Brand Mentions for SEO: How to Get Cited by AI (3 Tiers) | 3.2. AEO Course by Ahrefs

Want to learn how to get cited by AI fast using the 3 tiers of brand mentions AI already pulls from?

Additional Resources:
► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gReszNnykpg
► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NFei1FbytM
► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE_A4IhmkKQ

In this lesson, Sam breaks down brand mentions for SEO into 3 practical tiers so you know exactly where to get cited for AEO. You will see why branded web mentions correlate more strongly with visibility in Google’s AI Overviews than backlinks, referring domains, or even Domain Rating, and why mentions on highly linked pages correlate at 0.70 with AI Overview appearances. Then we map that data to action. You will learn how to target tier 1 editorial pages like industry publications, listicles, comparisons, review sites, and creator reviews that AI already loves to cite, including the types of pages that make up 43.8% of ChatGPT’s citations. Using Brand Radar’s Cited Domains report, you will quickly surface the sites that matter most in your niche, then use Content Explorer with title:best OR title:vs and a minus filter for your brand to find authoritative listicles and comparisons that are missing you, filtered by referring domains to prioritize pages AI is likely to pull from.

Next, we go beyond publishers to tier 2 mentions on UGC and communities like Reddit, Quora, and niche forums. You will see how to participate without spamming, how to locate the exact Reddit threads AI cites via Brand Radar, and how to use Site Explorer on reddit.com with the Organic Keywords report to find high ranking threads in your vertical using top 5 filters and include rules. Finally, we cover tier 3 mentions on your own properties, from additional domains to your YouTube channel, podcast, and LinkedIn content, so AI encounters consistent, accurate, topically relevant signals across surfaces. To protect your gains, you will learn how to run a mention audit in Brand Radar, monitor trends, spot drops, check sentiment, and correct misinformation by updating your content first, then requesting fixes from publishers before AI bakes in errors.

If you want your brand on the pages AI is already quoting, this is the playbook. Watch now to see where to earn the right mentions and how to keep them before they get replaced in the next update.