In one sentence
An AI citation is a link or source reference an answer engine attaches to a generated answer, showing where a claim came from. Citations are the clearest measurable signal that a specific page influenced what the model told the user.
Citations and mentions are different things and should be counted separately. A mention means the model named your brand. A citation means it pointed at your page. You can be mentioned without being cited, which usually means the model knows you from elsewhere on the web rather than from your own site.
Tracking which of your URLs get cited, and which competitor or third-party URLs get cited in their place, is the fastest route to knowing what to publish next.
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