How many websites pass the External Mentions check?
Based on 512 audited sites · Updated 2026-07-16
95% confidence interval: 80.8%–87.1%
About This Check
Checks whether the brand is mentioned across third-party sources, which strengthens AI citation likelihood.
Why This Matters
LLM Discoverability
External mentions are a direct proxy for how well-known an entity is in the broader web; AI systems weight heavily cited entities more in their knowledge graphs and are more likely to recommend them.
SEO Impact
Off-site mentions (even without hyperlinks) contribute to entity recognition in Google's NLP layer; branded searches and Knowledge Panel features are both influenced by external mention volume.
What To Do Next
15.8% of audited sites need attention on external mentions (81 of 512 sites are warning or failing).
- Prioritize external mentions on templates that create many URLs, because one template fix can improve a large share of off-site presence & mentions.
- After changing the page, re-run the audit and compare the observed value for this check instead of relying on visual inspection alone.
- Use the 84.2% pass rate as a benchmark: if your site fails here, passing the check moves it closer to the visible majority of crawlable, AI-readable pages.
Status Breakdown
Compliance Trend
Daily pass, warning, and failure rates across benchmark snapshots (up to 90 days).
Industry Breakdown
How different industries perform on this check.
91.8% of audited Media & Entertainment sites pass this check (n=73), compared with 80% of Finance & Banking sites (n=30).
| Industry | Pass rate | Avg score | Sites |
|---|---|---|---|
| Media & Entertainment | 91.8% | 73.8 | 73 |
| Technology | 87.1% | 72 | 232 |
| Travel & Hospitality | 86% | 74.8 | 50 |
| Finance & Banking | 80% | 72.8 | 30 |
| Retail | 100% | 78.3 | 3limited |
| Recruitment & HR | 100% | 80 | 3limited |
| Education | 86.4% | 71.8 | 22limited |
| E-Commerce | 82.1% | 69.6 | 28limited |
| Government | 76.9% | 73.1 | 13limited |
| Healthcare | 71.4% | 76.7 | 7limited |
Related Checks
Run a free audit to see whether your site passes this check, or browse the leaderboard and the audited-sites directory.