A mention says your brand appeared. A recommendation says the answer suggested it as a choice. A citation says a page was used as a source. None of these automatically implies the other two.
Read three simple examples
| Illustrative answer | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| “Providers in this category include Brand A and Brand B.” | The brands are mentioned; there may be no recommendation |
| “For your requirements, I recommend Brand A.” | Brand A receives an explicit recommendation |
| “The registration rules are explained on this page.” | A linked page may be a citation without a company endorsement |
These are fictional examples explaining the distinction, not results collected by Propps.
Position is not the same as mention order
The first name in a paragraph is not automatically ranked first. An explicit numbered recommendation can support a rank, but a casual list of examples may not. Do not invent a winner when the answer has not chosen one.
Sentiment is separate again. A model can recommend a provider while mentioning a drawback. Check the evidence excerpt to understand whether a positive, neutral, negative or mixed label is appropriate.
Use the right counts
If two of five analysed answers mention your brand, the mention rate is 40%. If a sixth call failed, that failure should not turn the rate into two out of six. Analysis-dependent metrics also exclude answers whose analysis is missing.
Citation metrics rely on source information exposed by the provider. A search result that was retrieved but not cited is not an answer citation. A source link can point to your domain, a competitor or an independent publication.
What should a marketer do next?
Open an answer behind an unexpected score. Check the wording, source links and usable sample size. A human correction is more useful than accepting an incorrect label just because the dashboard shows a percentage.
Read the full measurement method and inspect competitive visibility.