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Documentation Index

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Citation Upgrade analyzes the sources that AI platforms (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini) cite when answering prompts relevant to your business. It shows you exactly which URLs are being referenced and whether your brand is mentioned on those pages.

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What citations are

When AI platforms generate responses, they often pull information from specific web pages. These are citations — the sources AI trusts and references. If your brand appears on highly-cited pages, AI is more likely to mention you.

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How it works

1

Scan visibility

Run a visibility scan to capture AI responses and their cited sources.
2

Analyze citations

Erlin extracts all cited URLs from AI responses and aggregates them.
3

Score and rank

Each source gets a citation count, influence score, and brand mention status.
4

Identify opportunities

Sources that cite competitors but not you become actionable opportunities.

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Citation data

For each cited source, Erlin tracks:
FieldDescription
Source URLThe page being cited by AI
Source domainThe website it belongs to
Citation countHow many times this URL has been cited across all prompts and platforms
Best rankThe highest position this source appeared in AI responses
PlatformsWhich AI platforms cited this source (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini)
Brand mentionedWhether your brand appears on this page
SentimentHow your brand is portrayed (positive, neutral, negative)
Influence scoreHow impactful this source is (0.0 - 1.0)
Competitors mentionedWhich competitors appear on this page
First-partyWhether this is your own domain

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Source types

Citations are classified by type:
  • Article — blog posts, guides, how-to content
  • Aggregator — comparison sites, review aggregators
  • Platform — SaaS directories, marketplaces
  • Reference — documentation, wikis, knowledge bases
  • News — news articles, press coverage
  • Forum — Reddit, Quora, community discussions
  • Video — YouTube, video platforms

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Drilldown analysis

For deeper insight, Erlin can perform a drilldown analysis on individual citation sources. This:
  1. Scrapes the cited page content
  2. Searches for your brand name on the page
  3. Determines your brand’s rank position (if listed)
  4. Identifies all competitors mentioned
  5. Analyzes sentiment toward your brand
  6. Extracts the relevant excerpt
Drilldown results show:
  • Brand rank position — where you appear in any rankings on the page
  • Total ranked items — how many brands/products are listed
  • Brand excerpt — the exact text mentioning your brand
  • Competitor positions — where competitors rank on the same page
  • Sentiment score — quantified sentiment with keywords

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Citation changes

Between scans, Erlin tracks how citations change:
Change typeMeaning
Brand mention gainedYour brand was added to a cited source
Brand mention lostYour brand was removed from a cited source
Source appearedA new URL started being cited by AI
Source disappearedA URL is no longer being cited
These changes help you understand the dynamics of AI citation — which sources are gaining influence and where your brand presence is shifting.

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How to improve citations

Based on citation data, the main strategies are:
  1. Get listed on high-citation sources — if a review site is cited 50 times and doesn’t mention you, getting listed there has high impact
  2. Improve your position on existing citations — if you’re mentioned but ranked low, work on improving your placement
  3. Create content that becomes a citation source — comprehensive, authoritative content on your topic can become a source AI cites directly
  4. Monitor citation changes — react quickly when you lose a mention on a high-influence source

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Connection to AI Opportunities

Citation data feeds directly into the AI Opportunities engine. When Erlin finds a high-influence source that mentions competitors but not you, it generates a “Get Citation” opportunity with specific action steps.