Reading Your Mentions
Your Mention Rate tells you how often your brand shows up in AI responses. But the number alone does not tell you the full story. A brand can have a decent Mention Rate and still be losing ground because every mention describes them as a secondary option, references outdated information, or positions them in a category they are actively trying to move away from.
Reading your mentions properly means going beyond the percentage and understanding the actual content of what AI platforms are saying about you.
What a mention is
Section titled “What a mention is”A mention occurs when Zerply runs one of your tracked prompts across an AI platform and the response includes your brand by name. Zerply records that full response, scores it, and makes it available for you to read in its entirety.
Every mention is tied to a specific prompt, a specific AI platform, and a specific point in time. That means you can always trace back exactly which question triggered the mention, which platform said it, and what the full context was.
Where to find your mentions
Section titled “Where to find your mentions”Open AI Visibility from the sidebar and go to Home. The filter bar at the top controls everything on the page. You can filter by Tags, by specific AI model, and by date range. Every chart and list on the page responds to these filters together.
Scroll past the main charts and you will reach the Prompt Responses list. Every row in this list is a recorded AI response for one of your tracked prompts. Each row shows you the prompt text, the AI platform that generated the response, and a preview of the response text. Click any row to open the full response reader and read exactly what the AI said from start to finish.
This is one of the most valuable things you can do inside Zerply. Reading the actual responses gives you context that no chart can provide. You see which competitors get named alongside you, what language the AI uses to describe your brand, whether your brand is the primary recommendation or a footnote, and what sources the AI appears to be drawing from.
Understanding the Stance chart
Section titled “Understanding the Stance chart”On the main chart area, click the Stance tab. This shows you a pie chart breaking down how AI platforms describe your brand across all recorded responses for the selected period.
Stance is different from your Mention Rate. Mention Rate tells you how often you appear. Stance tells you how you appear when you do. Every recorded mention falls into one of these categories.
Recommended means the AI platform is actively suggesting your brand as a solution to the question being asked. This is the strongest possible outcome.
Praised means the response speaks positively about your brand without necessarily making it the primary recommendation. Still a strong signal.
Neutral means your brand is referenced factually without positive or negative framing. Common in informational responses where the AI is listing options rather than recommending one.
Criticized means the response includes negative commentary about your brand. This is worth reading carefully because it often surfaces specific objections or misconceptions circulating in the content AI platforms have indexed.
Warned means the response actively cautions users about your brand in some way. This is the most serious category and worth investigating immediately if it appears.
Stance not found means Zerply could not determine a clear stance from the response. This typically happens when your brand appears very briefly or in passing without enough context to score.
A healthy Stance distribution has Recommended and Praised making up the majority of your mentions. If Neutral dominates, your brand is present in conversations but not compelling enough to be the recommended answer. If Criticized or Warned appear regularly, those specific responses are worth reading in full to understand what is being said.
Checking your Sources
Section titled “Checking your Sources”Open AI Visibility and click Sources in the sidebar. This view shows you the specific domains and URLs that AI platforms are citing when they answer your tracked prompts.
This matters because AI platforms do not form opinions about brands from nothing. They draw from the content they have indexed. The Sources view shows you exactly which pieces of content are shaping what AI platforms say about your category right now.
If a competitor is consistently being mentioned more favorably than you, the Sources view will often show you why. They are likely appearing more frequently in the high-authority sources that AI platforms trust. That is a concrete, actionable insight rather than just a number to worry about.
What comes next
Section titled “What comes next”Once you understand how your brand is being mentioned and what stance surrounds those mentions, the next step is understanding your position relative to competitors. Share of Voice gives you that competitive picture directly.