Citation

See what sources AI answers cite, and find which ones you still need to win

AI engines lean on cited sources when they write an answer. Citation shows what those sources are, whether they belong to you or someone else, and where competitors are earning citations that you are not.

If AI Visibility tells you “how often we’re mentioned,” Citation tells you “why we’re mentioned that way.”

Tabs

Tab	Scope
Overall	Citations at the web domain and page level
Social	Citations at the creator and social channel level

Use the engine tabs and the period selector to narrow the scope further.

Overview

Three cards summarize how your citations are composed.

Card	Shows	How to read it
Overall	Your domain’s share vs. competitor domains	A low owned share means AI is describing you using sources you don’t control
Source type	What kind of sites get cited	Decide where to focus: community, reviews, media, or official sites
Page format	What format of page gets cited	See which format works: comparisons, listicles, or guides

Source type and page format tell you what shape your next piece of content should take. If community citations dominate, Off-Site work will move faster than publishing more pages.

Top cited sources

The domains and pages AI cites most often.

Type	Meaning	Next action
Owned domain	Your page is used as evidence	Keep it current, and reuse the winning format in On-Site
Competitor domain	A competitor’s page is used as evidence	Build a comparison or alternative page that answers the same question
Third-party	Media, community, or review sites	Track it as a target to win in Off-Site

Ours vs. competitors

Compares how often you and your competitors are cited, domain by domain. If a source only cites your competitor, that source already belongs to them.

Pattern	Meaning	Response
Only you are cited	Secured source	Maintain
Both are cited	Contested	Check how current and specific your information is on that source
Only competitors are cited	Not secured	Priority target
Neither is cited	Unclaimed	The whole category may not be cited from this source yet

Acquisition targets

Automatically surfaces sources where competitors are getting citations but you are not. This is the highest-leverage list on this screen.

Targets here flow into the Off-Site execution queue.

Social

The Social tab looks at citations by creator instead of domain. It shows when AI answers use a specific YouTuber, blogger, or community poster’s content as evidence.

Social citation share varies a lot by category. In review-dependent verticals like beauty, appliances, and travel, check the Social tab first.

Review routine

1. Check your owned share

   Look at your domain’s share in the Overall card. A low share means owned content isn’t being picked up as evidence.

2. Check the weak engine's source mix

   In AI Visibility, pick the engine with the lowest mention rate and see what it cites.

3. Find secured competitor sources

   List the domains in Ours vs. competitors where only competitors are cited.

4. Move to execution

   Send the acquisition target list to Off-Site for execution.

5. Apply the winning format

   Check which page format works and carry it into new On-Site pages.

Deciding between On-Site and Off-Site

Citation composition	Bottleneck	Do first
Low owned share, lots of third-party citations	Not enough trusted external sources	Off-Site
You’re cited, but competitors are cited more	Not enough content coverage	On-Site
Your pages are cited, but only old ones	No fresh content	On-Site
Almost nothing is cited on either side	Possible site accessibility issue	Site Audit first

Troubleshooting

There's no citation data

At least one analysis run needs to finish before this fills in. If you just onboarded, wait for the first run. A “preparing” message means the data is still being aggregated.

The numbers don't match the Citations card on AI Visibility

The AI Visibility citations card is a summary, and this page applies its own engine and period filters. Match the filters on both screens before comparing.

Our domain is cited but visibility is still low

This happens when a source cites you but the answer doesn’t surface your brand name. Check that your brand and product names are stated clearly on the page.

The Social tab is empty

AI rarely cites social sources for this category. Focus on the Overall tab instead.

Related

AI Visibility

See how citation changes show up in mention rate.

Off-Site

Go win the sources you’re missing.

On-Site

Build pages in the formats that get cited.

Mentions

See how a cited source actually gets used in a real answer.