Foundations
Recommended vs. Cited vs. Mentioned
AI answer outcomes are not equal. Recommended is stronger than cited, and cited is stronger than a loose mention.
AgentFound separates outcome states because a business can appear in an assistant response without truly winning the answer. A passing mention may not drive demand. A citation may support one fact but not a recommendation. A recommendation means the assistant is willing to put the business forward for the user's need.
The three states
| State | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Mentioned | The business name appears, but the answer may not endorse it or provide a source. | "Other options include North Bay Dental." |
| Cited | The assistant uses a source about the business to support a claim. | "North Bay Dental lists Saturday pediatric appointments." |
| Recommended | The assistant includes the business as a suitable choice for the prompt. | "For Saturday pediatric care, North Bay Dental is a strong option." |
Why the difference matters
Mentioned is visibility. Cited is evidence. Recommended is commercial relevance.
A business can be mentioned because it appears in a directory. It can be cited because its page supports a narrow fact. It becomes recommended when enough signals line up: the assistant knows what the business is, the facts are current, the authority is strong enough, and the user can take the next step.
What the assistant is deciding
Can I safely include this business for this user, in this location, for this intent, with evidence I can defend?
What improves each state
- To move from absent to mentioned, strengthen AI findability, profile consistency, and crawler access.
- To move from mentioned to cited, strengthen citation confidence, answerability, and structured data.
- To move from cited to recommended, strengthen authority support, freshness, and action path.
Look for the highest-value outcome
A stronger report is not just more mentions. It is more supported recommendations across realistic buyer prompts.
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