Mentioned vs Ahrefs: AI Visibility for Trade Contractors
You're probably here because you're trying to figure out which tool measures what actually matters for your business. Here's the reality: Ahrefs and Mentioned aren't really competitors. They measure different things. But understanding the difference is critical if you want to know where your next lead is coming from.
What Ahrefs Does Well
Ahrefs is the industry standard for SEO metrics. It pulls backlink data, domain authority scores, keyword rankings, and traffic estimates. If you care about traditional Google search visibility—who links to you, how you rank for "plumber near me," how many backlinks your competitor has—Ahrefs will show you that data with depth and accuracy.
It's also useful for competitor analysis at the technical SEO level. You can see where competitors get their links, what keywords they target, and estimate their organic traffic. For many industries, Google search is still the biggest traffic driver, and Ahrefs quantifies that pretty well.
The catch: Ahrefs costs $199/month and up. It's built for agencies and enterprises, not solo trade business owners.
Where Mentioned Is Different
Mentioned measures something Ahrefs doesn't touch: where you show up in AI. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini. When a homeowner asks an AI "who should I hire for HVAC in Rhode Island?" or "best plumber near me?"—are you in the response?
We ran 137 audits across trade contractors. Median visibility score: 32 out of 100. Top 5% scored 79+. That's a 47-point gap. Most contractors are invisible to AI, and they don't know it.
Mentioned is built specifically for local service businesses. We track four AI models, give you a single visibility score, show you exactly what each AI knows about your business, and tell you how to fix it. Our dataset is open and public (CC-BY-4.0)—you can verify every claim we make.
The free 90-second audit tells you where you stand right now. The paid version ($297/month or $1,497 lifetime) monitors your visibility over time and surfaces opportunities to increase mentions as new contractors enter your market.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | Ahrefs | Mentioned |
|---|---|---|
| Measures AI visibility (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini) | — | ✓ |
| Tracks Google organic rankings & backlinks | ✓ | — |
| Built for trade contractors specifically | — | ✓ |
| Competitor backlink analysis | ✓ | — |
| Free audit (no credit card) | — | ✓ |
| Monthly pricing | $199–$999+ | $297 |
| Lifetime access option | — | $1,497 |
| Open dataset (verify all claims) | — | ✓ |
Best For
Ahrefs: Agencies, enterprise SEO teams, anyone obsessed with backlink strategy and Google rankings. If your growth engine is traditional organic search, Ahrefs is essential.
Mentioned: Trade contractors who want to know if they show up when AI answers customer questions. Plumbers, HVAC, electricians, roofers. Solo owners and teams. Anyone who's lost a deal because the customer got bad AI advice instead.
Use Both? Probably.
Google search and AI answers are both customer touchpoints now. If you're a trade contractor with a website and a reputation worth protecting, you need visibility on both fronts. Ahrefs tells you if Google knows about you. Mentioned tells you if AI mentions you when it matters. They complement each other.
Get Your AI Visibility Score
Take the free 90-second Mentioned audit. See where you stand in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini right now. No email required. No pitch. Just the truth about how visible you are when it counts.
Closing a founder cohort July 4. Early pricing: $297/month or $1,497 lifetime.
See your Ahrefs AI visibility score in
Enter your business below. We run live queries across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini. You get your score in under 90 seconds.
Common questions about AI visibility for Ahrefs contractors in
Google ranks pages. AI search engines like ChatGPT and Perplexity name specific businesses in answers. A Ahrefs contractor in can rank #1 on Google and still be invisible in ChatGPT, because the signals are different (schema, citations, structured data, training-data presence).
Most Ahrefs contractors see meaningful score lift within 30-60 days of implementing the three core fixes: Google Business Profile completion, consistent industry directory listings, and schema markup. The 47-point gap between median (32) and top performers (79) is closeable.
Yes. Roughly 40% of homeowner searches now start in ChatGPT or Perplexity instead of Google. Even with strong Google rankings, you can be completely invisible in AI answers, which means losing calls you don't even know about.
Your AI visibility score across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini. Specific gap analysis against top performers in . Three highest-leverage fixes prioritized by impact. Takes 90 seconds, no card required.