New research from Ahrefs suggests that brand mentions across third-party websites play a key role in improving visibility in AI-driven search results, signaling a new era for off-page SEO.

According to Ahrefs’ latest podcast discussion, data from its Brand Radar tool shows a strong correlation between brand mentions and higher rankings in AI search, confirming that digital visibility today extends beyond traditional backlinks.

Brand Mentions Improve AI Search Rankings

Tim Soulo, Chief Marketing Officer at Ahrefs, explained that off-page activity, including earning brand mentions on reputable websites, improves visibility in AI-generated results, both in models trained on existing data and in those that use live web results.

Soulo noted that while training data doesn’t immediately update in large language models (LLMs), mentions on credible sites eventually influence how AI systems retrieve and recommend brands:

“You just need to see where your competitors are mentioned, where you are mentioned, and where your industry is mentioned… If AI providers retrain their models, they’ll use essentially the same pages.”

Soulo also emphasized that businesses should aim to appear on authoritative websites, using proven PR and link-building strategies to establish trust and credibility across the web.

Relevance and Context Matter

Ryan Law, Ahrefs’ Director of Content Marketing, highlighted that context and topical relevance of mentions are just as important as their quantity. AI systems evaluate not just who is mentioned, but what topics and brands appear alongside those mentions.

“A big part of how LLMs understand what your brand is about and when it should recommend it is based on where you appear in its training data and on the web,” Law explained.

Law added that mentions don’t need to include backlinks to be effective in AI search visibility. Instead, brands should focus on building contextually relevant citations through PR outreach, expert commentary, and industry partnerships.

Ahrefs Research Confirms the Correlation

Ahrefs’ internal research found a strong correlation coefficient of 0.67 between brand mentions and AI search visibility—indicating a clear relationship between off-page citations and how frequently brands appear in AI-generated summaries and conversations.

Law said the team tested multiple variables, and branded web mentions showed the strongest influence:

“If your brand is mentioned in a ton of different places on the web, that correlates very highly with your brand being mentioned in AI conversations as well.”

He recommended targeting industry websites, review platforms, user-generated content sites like Reddit and Quora, and YouTube video transcripts, all of which are frequently cited in AI search responses.

Ahrefs Brand Radar: Tracking Mentions in AI Search

Ahrefs’ Brand Radar tool helps identify domains and pages most frequently cited in AI search across thousands of indexed conversations.

“If you can get your brand on those pages,” Law noted, “your AI visibility is going to shoot up in a pretty dramatic way.”

Soulo summed up the insight by stating that in the AI search era, citations are the new backlinks, underscoring how digital PR and brand authority now drive both AI and organic search visibility.

Key Takeaway

The findings suggest that off-page SEO has evolved from traditional link-building to strategic brand mentions. As AI models increasingly influence discovery, brands that focus on earning citations across trusted, topic-relevant websites will be better positioned to appear in AI-generated search results.

Read the full report on Search Engine Journal.