Publications

Erlin tracks every publication AI references across your tracked prompts and tells you which ones mention your brand, which mention your competitors, and how influential each source is. All three citation types (publications, Reddit, and YouTube) appear in the same Citations view in Erlin. Use the tabs at the top to switch between All, YouTube, and Reddit. The “All” tab shows publications alongside the other source types.

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What publication citations are

When AI generates a response, it often draws from published web content. The sources it references are “citations.” Erlin classifies each citation into a source type: Publications exclude Reddit (covered in its own page) and YouTube (covered in its own page), which have distinct dynamics and strategies.

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Why publications matter

Being cited or mentioned on highly-cited publications is how AI surfaces your brand and links back to you. The relationship works like this:

1. AI cites a publication when answering a user’s question
2. If your brand is mentioned on that publication, AI is more likely to include you in the answer
3. If your domain is linked from that publication, AI may cite your site directly (improving Citation Rate)

The publications AI trusts are your highest-leverage outreach targets. A single listing on a review article that AI cites 50 times has more visibility impact than 10 listings on pages AI never references.

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What Erlin shows for each publication

For every cited publication URL, Erlin tracks:

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Drilldown analysis

For deeper insight into any specific publication, Erlin can scrape the page and run a full content analysis. The drilldown report tells you:

• Brand mentioned: whether your brand name appears anywhere on the page
• Brand rank position: if the page contains a ranked list of products, where you appear in it
• Total ranked items: how many products/brands are listed on the page
• Brand excerpt: the exact text on the page that mentions your brand
• Competitors: every competitor mentioned on the page and their rank positions
• Ranking list: the full ordered list of products/brands as they appear on the page
• Sentiment with keywords: the tone toward your brand with the specific language driving it

How drilldown works: the first time you view a drilldown for a source, Erlin scrapes and analyzes the page. This takes 5-15 seconds. After that, results are cached permanently and load instantly. Use the refresh button to force a fresh scrape if the page content has changed since the last analysis. Batch analysis: click Analyse All Sources in the Citations toolbar to run drilldowns on every uncached source in the background. A progress indicator shows completion percentage. This is useful when you first set up citation tracking and want a full picture across all sources at once.

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How to find opportunities

The most valuable citation opportunities are publications that:

1. AI cites frequently (high citation count and high influence score)
2. Mention your competitors but not you
3. Cover a topic where your product is a natural fit

Finding them in Erlin:

1. Open the Citations view (All tab)
2. Sort by influence score descending (highest-impact sources first)
3. Look at the “Brand mentioned” column for rows marked “No”
4. Check “Competitors mentioned” to confirm the page is relevant to your category

Each of those rows is a concrete outreach opportunity. The action: get your brand listed, reviewed, or mentioned on that page. Once you do, the next time AI cites that publication in response to one of your tracked prompts, your brand has a path into the answer. Prioritization: focus on publications with influence scores above 0.5 and citation counts above 10. These are the sources AI relies on most heavily in your category.

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