Citation share
Citation share is the percent of relevant AI answers that point to your domain as a source, not just say your name.
A mention is cheap. A citation is a URL the user (or the model) can follow. Citation share asks: of the answers that cited anyone in this topic, how often was it you?
Perplexity is citation-heavy. ChatGPT is stingy. Compare like with like. If you average them, Perplexity will dominate the graph and you will “optimize” for the wrong surface.
Reddit URLs in the citation list are not a rounding error. They are often the proof the model used. Steal the insight, or show up in the thread, rather than yelling at the algorithm.
Examples
- 100 category answers, 40 include at least one link. 6 of those link your domain. Citation share is 15% of citing answers — say so, don’t hide the denominator.
- You get cited as reddit.com/r/…/comments/… not example.com. That is Reddit citation share, and it still moves deals.
Related terms
Citation rate is the share of tracked prompts where an engine attaches a link to your domain.
How often a specific URL — not just the domain — appears as a citation.
A ghost citation is when an AI answer names your brand but does not link you. You got the shout, not the click.
Reddit citations are when an AI answer points at a thread or comment as evidence. They are one of the loudest unofficial ranking factors in consumer categories.
Share of Model is your brand’s share of mentions in AI answers versus a defined competitor set, on a defined prompt set.
FAQ
Citation share vs citation rate? +
Citation rate is “how often did we get a link among our tracked prompts.” Citation share is “of the links handed out in this topic, what slice is ours.” Both are useful.
Does a Reddit link count for my brand? +
It counts as a source that talks about you. It does not count as your domain unless you want to cheat. Split the two.
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