That’s the same work good brands were doing before AI answers existed: doing good work, getting talked about, and making it easy to find the details.
Not sure whether AI tools can find and describe your business correctly? Our AI SEO and GEO service starts by checking exactly that, and shows you what to fix first.
