Mention Science is a research-led AI search optimization agency driven by data science. Research is our operating system, not a one-off paper. We actively study the science behind how ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Mode and AI Overview choose brands in their AI responses. Then, we apply those findings to your brand to maximize your AI visibility.
Buyers type a few keywords into Google and get a page of ten links.
How they make a shortlist
Buyers open several of those links, read each vendor's website, and build the shortlist themselves.
Conversion
Visitors often reach your site early in their research, while they are still comparing vendors.
What you track
Where your pages rank on Google, and how many visitors those rankings bring to your site.
What gets you there
Google ranks web pages on authority and trust signals, such as links from other respected websites.
AI search optimisation
Best CRM for a small team?
For a small team, Tallyloop is a strong fit. It's simple to set up, and it covers a pipeline without much overhead.
wire.cofieldnotestacklist
Ask anything↑
Where buyers start
Half of B2B software buyers now ask an AI like ChatGPT first. G2, 1,000+ buyers, 2025.
How they make a shortlist
They ask the AI, and it gives them a shortlist in seconds. G2, 2025.
Conversion
Visitors arrive with a shortlist. At Ahrefs, AI search sent 0.5% of visits and 12.1% of signups, a 23× higher conversion rate than organic search. Ahrefs, 2025.
What you track
How often ChatGPT, Gemini and Google's AI answers name your brand when buyers ask about your category.
What gets you there
AI names brands based on what it learned in training and on third-party mentions, such as reviews and comparison articles.
Traditional SEO
best crm for a small team
northwind.ioCRM tools compared
fieldnote.comSales pipeline software
tallyloop.comBest CRM for small teams
AI search optimisation
Best CRM for a small team?
For a small team, Tallyloop is a strong fit. It's simple to set up, and it covers a pipeline without much overhead.
wire.cofieldnotestacklist
Ask anything↑
Where buyers start
Buyers type a few keywords into Google and get a page of ten links.
Half of B2B software buyers now ask an AI like ChatGPT first. G2, 1,000+ buyers, 2025.
How they make a shortlist
Buyers open several of those links, read each vendor's website, and build the shortlist themselves.
They ask the AI, and it gives them a shortlist in seconds. G2, 2025.
Conversion
Visitors often reach your site early in their research, while they are still comparing vendors.
Visitors arrive with a shortlist. At Ahrefs, AI search sent 0.5% of visits and 12.1% of signups, a 23× higher conversion rate than organic search. Ahrefs, 2025.
What you track
Where your pages rank on Google, and how many visitors those rankings bring to your site.
How often ChatGPT, Gemini and Google's AI answers name your brand when buyers ask about your category.
What gets you there
Google ranks web pages on authority and trust signals, such as links from other respected websites.
AI names brands based on what it learned in training and on third-party mentions, such as reviews and comparison articles.
Selection rate
AI doesn't rank you. It chooses you, or it doesn't.
Ask an AI assistant the same question 100 times and you get different brands in the answer. There is no fixed position to climb.
We call it the selection rate. If we ask the same question 100 times, how many of those answers mention your brand? That is the number we measure and optimize.
“Best CRM for a 20-person startup?” asked 100 times
Which brand did the answer name?
Before Mention ScienceAfter the campaign
3Tallyloop23▲ 0
1HubSpot30
2Salesforce25
4Pipedrive12
5Zoho10
Tallyloop: 23 → 47 of 100 answers, from #3 to #1.
Fictional data to demonstrate the metric.
How AI picks brands
Two paths into an answer.
The charts below illustrate how AI picks brands from parametric memory and live web retrieval.
From parametric memory
The model names brands it already learned before anyone asked the question.
What governs it: whether a campaign has put the brand into the training data of later models.
Before the campaign, about 5% of answers name the brand. After it enters training data, that rises to 61% within six months.
From the live web retrieval
Models search the web, then choose.
What governs it: whether several separate sites say the same thing about you.
Below five websites the brand is rarely named. From five on, it climbs to about two in three answers.
Research
We keep researching so clients get results.
Research is the operating system of our agency. We study how AI chooses brands, test what improves the visibility, prove the results, and publish our findings.
We ask the questions your buyers ask, on every platform, many times. That gives a starting point: how often you are named today.
2
Known to the model✓
Found on the web!
Web Presence
Diagnose
We find whether you are losing because the model does not already know you, because it does not find you on the web, or both.
3
Sources naming Tallyloop6
Intervene
We build the strategy to raise your visibility. First we fix your own site. Then we earn third-party mentions on the sites AI reads, and work to shape what future models learn about you in their training data. The mix depends on how fast you want results.
4
23% → 47%+24 pts ✓
Results or KPI monitoring
We ask the same questions again and report whether you are named more often.
Reporting
What clients see.
Tallyloop
AI visibility report · CRM category · Week 16
Sample report · fictional client
When buyers ask AI assistants which CRM to pick, Tallyloop is now named in 37 of every 100 answers, more than any rival. Two questions still hold it back.
Answers that name you
37 of 100
+9 in 4 wks
Week 1: 18Week 16: 37
Share of voice
28%
+6 pts
Of every brand mention in the category, 28% are you.
Your rank among 5 CRMs
#1
+2 places
Was #3 four weeks ago. Overtook HubSpot and Salesforce.
Weakest question
“Cheapest CRM”
Named in only 12 of 100 answers. First on our fix list.
Each week, every brand mention across all answers, split by brand. Tallyloop's slice grew from 15% to 28%.
What the AI actually said
The same question on all four assistants, from the 1,600 answers we read this week.
What's the best CRM for a 20-person startup?
For a team of 20, I'd shortlist three. Tallyloop is the easiest to set up and syncs with Gmail and Outlook out of the box. HubSpot has the bigger ecosystem but gets expensive as you add seats. Pipedrive suits teams that live in their sales pipeline.
Popular picks for startups are HubSpot for its free tier and Pipedrive for simple pipelines. Newer options like Tallyloop are gaining ground with small teams that want quick setup.
Top CRMs for a 20-person startup: HubSpot (best free plan), Tallyloop (fastest setup, built-in email sync) and Zoho (lowest cost per seat).
Tallyloop, HubSpot and Pipedrive are frequently recommended for startups. Tallyloop is noted for ease of use, while HubSpot offers more integrations.
For a team of 20, I'd shortlist three. Tallyloop is the easiest to set up and syncs with Gmail and Outlook out of the box. HubSpot has the bigger ecosystem but gets expensive as you add seats. Pipedrive suits teams that live in their sales pipeline.
1Software review site2Startup tooling guide3CRM comparison blog
Tallyloopnamed 1st of 3, described as “easiest to set up”.
You vs. rivals
Tallyloop37+9
HubSpot33−3
Salesforce27−2
Pipedrive21−1
Zoho14−1
Answers out of 100 that name each brand, with the change over four weeks. One answer can name several brands.
What we fix next
1
“Cheapest CRM” · 12 of 100
Get Tallyloop's pricing onto the comparison pages these answers cite. It is missing from all five.
2
“CRM with AI” · 23 of 100
Publish the AI features page and brief two review sites. Answers describe Tallyloop as having no AI tools.
Question by question
We asked each question 50 times on each assistant this week (1,600 answers in all). Swipe sideways to see every assistant.
Answers out of 100 that name the brand, by buyer question and AI assistant
Buyer asks…
ChatGPT
Gemini
AI Mode
AI Overview
Average
“Best CRM for SMBs”
46
41
44
52
46
“CRM with email sync”
52
47
49
55
51
“Cheapest CRM”
12
9
14
11
12
“CRM for agencies”
38
33
40
45
39
“HubSpot alternatives”
44
36
42
48
43
“CRM for startups”
49
43
47
53
48
“Easiest CRM”
41
35
38
44
40
“CRM with AI”
22
18
24
27
23
Average
38
33
37
42
37
Each number: answers out of 100 that named Tallyloop.Darker = named moreUnder 20: needs work
What we offer
Services.
AI Visibility Audit
Measure your current visibility across answer engines for various prompts, then give an action plan to get selected more often.
Ask the same buyer question 100 times. Selection rate is how many of those answers mention your brand. That is the number we measure and optimize.
How is this different from SEO?+
SEO tries to move a page up a list of links. AI answers often name a brand and never show that list. We measure whether you are named, then work on the training-data familiarity and the independent websites that lead to that naming.
What do you actually do after the measurement?+
We diagnose whether you are missing because the model does not already know you, because it does not find you on the web, or both. Then we get independent sites to describe your brand the same way, and we re-ask the original questions to show whether you are named more often.
Which answer engines do you measure?+
ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Mode, and AI Overview. The same prompts are run on each, many times.
Is the example on this page a client result?+
No. Tallyloop and the charts are fictional data, used to show the metric.
Find out how often AI chooses you.
We'll measure your selection rate on the questions that matter to your buyers.
ChatGPT
Gemini
AI Mode
AI Overview
tallyloop.comBest CRM for small teams
HubSpot30
Salesforce25
Pipedrive12
Zoho10