Citation rate is the percentage of AI-generated responses that include a direct hyperlink to a brand’s domain as a cited source. It is a stricter test than mention rate — a brand can be named in a response without being linked, but a citation requires the AI to surface a clickable URL pointing to the brand’s own website.Documentation Index
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Why it matters
Citation rate measures whether the AI considers your domain an authoritative source, not just whether it knows your brand name. A 30% mention rate with 0% citation rate means the AI discusses your brand but sources its information from third-party sites — review aggregators, news articles, competitor comparison pages. Closing this gap is a primary GEO optimization objective.How Cited uses it
Cited tracks citation rate per platform, with Perplexity providing the most reliable data because it includes explicit source citations on every response. Citation rate benchmarks are not yet published in the Cited Index due to limited cross-platform data availability. See Citation rate for the full explanation and timeline for benchmark publication.Related concepts
- Citation rate (full page) — full analysis and why benchmarks are deferred
- Citation — the atomic unit of citation rate
- Mention rate — the broader metric that citation rate is a subset of