In our erstwhile study, we recovered that AI visibility is simply a topic-level game. Winning a azygous punctual doesn’t automatically make you the marque ChatGPT connects pinch a category.
This study asks the adjacent question: erstwhile you’ve built that benignant of authority successful 1 category, does it transportation complete into related ones?
If your marque becomes a communal reply successful “small business banking,” does that make it much apt to show up successful “business in installments cards” aliases “small business loans”?
The short answer: it depends connected whether you’re measuring citations aliases marque mentions. In the brands we analyzed, citations tended to dispersed much readily crossed categories than marque mentions did. And the brand’s expertise and extent successful a class shaped really acold its authority appeared to travel.
Key takeaways
- Among the brands we analyzed, a domain could beryllium cited successful almost immoderate class if its contented met the benignant of root criteria ChatGPT relies connected (relevance, authority, freshness). Getting mentioned by sanction successful ChatGPT tended to hap mostly successful categories adjacent to a brand’s halfway expertise.
- For marque mentions specifically, extent successful a class tended to matter much than breadth. Brands that consistently appeared crossed a category’s prompts successful ChatGPT were the ones associated pinch successful description into caller categories. Showing up erstwhile successful 20 categories didn’t look to build a higher brand-mention share.
- Industry shaped the pattern. In the brands we analyzed, finance and existent property saw broader sum associated pinch much citations. Legal and healthcare group a higher bar: moreover afloat punctual sum and repetition citations didn’t reliably construe into brand-mention share.
- Topical authority tended to springiness brands a stronger starting constituent erstwhile expanding into adjacent categories, not a free walk into unrelated ones. Expansion worked champion erstwhile the adjacent class was genuinely adjacent to 1 the marque already answered well.
| A quick, yet important disclaimer: Growing your topical authority is associated pinch stronger visibility, though it’s 1 facet among several. Writing style, contented quality, originality, wide marque authority, and third-party mentions each play a domiciled too. |
Methodology
We collaborated pinch Kevin Indig and Growth Memo again to analyse information from the Semrush AI Visibility Toolkit.
The dataset covers 1,094 US categories tracked monthly successful ChatGPT from January done June 2026, pinch 5 punctual variants per category.
It includes 283,215 domain-category citation observations and 76,493 brand-mention observations crossed January done May, positive 45,578 category-expansion appearances by 1,458 mapped marque entities.
Definitions
Two signals are tracked separately passim the study:
- Citations are the sources ChatGPT links to arsenic grounds successful its answers
- Brand mentions are the marque names ChatGPT includes straight successful the consequence matter (which whitethorn beryllium neutral, positive, aliases negative)
For the relatedness analysis, a brand’s “core expertise” is defined arsenic immoderate class wherever the marque had already appeared successful astatine slightest 3 of 5 prompts earlier the target-month appearance.
“Category closeness” is calculated utilizing semantic similarity betwixt the target category’s prompts and the brand’s anterior master categories.
1. The barroom for being mentioned is higher than the barroom for being cited
When a marque successful our study appeared successful a topical class successful ChatGPT, whether it was conscionable cited aliases besides mentioned by sanction depended heavy connected really related the class was to its halfway expertise.
In categories adjacent to the brand's halfway expertise, brands were cited arsenic a root successful 74% of appearances, mentioned successful 44%, and some cited and mentioned successful 34%. In categories distant from the brand's halfway expertise, those shares dropped to 50% cited, 25% mentioned and 9% some cited and mentioned.
Being cited arsenic a root held up reasonably good crossed the region (50% distant vs. 74% close). But being named alongside a citation was powerfully tied to relatedness — cited-and-named appearances were astir 4x higher successful adjacent categories than successful distant ones.
The shape was moreover sharper if you looked only astatine citations. Of the citations that happened successful the slightest related categories, conscionable 18% besides included a named brand. In the astir relevant, 46% did.
Related categories were much than doubly arsenic apt to move a citation into a named-brand mention successful this sample.
The takeaway: lucifer your strategy to your goal. Publishing broadly tin build citation presence, and that appears to activity moreover successful categories acold from your core. But if you want ChatGPT to sanction your marque erstwhile a customer asks a question, focusing your effort connected categories adjacent to what you’re already known for tends to salary disconnected more.
2. Depth matters much than breadth successful ChatGPT for marque recognition
In our study, a marque could show up erstwhile successful 20 categories and ain nary of them. Depth successful 1 class was associated pinch a higher brand-mention share. Breadth crossed galore categories, without depth, was not.
Citation share, however, responded to sum either way. A marque that showed up successful moreover 1 of a category’s 5 prompts tended to summation immoderate citation share. A marque that showed up successful each 5 gained more. In the sample, location was nary evident spread-thin punishment for citations.
Brand mentions behaved differently. A marque that appeared successful only 1 of a category’s 5 prompts was associated pinch a driblet successful mention share. That punishment didn’t vanish until the marque reached astatine slightest 3 of 5 prompts successful a category. Only aft that did breadth extremity hurting marque mentions.
“Being cited successful galore categories does not show a spread-thin effect successful this sample. But marque nickname useful differently. The categories wherever a marque consistently earns named mentions are the ones from which it tin credibly expand.”
Kevin Indig, Founder of Growth Memo
The takeaway: similarly, prioritize extent successful a fewer categories complete beingness successful many. The information doesn’t support the thought that a tract tin service unlimited categories, but it besides doesn’t support a cosmopolitan cap. What it does support is simply a elemental rule: gain repetition beingness successful a class earlier treating it arsenic a launching pad for the adjacent one.
3. Industry shapes really acold authority spreads successful ChatGPT
According to our data, really sum breadth affects a brand’s beingness successful ChatGPT isn’t the aforesaid crossed industries.
In finance and existent estate, wider sum tended to clasp much citation leverage. A marque that showed up successful each 5 prompts successful a class was associated pinch stronger citation stock than 1 that showed up successful only one.
That's not to opportunity immoderate finance aliases existent property marque tin predominate each adjacent category. It conscionable intends that successful these industries, spreading sum crossed galore categories didn't look to wounded a brand's citation share.
Legal and healthcare group a higher bar. Their citation gains from broader sum were weaker than successful finance aliases existent estate. And for marque mentions, sum didn’t translate: moreover astatine afloat five-prompt coverage, mention stock still trended antagonistic successful those fields. Being wide cited didn’t construe into being named.
How to scheme topical class description successful AI search
To grow successfully successful AI search, don't pursuit each contented topic. Start pinch the areas wherever you're already recognized, past grow outward successful small, deliberate steps, focusing connected what moves the needle for your brand.
Here’s really to scheme an description move:
- Map wherever you already person authority. List the categories wherever your marque consistently earns some citations and named mentions crossed astir of the related class prompts. Those are your anchor categories, not each class wherever you’ve appeared once.
Start by checking the topics you already look for successful Semrush’s Visibility Overview tool:
- Pick target categories that are genuinely adjacent to your core. In this study, closeness was measured by semantic similarity betwixt the anchor and the target category. In practice, that often intends looking for categories wherever the customer, problem, product, and buying determination look akin and are straight applicable to your business.
Open the Topic Opportunities tab to spot what you should attraction connected next:
- Focus connected what earns marque mentions. To gain mentions successful a caller category, attraction connected clear marque positioning crossed your content, third-party sum from reliable sources (Reddit, reappraisal sites, manufacture publications, master commentary), and grounds of expertise (author credentials, superior research, existent merchandise details). These weren’t tested straight successful this study, but they are communal signals that thin to effect AI visibility.
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