> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.airops.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.airops.com/insights/offsite/citations.md). # Citations AI citation tracking: which content LLMs cite across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini, filterable by brand presence, competitors, domain type, and page type, plus external content opportunities. The Citations page is AirOps' AI citation tracking view. It lists every URL cited across AI responses for the prompts you're tracking, so you can see which content LLMs cite and identify external pages where stronger brand coverage could help. AI search cites content from across the web. Citations helps you track LLM citations over time, understand which external pages shape AI answers, and find where outreach or content partnerships could improve your brand's presence. *** ## Citations Table The main view displays a table of all cited URLs with the following columns: | Column | Description | | -------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **URL** | The specific page cited in AI responses | | **Brand Referenced** | Whether the page content actually references your brand (Yes/No) | | **Competitors Referenced** | Which tracked competitors are mentioned in the page content | | **Domain** | The domain where the URL is found | | **Domain Type** | Category of the domain (Owned, Competitors, Reviews, etc.). See [Citation analytics](/insights/analytics/citations.md) for the full breakdown | | **Page Type** | The type of page based on content and structure (see Page Types below) | | **Citation Rate** | Percentage of answers citing this URL out of total answers with at least one citation (0-100%). Higher values indicate greater authority | | **Citation Share** | Percentage of times this URL is cited out of total citations (0-100%) | | **Citation Count** | Total number of times this URL was cited in the selected time period | ### Manage table columns Open **Manage columns** in the table toolbar to show, hide, or reorder configurable columns, then select **Save changes**. Closing the dialog without saving discards your edits. Required columns remain visible in their fixed positions. Your layout applies to this Brand Kit and table, including URL and Domain views. Preferences stay in this browser and reset if you clear browser storage. Drag a resizable column's header edge to widen it. Expanding a column beyond the available table width adds horizontal scrolling. ### URL vs Domain View Toggle between **URL** and **Domain** views at the top of the table: * **URL View**: Shows individual pages with their metrics * **Domain View**: Aggregates metrics by domain to see overall domain performance *** ## Filtering and Organization Use the controls at the top of the page to slice the data: * **Date Range:** Select the time period to analyze * **Region:** Filter by geographic region (e.g., United States) * **Filter:** Apply additional filters including: * **Brand Referenced:** Show only URLs that do or don't mention your brand * **Competitors Referenced:** Filter by which competitors appear in the content * **Domain:** Filter by specific domains * **Domain Type:** Filter by domain category (Owned, Competitors, Reviews, etc.) * **Page Type:** Select one or more page types, such as Listicle and Product Page. The selection applies to URL and Domain views and CSV exports. * **Platform:** Filter by AI answer engine * **Persona:** Filter by audience persona * **Topic:** Filter by topic cluster * **Prompt Type:** Category-related vs Brand-related prompts * **Prompt Intent:** Awareness, Consideration, Evaluation, or Purchase *** ## Citation lifecycle Open **Insights → Offsite → Citations** to review how each URL gains or loses citations. These columns appear in the URL view and on URL rows inside expanded domains: | Column | What it shows | | --------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | **First observed** | The week when AirOps first observed the URL in an answer within the selected dates and filters. This is not the page's publication date. | | **Peak reached** | The week with the highest citation count. Sorting and filtering this column use the peak week's date. | | **Time to peak** | Weeks from the first observed citation to the start of the peak week, rounded to one decimal place, or zero when both fall in the same week. | | **Decline from peak** | Percentage decline from the peak to the latest complete, analyzed week in the selected period. Hover for the counts and comparison dates. | | **Half-life** | The week when citation activity first falls to half its peak and the decline is confirmed. A dash means no confirmed half-life is available yet. | First observed, Peak reached, and Half-life display week date ranges. Sort or filter these columns to narrow your review. Click a URL to open its weekly citation chart and inspect the associated prompts. Use the panel's topic and date controls to change the measurement scope. ### How lifecycle metrics are calculated AirOps groups citation occurrences into Monday-to-Sunday weeks. One answer can contribute more than one citation to the same URL. A week with analysis but no citations to the URL counts as zero; a week without analysis does not count as a decline. **Decline from peak** is `(peak count − latest full week's count) ÷ peak count × 100`. For example, a fall from 100 citations at peak to 20 in the latest complete analyzed week is an 80% decline, displayed as **-80%** in the table, CSV, and Grid. The value is unavailable if no complete analyzed week exists in the selected period. For **Half-life**, AirOps averages each week with the previous week, finds the first post-peak average at or below half the peak, and confirms that it stays at or below that threshold the following week. The table displays the first crossing week once the following week confirms it. A missing value can mean the URL has not halved or that its peak is too recent to confirm a crossing. Changing the dates or filters can change every metric. Use the history to decide which URLs deserve closer review; a recent URL with no confirmed half-life has not yet demonstrated lasting citation activity. ### Export lifecycle metrics Create a Grid from selected citation URLs or export a CSV to carry the lifecycle metrics and measurement dates into your analysis. Citation CSV exports contain one row per prompt, so the same URL's lifecycle values can repeat across rows. ## Review social citation metadata Open a Reddit citation to review the post date, upvotes, comment count, subreddit size, and available moderator rules. Use these details alongside citation metrics to decide which discussions are relevant and suitable for engagement. The **Updated … ago** label on a Reddit citation shows when AirOps last successfully captured the page. It can differ from the age of the analysis. Existing metadata remains visible while a refresh is pending or has failed; opening the citation does not request a new capture. For supported social citations, metadata is also available through the [Insights API](/developers/api.md#citations) and MCP citation tools. Missing or still-processing metadata may be incomplete. ## Find external content opportunities Use Citations to identify pages where your brand should be mentioned but is absent. Apply filters to find opportunities: ### Example: Finding Competitor Gaps 1. Set **Brand Referenced** to "No" (pages that don't mention you) 2. Set **Competitors Referenced** to a specific competitor (pages that mention them) 3. Filter **Page Type** to "Listicle article" (high-value roundup content) 4. Sort by **Citation Rate** to find the most authoritative pages This surfaces listicles where your competitor appears but you don't. These are prime targets for outreach. ### Example: Reviewing High-Authority Sources 1. Sort by **Citation Rate** descending 2. Review which domains and page types AI engines trust most 3. Identify patterns in content format and structure 4. Use insights to guide your own content strategy *** ## Page Types Every cited URL is automatically categorized into one of the following page types: | Page Type | Description | Examples | | ------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ | | **Homepage** | Main landing page of a website or brand | company.com, brand.com | | **Product page** | Individual product with features, pricing, purchase option | company.com/product/analytics, shopify.com/enterprise | | **Collection page** | Multiple products or content items grouped together | company.com/products, blog.com/category/marketing | | **Pricing page** | Dedicated page showing pricing tiers or plans | company.com/pricing, saas.com/plans | | **Informational article** | Standard informational article or blog content | company.com/blog/what-is-a-crm, medium.com/@author/post | | **Documentation** | Technical reference, API docs, product specs | docs.company.com/api, developer.stripe.com/docs | | **Listicle article** | "Best of," "Top X," ranked lists | "10 Best CRMs for 2025," "Top Project Management Tools" | | **Comparison page** | Side-by-side product or service comparisons | "Salesforce vs HubSpot," "Airbnb vs Vrbo comparison" | | **Support article** | FAQ, troubleshooting, or help center content | help.company.com/articles, support documentation, FAQ pages | | **Review page** | Detailed product or service review with rating/analysis | G2 review page, TechRadar product review, Capterra reviews | | **Forum thread** | Community discussion or Q\&A thread | Reddit post, Quora answer, community forum discussion | | **Social media post** | Individual post on social platforms | LinkedIn post, X/Twitter thread, Instagram post | | **Video page** | YouTube video, Vimeo, or video content page | YouTube.com/watch?v=, Vimeo video, embedded video content | | **News article** | Timely news or press coverage | TechCrunch article, Forbes news, industry publication | | **Case study** | Customer success story or use case | "How Spotify uses Snowflake," customer story page | | **Marketplace listing** | Product listing on e-commerce/service platform | Amazon product page, Airbnb listing, Etsy shop item | | **Landing page** | Campaign or conversion-focused page (not homepage) | company.com/demo, campaign-specific landing pages | | **Deal page** | Discount, promo code, or affiliate deal page | RetailMeNot coupon, affiliate discount page, deal aggregator | | **Other** | Pages that don't fit the categories above | Miscellaneous pages, unique formats, uncategorized content | Page type works alongside domain type to give you a complete picture. For example, a "Listicle article" on a "Reviews" domain (like G2) carries different weight than a "Listicle article" on a "Media" domain (like TechCrunch). *** ## Key Metrics Explained These metrics are how AirOps measures AI citations across platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini. ### Citation Rate **Answers citing the URL ÷ Total answers with at least one citation** (0-100%) Higher citation rates indicate the URL has greater authority in AI responses. A page with 5% citation rate appears in 5% of all answers that include any citation. Multiple URLs from the same domain are deduplicated when calculating domain-level citation rate. ### Citation Share **Number of times the URL is cited ÷ Total number of citations** (0-100%) This measures what portion of all citations go to this specific URL. Useful for understanding relative importance across all cited sources. ### Citation Count The raw number of times this URL appeared as a citation during the selected time period. Includes change indicators showing increase or decrease from the previous period. *** ## Bulk Actions Select multiple citations using the checkboxes on the left side of each row to take action at scale: * **Create New Grid**: Generate a new Grid pre-populated with your selected citations for outreach planning or content analysis * **Add to Existing Grid**: Append selected citations to any existing Grid. A mapping modal appears so you can map citation data (URL, domain, page type, metrics, etc.) to the appropriate Grid columns. This enables you to move from analysis to execution: build outreach lists, track partnership opportunities, or feed citations into Playbooks and Grids. *** ## Configuring Competitors Competitors shown in the **Competitors Referenced** column are configured in [Settings](/insights/analytics/settings.md). Add competitors you want to track to see when their brands appear in cited content. This powers competitive analysis across the Citations page. --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com. ## Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the following URL with the `ask` and `goal` query parameters: ``` GET https://docs.airops.com/insights/offsite/citations.md?ask=&goal= ``` `ask` is the immediate question: it should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. `goal` is what the user is ultimately trying to achieve, the reason they need the answer. Sharing it helps GitBook give you a better, more relevant answer. A goal is most helpful when it describes the outcome the user wants rather than restating the question. For example, with `ask=how do I create an API token`, a goal like `automate deployments from our CI pipeline` lets GitBook tailor the answer to that use case. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.