Commerce Graph · Allure outbound link analysis
How Allure routes AI citations: MAC vs NARS
1,159,435
outbound links classified
211,898
affiliate-wrapped
2021 – 2026
window
AI engines cite Allure when shoppers ask what prestige beauty to buy. Most brands stop measuring at the citation. This teardown follows what happens next — every outbound link from Allure, classified by link type, affiliate network and ultimate merchant.
TL;DR
- 78% of AI-cited prestige beauty clicks in the resolved sample land on Amazon, Sephora, Ulta or Nordstrom — not on the brand.
- 2.7% of resolved links reached any prestige brand's own site.
- MAC captures 73% direct. NARS captures 20%. The difference is placement format, not spend.
Read the flow left to right. How we measure this.
Source
Semrush export
Link type
211,898 links
24,707 links · 64 domains
922,830 links · editorial, social, news
Affiliate networks & retailers
7 networks + 10 retailers
120,967 links · drilled below
68,041 links
9,683 links
4,532 links
4,424 links
2,768 links
1,483 links combined
Resolved sample
cna.st · 401 unique links · 9 articles
99 links
91 links
71 links
52 links
11 links
77 links
Brand benchmark
5 prestige brands
MAC.com 73% · Nordstrom 27% · 15 placements
Nordstrom 60% · Sephora 20% · NARS.com 20%
Amazon 60% · Revolve 20% · unmapped 20%
Sephora 33% · Revolve 33% · Nordstrom 33%
Amazon 100%
Merchant resolution
Where the demand lands
Want the row-level data behind this table? Email hello@aqxle.ai and we will send it.
Findings
What the stack rewards
- 01
MAC is the only brand with a dedicated Allure roundup — and captures 73% to MAC.com. Brands appearing only as in-article mentions route to multi-brand retailers.
- 02
cna.st resolves only 2.7% to a prestige brand's own site across the 401-link sample. Amazon, Sephora, Ulta and Nordstrom absorb 78.1%.
- 03
Amazon takes 24.7% of the resolved cna.st sample, even though prestige beauty typically runs MAP and channel strategies that discourage Amazon-first routing.
- 04
Roundup placement format is the single largest predictor of preferred-destination capture. Article-mention placements default to retailer routing.
One link chain, resolved. Every Friday.
Where AI-driven demand actually landed this week — one publisher, one category, one resolved path.
Method
Semrush outbound-link export for allure.com, 2021–2026 window. Affiliate wrappers resolved by Aqxle. Resolved sample: 401 unique cna.st links across 9 articles. Independent public benchmark analysis — no client endorsement or partnership implied.
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