> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.surfais.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Mentions vs citations > The difference between being named in an answer and being its source. Surfais tracks two related but different things every time an AI platform answers one of your prompts: whether your brand was **mentioned**, and whether your content was **cited**. They often move together, but not always — and the gap between them tells you something neither number tells you on its own. ## The two definitions **A mention is your brand named in the answer's text.** ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, or Google AI Overviews used your brand name (or a known alias) somewhere in the words of the response. A mention is what [Visibility](/metrics/visibility) and [Position](/metrics/position) measure: are you part of the conversation, and how prominently. Browse every mention on the [Mentions feed](/analysis/mentions-feed). **A citation is a source URL the AI used or linked to.** Most AI answers list the pages they drew from, either inline or as a reference list. A citation is a URL, not a name — it tells you which domain the AI treated as a source, regardless of whose brand it belongs to. See every citation on [Citations & Source Opportunities](/analysis/citations-sources). A citation to your own domain counts as your content being read. A citation to someone else's domain — a review site, a competitor's blog — still counts as a citation, just not one that credits you. ## Why they don't always move together **Mentioned but not cited.** The AI names your brand without linking to anything you own. This is common and not a problem by itself — it usually means the AI learned about you from training data, a review aggregator, or a competitor's comparison page that happened to mention you. You're visible, but the underlying source of that visibility isn't your own content. **Cited but not mentioned.** Rarer, but it happens: the AI pulls a fact from a page on your domain — a spec, a pricing table, a blog post — without naming your brand in the surrounding prose. Your content did the work; the answer's language just didn't credit you by name. **Both, together.** The strongest outcome: the AI names your brand *and* cites your own domain as the source — content clear and structured enough that AI platforms both recognise it and quote it. ## Why the distinction matters A mention problem is a **visibility** problem — your brand isn't part of enough answers, which usually means your prompt library, your aliases, or your market coverage needs attention. A citation problem is a **content** problem — AI platforms aren't treating your own pages as a source worth pulling from, even when they're happy to mention your brand from elsewhere. That's the gap [Source Visibility](/metrics/source-visibility) measures, and [Citations & Source Opportunities](/analysis/citations-sources) helps you close. If your AIS Score looks healthy but you rarely see your own domain among the cited sources, that's not a contradiction — it means AI platforms have learned about you from elsewhere. Worth investigating, but not a sign anything is broken. ## Related pages How mention rate and platform consistency roll into your AIS Score. Browse every mention, grouped by recency and drillable by country. See which domains AI cites, and where to earn a citation next. Why AI platforms can or can't read and cite your content in the first place.