Being mentioned by AI is one thing. Being cited from an actual page is another; and it's the difference between AI saying your name and AI pointing to a specific piece of content as its source.
The Citation tab in AI Search Visibility (AISV) shows you exactly which pages, on your own site or elsewhere, AI tools are pulling from when they generate answers that reference your brand or your competitors. Instead of just knowing "am I visible," you get to see where that visibility is actually coming from, and where the gaps are that you could be filling.
- What's the Difference Between a Mention and a Citation?
- Where to Find the Citation Tab
- Summary
- Performance
- Citation Opportunities
- Frequently Asked Questions
What's the Difference Between a Mention and a Citation?
Elsewhere in AI Search Visibility, you're tracking mentions, how often your brand name comes up when AI answers a question, regardless of whether that answer points to a specific page.
A citation is more specific: it's when an AI tool's answer is traceable back to an actual page, either one of yours or someone else's, that it used as a source. Citations tell you which content is actually doing the work of getting you (or your competitors) into AI answers.
If mentions tell you whether you're part of the conversation, citations tell you why, which pages, domains, and content types are earning that visibility.
| Mention | Citation | |
|---|---|---|
| What it measures | How often your brand name appears in an AI answer | Whether that answer is traceable to a specific page as its source |
| Where you'll find it in AISV | Overview, Prompts, Brands, Sentiment tabs | Citation tab |
| What counts | Your brand name showing up anywhere in the response text | A page (yours or someone else's) that the AI used to generate the response |
| Example | ChatGPT says "Ubersuggest is a popular SEO tool" with no source | ChatGPT's answer links back to a specific Ubersuggest blog post or comparison page |
| What a high number tells you | AI knows your brand and is willing to name it | Your content (or someone else's) is actively feeding AI answers |
| What a low number tells you | Your brand isn't well-known enough to come up on its own | Even if you're mentioned, little of that comes from traceable content, an opportunity to publish more citable material |
Since citations are a subset of mentions, not the same thing, it's completely normal to see a higher mention percentage than citation share. The Citation tab exists to answer the follow-up question mentions alone can't: not just if AI is talking about you, but which pages it's relying on to do it.
Where to Find the Citation Tab
You'll find the Citation tab inside your AI Search Visibility report, alongside Overview, Prompts, Brands, and Sentiment.
The tab is organized into three views: Summary, Performance, and Citation Opportunities. Think of them as a funnel: Summary gives you the big picture, Performance breaks down where your earned citations are coming from, and Citation Opportunities shows you exactly where to focus next.
Summary
This is your at-a-glance dashboard for how citations are shaping your AI visibility.
Your Citation Share
The percentage of tracked AI answers that cite your brand, shown as a single large number with a trend arrow against the previous period (for example, "19 of 3,547 answers"). This is the fastest way to check your overall citation visibility before digging into anything else.
Your Pages Cited by AI
How many of your own pages are actually being cited by AI, shown against a benchmark competitor for context. A high mention rate but a low number here usually means your brand is being talked about, but not from your own content, which is worth digging into further down the tab.
Third-Party Pages Citing You
How many external pages, think news sites, blogs, forums, review sites, mention your brand, and across how many distinct domains. This is your earned visibility: the citations you didn't create yourself.
Citation Share Over Time
A trendline comparing your citation share to your competitors' over a date range. Use this to spot momentum or drops, and to connect them back to campaigns, content pushes, or PR moments.
Industry Ranking
A leaderboard of tracked brands sorted by citation share, so you can see at a glance where you stand against the field.
Your Citations Distribution
A breakdown of where your citations come from: third-party websites, social media and forums, your own website, and competitor domains. This is useful for prioritizing effort, if almost none of your citations come from your own site, that's a signal to invest in content built specifically to be cited.
Top Cited Pages
The pages or domains AI cites most often for your topic, yours or not, with a toggle to view by page or by domain. This shows you what's winning the citation game industry-wide, useful inspiration even when the top page isn't yours.
Citation Opportunities (preview)
A preview of pages and domains that cite your competitors but not you. This is a taste of the full Citation Opportunities view, covered in more detail below.
Your Top Cited Pages / Competitors' Top Cited Pages
A toggle to directly compare your best-performing pages against your competitors' best-performing pages, so you can see side by side what's working for each of you.
Your Citation Share vs. Competitors by Topic/Platform
A grid comparing citation share across brands, cut by topic or by AI platform, with the leading brand highlighted in each column. Use this to spot patterns, maybe you lead on one topic but fall behind on another, or you do well on one AI platform but not another.
Performance
Where Summary gives you the big picture, Performance zooms in on your earned (non-owned) visibility specifically, the citations you didn't get from your own website.
Citation Share from External Mentions
The percentage of AI answers that cite your brand through sources other than your own site. This isolates your earned-media impact from your overall visibility number, so you know how much of your visibility depends on other people talking about you.
External Domains Mentioning You
The number of unique external domains citing your brand, split between competitor-owned and third-party domains. A useful check on how broad your earned visibility actually is, versus concentrated on just one or two sites.
External Pages Mentioning You
The same idea, but at the page level rather than domain level. Useful for spotting specific high-value pages worth strengthening a relationship with (through outreach, updated data, or a fresh quote).
Answers Citing Your Content
The total number of AI answers that included a citation of your brand. Think of this as your core "am I actually showing up" number for citations specifically.
Prompts/Topics Citing Your Brand
The specific prompts where AI is already citing you, shown with search volume, platform, market, and search intent. This tells you which queries are already working in your favor, useful for understanding what to protect and reinforce, rather than only chasing new opportunities.
All Citations by Webpage/Domain
A full, searchable table of every page or domain citing content across your industry. This is your reference table for auditing citation activity broadly, rather than just what applies directly to you.
Citation Opportunities
This is your action list, the pages and domains where competitors are winning citations that you're not.
Opportunity Pages
The number of pages that cite your competitors but not you. This quantifies the size of your content gap in one number.
Opportunity Domains
The same gap, measured at the domain level, which helps you prioritize which sites are actually worth pursuing rather than chasing every individual page.
Top Opportunity
A single, highest-value missed domain, so you have one clear place to start instead of an unranked list to sort through yourself.
Third-Party Pages Not Mentioning Your Brand
A detailed, filterable list of competitor-citing pages and domains that don't mention you yet. This is your practical outreach and content target list, tagged by topic and when it was last updated.
Prompts/Topics Not Citing Your Brand
Prompts where competitors are cited but you aren't. Pair this with search volume and intent to prioritize which queries are worth building or optimizing content around first.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do Citations Use the Same Brand Setup as the Rest of AISV?
Yes. The Citation tab uses the same brand, topics, and Brand Aliases you've already set up for AI Search Visibility. If you manage aliases for your brand name or domain, that applies here too, so your citation data stays grouped correctly instead of getting split across name variations.
Why Does My Mention Percentage Look Different From My Citation Share?
They're measuring different things. Mentions count every time your brand name comes up in an AI answer. Citations only count when that answer is traceable to a specific page. It's normal, and common, for your mention rate to be higher than your citation share, since AI can mention a brand from general knowledge without citing a specific source.
How Often Does Citation Data Update?
Citation data refreshes on the same schedule as the rest of your AI Search Visibility report, which depends on your plan: monthly for Individual, every two weeks for Business, and weekly for Enterprise.
Can I Export Citation Data?
Yes. Tables across the Citation tab, including Top Cited Pages, All Citations by Webpage/Domain, and both Citation Opportunities tables, support export and copy, so you can bring the data into your own reports or share it with your team.
What Should I Do With a Citation Opportunity?
Treat it as a lead, not a guarantee. A page citing your competitor but not you usually means there's an existing piece of content, a directory, comparison page, or article, where you have a real shot at getting included. That could mean reaching out directly, submitting your own listing, or creating content specifically designed to be a better source than what's currently being cited.