Glossary
What is Citation?
Last updated
Short answer
A citation in AI search is when an answer engine names your brand or links your domain as a source inside its generated answer. Citations are the AEO equivalent of a ranking — they are what you are optimizing to earn.
Why it matters
A citation is the outcome you are actually optimizing for. It is the difference between an engine knowing about you and an engine sending someone to you.
In practice
Being named without a source means the engine recognises your brand but is not treating your site as the authority for the claim. That is usually a schema and corroboration gap rather than a content gap.
Because citations depend on the engine trusting a source, they respond to the same inputs as entity consistency: unambiguous facts on your own domain, agreed with by independent sources.
Related answers
More glossary terms
Find out what AI says about your business
Run 100 real buyer searches across all seven engines and see exactly where you are named, cited or missing. First report $99.