Does AI find you as a brand, or as a category?
On August 3, 2026 Microsoft Clarity added branded versus non branded query segmentation to the AI Citations dashboard. The grounding queries AI systems run to support a response now split in two: those searching for your brand directly, and those that find you through a general topic question. That distinction changes what citation data means.
There was a citation count, but no reason behind it
The Microsoft Clarity AI Citations dashboard shows which sources an AI system cites while producing an answer. The update published on August 3, 2026 adds the dimension that was missing from that picture: what kind of query the citation came from.
The rationale in Clarity's blog post is clear. Some citations are driven by queries that reference your brand directly, while others come from broader, generic queries the AI system uses to help answer a user's prompt. Without a clear way to separate those signals, it is hard to tell whether your performance reflects direct brand visibility, category discovery or a mix of both.
Search Engine Land covered the update the same day. PPC Land noted it as Clarity's third release in 25 days, pointing to how fast the product is moving in this area.
It shows up in four places at once
Per Clarity's blog post the update comes under four headings. First, branded labels in the queries card: individual queries are now marked as branded, so what the AI systems looked up is visible at a glance. Second, a Share of Authority breakdown segmented by query type. Third, branded and non branded filtering. Fourth, greater precision in citation analysis overall.
The filters apply to the query analysis view, the Share of Authority card and overall dashboard data. So the distinction is not confined to one report but runs through the dashboard.
The definitions are explicit. Branded queries are citations driven by searches that reference your brand directly. Non branded queries are the broader, generic queries the AI system uses to help answer a user's prompt.
The use cases Clarity lists are: assessing brand strength and performance when AI systems look up the brand directly, identifying discovery and consideration opportunities through generic topic queries, interpreting changes in citation performance with greater confidence, and distinguishing direct brand visibility from category discovery.
Two different successes were hiding in one chart
Most tools measuring AI visibility give a single number: how many times you were cited. When that number rises everyone is pleased, but two very different stories sit inside it.
The first is brand strength. If someone asks what UNALSOFT is and the system cites you, that is confirmation of an already known brand. Valuable, but it brings no new customer; it serves existing demand.
The second is category discovery. If someone with no knowledge of your brand asks about agentic AI consultancy in İzmir and the system cites you, that is new demand. It is the signal at the top of the funnel and the one that determines growth.
Viewed without that split, a chart rising because brand searches grew can look healthy even while category visibility falls. That is where GEO work most often goes wrong. That assessment is ours; Clarity offers no interpretation, it only makes the distinction possible.
One boundary is worth noting: this data is Clarity's own measurement and rests on the grounding queries AI systems run. The final answer a user sees on screen is not the same thing as those queries.
What it means for businesses in Türkiye
The assessment below is our reading, not something stated in the sources. Neither contains a country specific breakdown.
Questions put to AI assistants in Türkiye are growing fast, yet most businesses do not measure the channel. Those who do usually look at a single visibility number. The branded versus non branded split makes that number actionable for the first time.
Four practical notes. First, diagnosis: if your branded share is high and your non branded share is low, the problem is not content but reach, meaning you have no pages answering category questions. Second, the inverse: if the non branded share is high but conversion is low, the person discovering you may be leaving unconvinced. Third, content planning: non branded queries tell you directly which topics to write about, and that list comes from data rather than guesswork. Fourth, the Turkish breakdown: spellings of your brand with and without Turkish characters may register as separate queries, so check whether branded labelling catches both.
In short this is not a reporting feature but a strategy tool. Once you decide which side you want to grow, what to do next becomes clear. That last sentence is our own comment.
The UNALSOFT take
In our web design and content work, pages are built to answer two questions at once: what will someone searching for the brand find, and why would someone searching the category come here. Those are not the same page and they are not solved by the same copy. The distinction Clarity introduces makes that difference measurable. The question to ask at the dashboard is not how many citations you got, but whether they came from people who already knew you.
How is AI finding you?
Let's read your branded and non branded visibility together.