What 75,000 brands show about getting named by AI

Ahrefs studied 75,000 brands in 2026 and found that being mentioned on other people's pages, with or without a link, tracks AI recommendations about three times more closely than backlinks do. This guide walks through what that means for a business that serves one neighbourhood.

• The three correlation numbers, and how to read them without overclaiming
• What counts as a mention, with the cases that do not count
• Results from the ten San Diego day spas we measured, including five that came back invisible
• The honest caveat about correlation that most write-ups skip
• Six things to do this week, ordered by effort against effect