In Genezio, citations are the external web pages that an answer engine uses as references for an answer. Genezio records each citation, classifies it, and shows which sources have an effect on how answer engines describe your brand. Answer engines such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI Overview frequently use information from the web in their responses. Some systems show these references as links or as numbered sources. Genezio records and analyzes these references as citations. Citations help to explain:
  • Where the information in the answer came from
  • Which websites have an effect on the answers of answer engines
  • Why specific brands appear in answers
For the background, refer to How AI citations work.

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What a citation is

A citation is a specific web page or document that had an effect on an answer. Frequent types of citations are:
  • A product page or a service page
  • A comparison article
  • A review site
  • A documentation page
  • A regulatory source or a research source
Genezio records each referenced URL as a citation.

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Citations and sources

Different answer engines use different terms. Some interfaces show links as citations, and others show them as sources. In Genezio, the two terms have the same meaning. They are the web pages that gave information to the answer engine for its answer.

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Domain grouping

One website can have many pages that appear in many conversations. To make the analysis simpler, Genezio can group citations by domain. For example, you do not have to analyze many URLs from the same website. Genezio can put them together under one domain, such as:
Domain grouping helps users to quickly find:
  • The websites that have the largest effect on the answers
  • The publications that control a topic
  • The domains that frequently mention competitors
Thus, you can analyze the full influence of a website, and not only the influence of each page.

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Citation attributes

Each citation in Genezio has attributes that help you to analyze its role in the answers.

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URL

The URL is the exact web page that the answer engine used as a reference.

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Occurrences

The occurrences are the number of conversations that have the citation. A high number of occurrences frequently shows that a source has a strong effect on the answers for that topic.

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Sentiment

Genezio analyzes how the citation describes the brand. The possible classifications are:
  • Positive
  • Neutral
  • Negative
This helps you to find the sources that show a brand favorably or critically.

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Automatic citation classification

Genezio classifies citations automatically. This helps users to understand the type of source that has an effect on the answers. The citation interface shows these classifications.

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Source ownership

Genezio finds if a citation is of the analyzed brand, of a competitor, or of a neutral third party. Examples:
  • First Party
  • Competitor Owned
  • Third-Party Editorial

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Source category

Genezio finds the type of content that has the citation. Examples:
  • Blog / Article
  • Review (Editorial)
  • Review (User-Generated)
  • Comparison / Vs Page
  • Listicle / Best-Of
  • News Article
  • Press Release
  • Documentation / Knowledge Base
  • Case Study
  • Research Paper / Report

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Website type

The website type is the broader category of the website that has the content. Examples:
  • Industry / Trade Publication
  • Government / Regulatory
  • Academic / Research
  • Aggregator / Marketplace
  • Social / UGC Platform
  • Other

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Auto-clarification of citations

Genezio automatically adds data to citations and makes them clear. It analyzes each source and gives it these classifications. This process helps users to quickly understand:
  • If a citation is of a competitor
  • If the source is editorial, a review, or a product page
  • If the source is first party or third party
Users do not have to examine each link manually. The citation list shows the role and the type of each source immediately.

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Citations in the conversation view

You can examine citations in the conversation detail view. This view shows:
  • The response of the answer engine
  • The citations (sources) that the answer engine used as references
  • The related follow-up searches (query fanouts)
  • The brand mentions that Genezio found
With this view, users can see exactly which sources gave information to a specific answer.

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Citations and perceptions

Citations are more than a list of links. They have a direct relation to what answer engines say about your brand. From each citation, you can see the perceptions that come from that source. These are the claims and the impressions that an answer engine made with information from that page. This relation operates in the two directions. You can also see perceptions by citation domain. Thus, you can easily see which websites control how answers describe your brand. To learn how Genezio records and analyzes what answer engines say, refer to Perceptions.

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Cited sources and mentioned sources

Not all sources have the same role in an answer. Genezio makes a distinction between:
  • Cited sources: the pages that the answer engine explicitly cited as references
  • Mentioned sources: the pages that the answer engine only referred to or showed, without an explicit citation
This distinction helps you to focus on the sources that the answer engine really uses. The other sources only appeared during the process.

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Work with citations

The citation interface has these functions, which make the analysis of sources easier:
  • Group sources by domain: Put many URLs from the same website into one domain view. Thus, you can find the full influence of a site, and not the influence of each page.
  • Filter by ownership: Show only “My citations” (the first-party sources that you own) or only the third-party sources. Thus, you can quickly separate your content from all other content.
  • “Competitors mentioned” chip: A citation row shows a chip when the source mentions competitors. Thus, you can quickly see the competitive exposure.

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Why citation analysis is important

Citation analysis helps organizations to understand the information that has an effect on answer engines. When teams find the sources that appear most frequently, they can:
  • Understand which websites control the responses of answer engines
  • Find the important publications in their category
  • Find the sources that mention competitors
  • Find opportunities to increase visibility

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Next steps

To learn how Genezio changes citations and the other extracted signals into measurable visibility insights, refer to:

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Citations in the public API

The public API reads citations. Refer to Cited domains.