Brand mention rate
How often an engine says your company name without linking to you. Usually higher than your citation rate, routinely ignored, and for a phone-driven trade it may matter more.
Checkable · the test is below
What it means
An answer can recommend you by name and cite somebody else as its source, or cite nothing at all. You were mentioned but not linked. Citation rate counts the link, brand mention rate counts the name, and blending them hides the more useful of the two.
Why it matters for an HVAC company
A homeowner who reads your name in an answer does not necessarily click. They search your company, or they call the number that comes up. For a trade where the conversion is a phone call, being named is often the whole event, and a report counting only clicks under-reports what happened.
What would settle it
Same runs as your citation rate, counted differently: search each recorded answer for your company name whether or not a link is attached. Report both figures separately.
A worked example
Across 600 runs a contractor is linked in 144, a citation rate of 24%. Their name appears in the text of 211, a brand mention rate of 35%. The 67-run gap is answers recommending them on the strength of a directory or review page rather than their own site, which points next month's work at the third-party records.