Adobe-owned Semrush study reveals disconnect between brand mentions and citations in AI search

Semrush, a marketing technology company owned by Adobe, released a new AI Visibility Index study on October 19, 2026, highlighting the complex dynamics of brand exposure in generative AI search results. The study compares performance across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Google Gemini, and Google AI Mode in the UK and US, based on seven monthly measurements from January to July 2026.

The core finding is that "mentions" and "citations" are distinct metrics with often uncorrelated rankings. A "mention" records when a brand name appears in an AI-generated answer, while a "citation" records when a brand's domain appears as a source. Data shows that, on average, fewer than half of the domains in the Top 100 mention lists also appear in the corresponding Top 100 source lists. For instance, UK supermarket Tesco ranks 9th in mentions on ChatGPT but 25th in citations; its competitor ASDA ranks 24th in mentions but drops to 606th in citations.

Furthermore, significant variations exist between markets and platforms. Semrush notes that strategies effective in the US do not translate directly to the UK. In the UK, AI platforms show greater disagreement on sources, with news sites accounting for 26.4% to 34.3% of citation weight in ChatGPT's top sources, compared to 15.9% to 25.0% in the US. Andrew Warden, Global VP of Marketing at Adobe, emphasized that with average dwell time per AI conversation reaching nine minutes, precisely identifying where and how a brand appears—whether mentioned or cited—is critical to avoid misallocating marketing budgets.