AI answers change each time, so one answer can’t tell you much. SparkToro and Gumshoe found that the same list of brands came back twice less than once in 100 tries. Yet some brands showed up in 60% to 90% of the answers to a question (Search Engine Land). So the useful number is how often you’re named: “named in 3 of 20 answers”.
Even that is an estimate. Waikay, which advises agencies, says “there are no reliable metrics for how many times a brand is mentioned in AI responses,” and suggests reporting averages over time (Waikay). That’s why we show a likely range with every count, and say what we can’t measure. See how we measure.
Being named isn’t the same as being cited. A citation is a page an answer points to as its source. An answer can name you without linking to your site, and it can link to a page without naming you.
Sources
Every number here links to where it came from. We checked each source on 6 Nov 2026.
Search Engine Land SparkToro and Gumshoe's study of how often AI recommendation lists repeat
searchengineland.com Checked
About 3,000 runs across ChatGPT, Claude and Google's AI.
Waikay How to talk about GEO to clients
waikay.io Checked
Guidance for agencies, October 2025.