Sources & Citations

AI doesn't make things up (usually). It pulls from sources. Understanding which sources drive your visibility is key to improving it.

What Sources Are

When AI platforms answer questions, they draw from and cite various websites, articles, and documents. We track every source that appears in AI responses related to your brand and your competitors.

For each source, we record:

URL and domain: The specific page and website
Citation count: How often this source is cited about you
Citation position: Where it appears in the AI's source list
Model breakdown: Which AI platforms cite this source
Context: What questions triggered this citation

Control Tiers

We categorize sources into five tiers based on how much influence you have over the content:

Tier 1 - Your Owned Assets: Your website, blog, documentation. You have full control over this content.
Tier 2 - Earned Media: Press coverage, partner content, guest posts. You can influence but not control.
Tier 3 - Participated Platforms: Social media profiles, directory listings you manage. Partial control.
Tier 4 - User-Generated: Forums, community discussions, review sites. You can engage but not control.
Tier 5 - Independent: Research papers, news coverage, analyst reports. No direct control.

Tip

A healthy source profile has strong Tier 1 presence. If AI mostly cites Tier 4-5 sources about you, you're vulnerable to content you can't control.

Source Types

Beyond control tiers, we categorize sources by content type:

Press & Media: News outlets, industry publications
Developer & Technical: GitHub, Stack Overflow, technical docs
Community & Discussion: Reddit, forums, Slack communities
Directory & Listing: G2, Capterra, industry directories
Official Brand Content: Company websites, blogs
Educational & Reference: Wikipedia, educational sites
Marketplace & Commerce: App stores, marketplaces
Review & Rating: Dedicated review platforms
Data & Research: Research reports, studies

Why Your Sources Matter

Sources are the input that shapes AI output. If the sources AI trusts say negative things about you, that's what AI will tell your potential customers. If they don't mention you at all, neither will AI.

Key Insight

We've found the most effective way to improve your AI visibility is often to improve your presence on sources AI already trusts, rather than trying to create new sources from scratch.

We show you which sources AI platforms rely on most for your category. This tells you exactly where to focus your content and PR efforts.

Using Your Source Data

Our source analysis helps you answer key questions:

Where should I publish content? Focus on sources AI already trusts
What's driving my competitors' visibility? See which sources mention them but not you
Where am I vulnerable? Identify negative sources you can't control
What content should I update? Find your cited pages and improve them

The actions we generate often link directly to specific sources, telling you exactly which pages to update or which platforms to prioritize.