Sources AI uses
Citation and source analysis: which websites AI assistants rely on
Citation and source analysis identifies which websites AI assistants name when they answer prompts about your market. Kraffic.ai collects the websites that appear in answers from ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Claude and groups them as your site, competitors, social and other, so you can see which sources shape what buyers are told.
Prompts this page answers
- “AI citation analysis”
- “which sources does ChatGPT cite”
- “AI citation tracking tool”
- “get cited by AI assistants”
- “How can I see which websites Gemini and ChatGPT are using as sources when they answer questions about my industry?”
- “I want to know whether AI assistants cite my own website or only third-party sites and competitors when they talk about my category.”
- “Which review sites, publications and forums should my brand appear on to be picked up by AI answers?”
Deliverables
What you receive
Citations report
The websites named in AI answers to your tracked prompts, grouped as your site, competitors, social and other.
Own-site citation view
Where your own website is named as a source, and the prompts where it is not.
Competitor source view
Where the websites of your approved competitors are named.
Third-party source list
The independent and social sites that appear, which indicates where a presence may matter for your category.
Prompt-linked recommendations and export
Actions tied to the prompts they affect, with citation data available as a CSV export.
What is a citation in an AI answer?
A citation in an AI answer is a website the assistant names or links as a source for what it wrote. Citations appear most often when an assistant uses live web search, and they show which pages it drew on for that answer.
Not every answer includes citations. When an assistant answers from training data alone, it may name brands without pointing to any source.
What does citation and source analysis include?
Citation and source analysis includes collecting every website named across your tracked answers and sorting them into four groups: your site, competitors, social and other. The grouping shows at a glance whose content is informing the answers.
| Group | What it contains | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Your site | Pages on your own domain | Whether assistants use your content as a source |
| Competitors | Websites of competitors you approved | Where rival content is informing the answer |
| Social | Social and community platforms | How much user discussion feeds the answers |
| Other | Publications, directories, review sites and the rest | Independent sources worth understanding |
Why do the sources matter?
Sources matter because they are the visible part of where an answer comes from. If answers about your category repeatedly cite a handful of independent sites and your brand is absent from those sites, that is a concrete, checkable gap.
Sources also explain errors. When an assistant states something wrong about you, the cited page is often where the outdated or mistaken detail sits.
How do you get your website cited by AI assistants?
There is no method that guarantees a citation, but you can make your pages more usable as a source. Assistants that search the web need to be able to reach the page, read the text and find a clear answer to the question asked.
- Make sure the page can be crawled and is not blocked unintentionally
- Answer the specific question in plain text near the top
- Include specifics that only a first-hand source would have
- Keep facts current and consistent with your other pages
- Earn accurate mentions on the independent sites that already appear in answers
How is this different from backlink analysis?
Backlink analysis counts the links pointing to your site as a signal for search ranking. Citation analysis looks at which sites an AI assistant actually named in an answer. A site can have many backlinks and never be cited in AI answers, and the reverse can also be true.
Process
How the work is done, step by step
Set up prompts and competitors
Kraffic reads your site, you confirm your facts, approve competitors and settle the tracked prompts.
Run the scan
Prompts are run on Claude, ChatGPT and Google Gemini and the answers are saved with the websites they name.
Group the sources
Cited websites are sorted into your site, competitors, social and other.
Act on the gaps
Recommendations show which pages to improve and which outside sources deserve attention, tied to prompts.
Track changes
Later scans show whether the mix of cited sources has shifted.
FAQ
Questions about Citation & Source Analysis
Do all AI assistants show their sources?
No. Whether sources are shown depends on the assistant and the mode. Answers that use live web search usually include the pages consulted, while answers generated from training data alone often include none. Citation analysis therefore reflects the answers that did name websites, and it should be read together with visibility results.
What is the difference between a mention and a citation?
A mention is when the assistant names your brand in the text of its answer. A citation is when it names or links a website as a source. You can be mentioned without your site being cited, for example when a review site is the source, and your site can be cited in an answer that recommends someone else.
Why does an AI assistant cite other sites and not mine?
Often because another page answers the question more directly, is easier to read, or is a type of source the assistant tends to use for that question, such as a comparison or review site. It can also mean your page could not be crawled. A citations report shows which sites are being used so you can compare them with your own.
Should I try to get listed on every site that AI cites?
No. Focus on sources that are relevant, credible and appear repeatedly for your prompts. Being described accurately on a few sources that assistants actually use for your category is more useful than a large number of low-quality listings. Any mention should be earned legitimately and reflect true facts about your business.
Can I export the citation data?
Yes. Kraffic.ai provides a CSV export, so you can work with the data in a spreadsheet or share it with your team. Every figure in the platform can also be traced to the saved AI answer it came from, which lets you check the context in which a website was named.
Related
Related services
- What AI says
Reputation & Sentiment Monitoring
Monitor what ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude say about your brand: tone, themes and factual errors, each backed by the exact quote from the AI answer.
View service - You vs competitors
Competitor AI Benchmarking
Competitor AI benchmarking compares how often ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude name you versus competitors you approve: rank, share of voice and lost prompts.
View service - Brand authority
AI Visibility & Brand Authority
Build AI search visibility and brand authority: be named, described correctly and cited by ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude. Measured scan by scan with Kraffic.ai.
View service
Get started
See what AI assistants say about your brand
Start with your website address. Kraffic runs the prompts your buyers type and shows you each saved answer. No one can guarantee what an AI assistant will say, so results are measured scan by scan.