The difference
A backlink is an HTML link to your page. Backlinks are important for search engines, which use links as votes. A citation occurs when an answer engine uses a source to support a claim. A citation does not need a link. A page that describes your product accurately can be a citation without a link to you. Also, an answer engine can ignore a page that has a link to you. Answer engines read the text. For them, a link is not a vote. It is only markup.What this changes
A mention without a link still has an effect. When a cited source describes you accurately, the mention has an effect, with or without a link. Outreach that demands a link sometimes loses the mention. A link from a page that answer engines never retrieve has no effect. Directory links and low-quality placements for search rankings are not visible to answer engines. An incorrect description is worse than no description. A cited source can give incorrect data about your pricing or your category. Answer engines then copy that error into their answers. The correction of that error is real visibility work.Where the two overlap
A good page on a site that buyers read usually gets both a backlink and a citation. The overlap is large, thus good work serves both purposes. The mistake is work in the shape of link building, which serves only one purpose, and frequently neither.What to do
- Find the sources that answer engines already cite in your category.
- Examine what these sources say about you.
- Correct the incorrect information, and add the missing information.
- Get a place in the sources where you are absent.