How Citations.io measures AI visibility.

Sampled measurement, not rank tracking

We do not measure search engine rankings. Instead, we sample answers from each tracked AI engine against your prompt set, then parse every answer for brand mentions, competitor mentions, position in answer, and cited sources. Every metric on your dashboard is an aggregation over those analysed answers.

Confidence tiers

Sample size matters. Every metric carries a confidence label so you know how much to trust it:

What counts as an analysed answer

An analysed answer is one verbatim response captured from a tracked engine for a tracked prompt, parsed for entities and citations, and stored with timestamp, market, and language metadata. Answers that fail content extraction are excluded from sample counts.

Engine coverage

We currently track ChatGPT (OpenAI), Perplexity, Google Gemini and Claude (Anthropic). Each engine is sampled independently; per-engine confidence is reported separately so you can see where the picture is clearer.

Refresh cadence

Default scan frequency is one monthly AI visibility scan on paid plans, and one scan during the 5-day trial. You can trigger a re-scan manually from Settings → Brand at any time (subject to plan rate limits).

Limitations

AI answers are non-deterministic - the same prompt can yield different answers across samples. That is precisely why we measure with sample-based confidence rather than reporting a single "rank". Use directional readings to spot trends; wait for moderate or strong confidence before making material content or PR decisions.