Citation(cited source)
Also called: AI citation, source citation
Definition
A citation is a web page that the generative engine shows as a source of its answer, usually as a link. Being cited means seeing your site, or a page that talks about you, serve as the basis of the answer.
Citations concentrate on a few types of sites: encyclopedias, forums, video platforms, review sites and specialist media. According to the Semrush AI Visibility Index 2026, Wikipedia is cited 4.3 times more often than it is mentioned as a brand, while most consumer brands are in the opposite situation.
Example
Perplexity answers a question about online banks by citing a comparison from a finance site, a forum thread and a bank's pricing page. Only that last one is a citation of the brand itself.
What it means for your AI visibility
Track your citations separately from your mentions. They tell you which pages AI reads to talk about your category, and so where you need to be: your site, but also the third-party sources it consults.
In i am rankCitation analyticsSee which sources AI cites on your questions, and which ones talk about you.Related terms
- Brand mentionA mention is when an AI names your brand in its answer, with or without a link to your site.
- Reference sourcesReference sources are the few sites AI cites by default in a category: review sites, comparisons, encyclopedias, specialist media.
- AI trafficAI traffic covers the visits a site gets from AI assistants and generative engines, when a user clicks on a cited source.
- Citable contentCitable content is written so AI can reuse it as is: one idea per paragraph, precise facts, a direct answer to a question.
- GroundingGrounding means basing an AI's answer on verifiable sources rather than on its memory alone.
Updated on · All glossary terms