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What are citations in AI answers?

Also called: AI citations, cited sources

Definition

Citations in AI answers are the links an AI engine shows to the web pages it used to build its answer. They reveal which sources the engine trusts for a topic, and they are one of the few ways an AI answer sends traffic back to websites.

Explained

Perplexity shows numbered citations on nearly every answer. ChatGPT shows sources when it uses search, and Google AI Overviews and Gemini link to pages they draw on. Answers generated purely from training data have no citations at all.

For GEO, citations are a map. If the same review site, listicle or forum thread is cited across many of your category's prompts, getting your brand accurately described on that page is often the fastest way to be mentioned.

Example

For "best CRM for real estate agents", Perplexity cites a comparison article, a G2 category page and a Reddit thread. A CRM missing from all three is unlikely to be named, however good its own site is.