geo-brand-mentions

# Brand Mention Scanner Skill ## Core Insight Brand mentions correlate more strongly with AI visibility than traditional backlinks. An Ahrefs brand study (2025, ~75,000 brands, cited as reported — see [`docs/SOURCES.md`](../../docs/SOURCES.md)) found **unlinked brand mentions** — references to a brand name with no hyperlink — predict whether AI systems cite and recommend a brand better than Domain Rating or backlink count. > **This measures off-page authority signals, not answer-engine outcomes.** Wikipedia/Wikidata are > checked live via their APIs; the other platforms are assessed via search, not by querying the AI > engines. A high Brand Authority Score means the *signals* AI trusts are present — it does not > confirm any engine actually names you. For that live check, run the free scan at > **[areyoufoundbyai.com](https://areyoufoundbyai.com)**. The critical finding: **the platform the mention sits on matters enormously.** A mention on YouTube or Reddit carries far more weight for AI citation than one on a low-authority blog, because AI training data and retrieval systems disproportionately index high-engagement platforms. This inverts a core SEO assumption. In SEO, a backlink from a high-DR site is the gold standard. In GEO, an unlinked mention on Reddit or in a YouTube description may be worth more than a dofollow backlink from a DR 70 blog. ## Platforms that matter AI systems weight a handful of platforms far above backlinks. Each platform's rationale, scan reci...