Glossary
Citation
A specific URL or source that an AI engine links to when supporting a claim in its answer.
Definition
Citations are the sources AI engines cite as evidence for the answers they generate. They show up as numbered footnotes in Perplexity, source links in ChatGPT Search and Gemini, and "From sources" lists in AI Overviews. Citations matter because they tell you which pages AI trusts in your category — and which sites are quietly winning the AI traffic war.
Example
When Perplexity answers "how to set up a 401k for a small business," each paragraph is footnoted with citations to IRS pages, Investopedia, and a few specialist blogs.
Related terms
Citation Share
The percentage of AI-cited sources that come from your domain across a tracked set of queries.
Brand Mention
Any reference to your brand by name inside an AI-generated answer.
Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)
The practice of optimizing your brand and content so that AI answer engines cite you when users ask direct questions.
Source Authority
How much weight an AI engine gives a particular source when generating answers — analogous to traditional domain authority but specific to LLM trust signals.
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