Citations

Track when and where AI engines mention your brand. Understand the Citations dashboard.

Last updated August 31, 2026

The Citations view is the core of AEO Goal. It shows every instance an AI engine mentioned your brand in response to a tracked prompt.

What counts as a citation

A citation is recorded when:

  • An AI engine’s answer text includes your brand name
  • An AI engine’s answer links to your domain
  • An AI engine specifically recommends your product

AEO Goal checks across ChatGPT (GPT-4o), Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, and other AI platforms included in your plan.

Reading the Citations dashboard

Citation count - total number of AI answers that mentioned your brand in the selected time period.

Citation rate - percentage of tracked prompts where you were cited. (citations ÷ total_prompt_runs × 100)

Average position - where in the AI answer your brand appeared. Position 1 = first brand mentioned.

Per-engine breakdown - citation count and rate broken down by AI platform (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, etc.).

Trend chart - citation rate over time, showing whether your AI presence is improving or declining.

Filtering citations

Use the filters at the top of the Citations view to slice data by:

  • Date range - last 7/30/90 days, or custom range
  • AI engine - see results for one platform at a time
  • Prompt category - filter to awareness, decision, or problem-aware prompts
  • Product - filter to citations mentioning a specific product

Citation detail

Click any citation to see:

  • The exact prompt that was run
  • The full AI engine response
  • Which part of the response contains your mention
  • Your position relative to competitors mentioned in the same answer
  • The URL cited (if the AI linked to a specific page)

Improving your citation rate

Common factors that increase AI citations:

  • Publishing authoritative, well-structured content on the topics your prompts cover
  • Earning backlinks from trusted sources in your industry
  • High E-E-A-T signals (author bios, case studies, original research)
  • Your pages appearing on the first page of Google for the same queries

See Quality Gate for an automated score of your pages’ AI citability.

Frequently asked questions

What counts as a citation?

A citation is recorded when an AI engine's answer includes your brand name, links to your domain, or specifically recommends your product - checked across the engines included in your plan.

What is citation rate?

The percentage of tracked prompts where you were cited: citations / total_prompt_runs x 100.

What does average position mean?

Where your brand appears within the AI answer. Position 1 means your brand was the first one mentioned; a lower position means it appeared after other brands.

How do I increase my citation rate?

Publish authoritative, well-structured content on the topics your prompts cover, earn trusted backlinks, strengthen E-E-A-T signals, and rank on page one of Google for the same queries.