Playbook · methodology
Get cited by the sources AI trusts
Engines that search the web build their answers from a small set of sources. If those sources don't mention you, the answer won't either. This playbook maps the sources behind your prompts and turns them into a content and outreach plan.
- Goal
- Higher citation rate and more mentions in cited sources
- For
- Content, PR and SEO teams
- Baseline
- 7–14 days of daily tracking
- Re-measure
- Monthly
Goal
Increase how often AI engines cite your own pages (citation rate) and how often the third-party sources they cite mention you. The first depends on your content; the second on your presence in publications, reviews, directories and communities.
Who it's for
- Content teams deciding what to publish next
- PR teams choosing which publications to pitch
- SEO teams used to link building who want to prioritize by AI impact
- Brands in categories dominated by review and comparison sites
Prompt set
Ten informational and commercial templates. Informational prompts reveal which explainers and guides engines rely on; commercial prompts reveal which reviews and lists they rely on.
Import it in AutoSEO under AI Visibility → Tracker → Import CSV (paste the text or upload the file).
Replace these placeholders before you import — the importer takes every line literally:
[topic]— a subject you want to be known for, e.g. “balcony solar systems”[category]— your product category[problem]— a problem your product solves[audience]— a buyer segment
prompt,tags"What is [topic] and how does it work?","Sources|Informational""How do I choose a [category]?","Sources|Informational|Buying guide""What should I look for when buying a [category]?","Sources|Informational|Buying guide""How can I solve [problem]?","Sources|Informational""What are common mistakes with [topic]?","Sources|Informational""What is the best [category] according to reviews?","Sources|Commercial""Which [category] is the most reliable?","Sources|Commercial""Is a [category] worth it for [audience]?","Sources|Commercial""Which [category] brands are trustworthy?","Sources|Commercial""Where can I compare [category] options?","Sources|Commercial"Engines to track
Citation analysis needs engines that show their sources.
| Engine | Why it matters for citations |
|---|---|
| Perplexity | Shows numbered sources for every answer — the clearest view of what gets cited. |
| ChatGPT (with web search) | Cites sources when it searches, and it reaches the largest audience of any assistant. |
| Google AI Overviews and AI Mode | Link to the pages they summarize, often pages that also rank in classic results. |
| Gemini and Microsoft Copilot | Grounded in Google and Bing search respectively — useful to see where the two indexes differ. |
Baseline measurement in AutoSEO
- 1
Import and track
Import the prompt set, select engines that cite sources and track daily for one to two weeks until the list of sources stabilizes.
- 2
Map the sources
AI Visibility → Sources lists the pages and domains cited for your prompts, grouped by source type. Note the most frequently cited domains.
- 3
Mark your gaps
For each top domain, check whether it mentions you, mentions only competitors or mentions neither. That is your gap list.
- 4
Freeze the baseline
Note your citation rate per engine and tag in the tracker and save a report from the Citation Analysis template.
Actions
- 01
Prioritize by how often a source is cited
Start with the domains cited most often for your prompts. A niche forum that appears in many answers matters more than a famous site that never does.
- 02
Improve the pages you already own
Answer the prompt's question in the first paragraph, add facts with dates and sources, and use clear headings and tables. Pages that engines already cite are your template.
- 03
Earn mentions in editorial sources
Offer data, expert comments or product access to the publications that get cited. Never pay for undisclosed placements — that is a legal and a trust risk.
- 04
Complete your listings
Keep your profiles on the review platforms, marketplaces and directories that appear under Sources complete and up to date.
- 05
Join communities honestly
If forums or Q&A sites are cited, contribute helpful answers under your real name and disclose your affiliation. Astroturfing gets removed and remembered.
- 06
Check technical access
Make sure AI crawlers can fetch your pages and that facts are in the HTML, not only in scripts or images. See the crawler access playbook.
How to measure change
- Citation rate of your own domain per engine, for the same prompt set, averaged over at least seven runs
- Number of top-cited domains that now mention you, re-checked by hand
- Mention rate and position for the prompts tagged Commercial
- New pages of yours appearing under Sources
- Before and after with the Citation Analysis report template
Log what you did and when
Keep a dated log of published pages, pitches and new listings. Without it, you can't connect a later change in citations to a specific action.
Expected variance
Cited sources change more slowly than the wording of answers, but they do change: engines re-rank retrieved pages for every query, and web results shift. A single answer may cite three sources or fifteen. Judge a domain by how often it is cited across many answers, not by any one answer.
Limitations
- You can influence third-party sources, but you can't control them: editors decide what they write.
- Engines answering without web search draw on training data and cite nothing; this playbook doesn't change those answers in the short term.
- Sources depend on country and language, so work on each market separately.
- A higher citation rate does not automatically mean more mentions: engines sometimes cite a page and still name other brands in the answer.
Questions about this playbook
What is the difference between a mention and a citation?
A mention is your brand name in the answer text. A citation is a link to a source the engine used. You can be cited without being mentioned, when your page informed an answer that names others, and mentioned without being cited, when the engine knows you from elsewhere. AutoSEO tracks both.
Should I pay for placements on sites that get cited?
Not for undisclosed ones. In most markets, paid placements must be labeled as advertising, and editors and engines increasingly discount obviously paid content. Earn mentions with useful data, expertise and product access instead.
How many sources should I work on at once?
Start with the ten domains cited most often for your commercial prompts. That is usually enough work for a quarter, and it focuses effort where engines actually look.
Does classic SEO still matter for this?
Yes. Engines that search the web often draw on pages that rank well in their search index. Keyword research, rank tracking and site audits in AutoSEO serve the same goal as this playbook.
Why does Perplexity cite different sources than ChatGPT?
They use different search indexes, retrieval methods and ranking. That is why this playbook tracks several engines and compares sources per engine instead of assuming one list fits all.
Further reading
Which GEO techniques work?
What the research shows about raising AI visibility, why studies disagree and how to test a technique yourself.
What is query fan-out?
How AI search splits one prompt into many searches, and what that means for your content.
AI Mode vs. AI Overviews
How Google's two AI answer formats differ and how to measure both.
Run this playbook in AutoSEO
Every feature is included in the free self-hosted edition and in AutoSEO Cloud.