AI Citations and Brand Mentions Measure Different Things, Semrush Study Finds

A Semrush study published on June 9, 2026, found that roughly 62% of AI citations were 'ghost citations,' where an AI system cited a webpage without naming the associated brand in its answer. About 25% of cases involved brand mentions without any citation, while only around 13% included both. The research also revealed stark differences between platforms: Gemini named brands in about 84% of appearances but cited sources only 21% of the time, while ChatGPT cited sources in roughly 87% of cases but named brands in only about 21% of appearances. These findings suggest that citation counts and brand mention counts capture distinct aspects of AI search visibility and cannot be used interchangeably as performance benchmarks. Businesses tracking AI search presence are advised to measure citations and brand mentions separately, as strong performance on one metric does not guarantee visibility on the other.