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Trackbase records two different signals for every answer: whether your brand is talked about, and whether your website is used as a source. They are counted separately and they improve through different work.

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Mentions

A mention is your brand named in the text of an answer. Trackbase matches your brand name and the aliases you set in your brand profile.
  • Matching is on whole words. A brand name that is also part of a longer word is not counted inside that word.
  • Spelling variants with a space, dot or hyphen are recognized, so “Clarius AI” and “ClariusAI” count as the same brand.
  • A name and an overlapping alias in the same spot count once.
You find every answer that mentions you on the AI Visibility page, in the Mentions tab. Total mentions is the number of times your brand is named in the selected period. The Mentions tab of the AI Visibility page in Trackbase, with total mentions, average position, mention rate and average sentiment above the mentions over time chart. Example data.

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Citations

A citation is a source URL that a model attached to its answer. Trackbase counts the cited sources that point to your own domain as your citations. Citations of other domains matter too. They show which websites feed the answers about your market, and Trackbase uses them to detect competitors. The Sources tab lists every cited URL and domain. The Sources tab of the AI Visibility page in Trackbase, listing cited URLs with mentions, models, visibility and sentiment. Example data.
Not every model cites sources in every answer. Models that search the web while answering cite most often.

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Why the difference matters

  • Mentions without citations: models know your brand from what others write about you. Your own pages are not feeding the answers.
  • Citations without mentions: your content is used as a source, but your brand is not named as a recommendation.
To follow one specific page through this chain, add it to the Page tracker.
Last modified on November 12, 2026