---
title: "What is AI Citation? Definition & Examples | Kitbase"
description: "A source link an AI engine attaches to its answer, attributing a claim to a specific page or domain."
canonical: https://kitbase.dev/glossary/ai-citation
---

[Home](/) [Glossary](/glossary) AI Citation

AI Visibility & GEO

# What is AI Citation?

A source link an AI engine attaches to its answer, attributing a claim to a specific page or domain.

An AI citation is a source an AI engine references when generating an answer — typically a link or attributed domain shown alongside, or embedded within, the response. Citations reveal which pages an engine trusted enough to draw from, which makes them one of the most actionable signals in AI visibility: they show you exactly where to focus content and outreach.

Citations are classified relative to a tracked brand: self (your own domain), a competitor's, or other — third-party sites like review platforms, forums, news outlets, or documentation that show up as trusted sources for a category even though they don't compete directly. The other bucket is often the most valuable to study, since those are the sites shaping the answer that a brand doesn't control and can't simply out-rank.

Because citation behavior varies a lot by engine — some cite heavily on nearly every answer, others rarely attach sources at all — citation rate is normally tracked per engine and read alongside mention rate rather than as a single blended number.

## Example

Analyzing citations across 50 tracked prompts shows a competitor review site is cited in 40% of answers about a product category — far more than any single vendor's own site. That review site becomes the top target for outreach, since getting listed favorably there has more leverage on AI answers than any change to the brand's own homepage.

## Related Terms

[

AI Brand Mention

An instance of an AI engine naming your brand or product in a generated answer, with or without a link.

](/glossary/ai-brand-mention)[

Presence Rate

The share of AI-generated answers that mention your brand or cite your domain, tracked over repeated runs.

](/glossary/presence-rate)[

GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)

Optimizing your brand's presence in AI-generated answers from engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude.

](/glossary/geo)[

Competitor Gap Analysis

Finding domains that link to your competitors but not to you, ranked as a prioritized outreach list.

](/glossary/competitor-gap-analysis)

## Track your AI visibility with Kitbase

See how often ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude mention your brand, which domains they cite, and how you stack up against competitors.

[Explore AI Visibility](https://docs.kitbase.dev/ai-visibility)