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A scan is how Mentioned collects fresh visibility data for your brand. When you run a scan, Mentioned sends your tracked keywords and questions to each selected AI engine — ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, Copilot, and Grok — and records how your brand (and your competitors) appear in the responses. Each scan produces a snapshot you can compare against previous results to track changes over time.

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How to run a scan

1

Open your project

From the Mentioned dashboard, select the project you want to scan. You’ll land on the project overview page.
2

Click 'Run Scan'

Select the Run Scan button in the top-right corner of the project page.
3

Select AI engines (optional)

By default, Mentioned scans all supported AI engines. If you’d like to limit the scan to specific engines — for example, only ChatGPT and Perplexity — deselect the engines you want to exclude before proceeding.
4

Confirm and start

Review your selection, then click Start Scan. The scan will run in the background, so you can navigate away or close the tab. You’ll receive a notification when it’s complete.

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What happens during a scan

Once a scan begins, Mentioned works through each of your tracked keywords and questions, submitting them to every selected AI engine in turn. For each response, Mentioned records:
  • Whether your brand is mentioned — does the AI engine name your brand in its response?
  • Prominence — how early or prominently your brand appears relative to other mentions in the response.
  • Source citations — whether the AI engine includes a link or citation pointing to your website.
The same process runs for every competitor you’ve added to the project, so you get a direct side-by-side comparison for every keyword. Typical scan duration: most scans complete within 5–15 minutes. The exact time depends on how many keywords you’re tracking and how many AI engines are included. Larger keyword sets across all six engines will take closer to the upper end of that range.

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Scan frequency

You can run scans manually at any time, or set up an automated schedule to keep your data current without manual effort.
  • Manual scans — run on demand whenever you need a fresh snapshot. Useful before a report, pitch, or campaign review.
  • Scheduled scans — configure a daily or weekly cadence in your project settings. Mentioned will run the scan automatically and store each result in your scan history.
More frequent scanning gives you denser trend data, making it easier to detect shifts in AI visibility — whether caused by your own activity, competitor moves, or changes in how AI engines respond to queries in your category.

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Viewing scan history

All completed scans are stored in the Scan History tab within your project dashboard. Each entry shows the scan date, the engines included, and a summary of your visibility metrics at that point in time. Click any scan to view its full results and compare it against other scans using the date-range selector.
Run scans at consistent intervals — weekly on the same day, for example — so your trend charts reflect comparable data points. Ad hoc scans are useful for spot checks, but a regular cadence is what makes trend tracking meaningful.