Citations Overview
Citations Overview (GEO)
The Citations Overview page shows where AI answers link back to your content and who else shapes the conversation. Each widget highlights a different angle—volume, authority, growth, and gaps—so you can act quickly without digging through raw logs.
Quick‑Look Metrics
- Total Citation Pages – Count of all pages AI cited in answers. High = rich source pool.
- My Pages Cited – How many of your URLs were sources. A low count signals you need more AI‑friendly content.
- Domains Mentioning Me – Third‑party sites that name your brand on pages used as sources. A proxy for brand buzz beyond your domain.
- Your Domain Rating (DR) – Ahrefs‑style 0‑100 score for your site’s backlink strength—helpful context when comparing to external sources.
Green/red arrows under each card show the change vs. the previous period; toggle comparison in the header to hide or reveal them.
Trend: Your Domain Citations Over Time
This is typically shown as a bar chart by day. It highlights how your citation count is growing or fluctuating. For example, you might see daily bars indicating the number of new citations gained and any citations lost (if a previously cited page is no longer being cited, or if an answer update removed a citation).
The bar chart splits new versus lost citations day‑by‑day. Zoom to 7, 30, or custom days. Steady growth means your pages are gaining traction; sudden drops hint at content updates or indexing issues.
This chart helps answer questions like: Are references to my content increasing over time? Did we gain a lot of new citations recently? If you notice a spike on a particular day, it might correlate with a piece of content going live or a particular event where your content started getting referenced by AI answers.
Quality Snapshot: Citation DR Breakdown
A donut groups cited pages by Domain Rating tiers (e.g., 80‑100, 60‑79). Bigger high‑DR slices mean AI prefers reputable sources. Use this to gauge overall source credibility at a glance.
Most Cited Domains
This visual divides the total number of citation pages (the figure from Total Citation Pages) into buckets based on the Domain Rating of their source domain. Common tiers might include: High Authority domains (e.g. DR 80–100), Medium (DR 60–79), Low (DR 40–59), and possibly Very Low/Unrated (DR below 40 or no rating). Each segment of the donut represents how many cited pages fall into each authority category.
| Field | Why It Matters |
|---|---|
| Domain | Click to see exactly which pages were cited. |
| DR | Quick trust metric; 70+ is solid authority. |
| Source Type | Usually “Third‑party,” unless it’s your site. |
| # Answers | How often the domain appears in answers. |
| Pages | Distinct URLs cited from that domain. |
| Focus outreach on domains that rank high here—they already influence AI output. |
Top Cited Domains in AI Answers
Further down the page, you will find a table of “Most cited domains in AI answers.” This table lists the top domains whose pages are being cited in the AI-generated answers (essentially, the sources that appear most frequently). It provides a quick way to see which websites the AI answers rely on the most for information. The columns in this domain table include:
- Cited Domain – The name of the domain (website) that appears as a source. These are ranked by how often they are cited. For example, you might see domains like reddit.com, zapier.com, forbes.com, etc., if those sites’ pages were frequently used as references.
- DR – The Domain Rating of that domain (as discussed, an authority score 0–100). This helps you gauge the credibility of each source at a glance. High DR (e.g. 90+) indicates a very authoritative site
help.ahrefs.com. In the table, you might also see a small colored dot or icon next to the DR – this could visually indicate the authority tier (for instance, a certain color for high authority). - Source Type – This indicates the relationship of the source to you. Most entries will show “Third party” since they are external sites. If your own site appears in the list, it might be labeled differently (for example, “Your site” or similar) to distinguish first-party sources. In our example, all top domains were third-party (external) domains.
- No. of Answers – The number of AI answers in which that domain’s content was cited. This tells you how prevalent the domain is as a source across all the questions/answers. E.g., reddit.com – 19 answers means 19 different answers included a citation from some Reddit page.
- Pages – The number of distinct pages from that domain that have been cited. Using the same example, reddit.com – 28 pages would mean those 19 answers collectively pulled from 28 different Reddit posts or threads.
This Most Cited Domains table helps you identify which external sites are contributing the most to answers (some of these may be familiar industry sites or forums). For instance, seeing reddit.com high on the list indicates that community discussions are being used as sources.
High‑Value Sources Not Mentioning You
Shows authoritative domains cited by AI that discuss competitors but skip your brand. Each row lists:
- Domain & DR – Authority baseline.
- Brands Mentioned – Which rivals get coverage.
- # Answers / Pages – How visible that domain is in AI responses.
Use this as a prospect list for guest posts, PR, or partnerships.
For example, if Zapier.com has a high-DR blog that’s frequently cited and it mentions a competitor (say another tool) but not you, it will show up here. This is a GEO opportunity: it suggests you might want to get your brand/content featured or mentioned on those domains in the future (through outreach, partnerships, guest posts, etc.), since AI is already pulling information from them. In the overview, only a few top examples are shown.
Your Top Performing Pages
the Citations Overview page lists “Your top performing pages” – these are pages from your own site that are cited most often in the AI answers. Essentially, it surfaces which of your content pieces are getting traction in the AI-generated responses (if any). The table columns here include:
- Cited Page – Title/URL (clickable).
- # Answers – Frequency in answers.
- Mentions Brand? – Confirms on‑page brand visibility.
Double down on these themes; they already resonate with AI.
Put It All Together
- Benchmark Presence – My Pages Cited & trend chart answer “Am I visible?”
- Audit Credibility – DR donut and domain list reveal source quality.
- Spot Gaps – Opportunity table shows where competitors shine without you.
- Plan Next Steps – Strengthen top content, pitch high‑value domains, monitor growth weekly.
Tip: Citations Overview is in beta; some widgets may be limited on free plans.
© 2025 Writesonic GEO
Updated 1 day ago