Being named in an answer and being linked in one are different outcomes. Citations are the ones that send traffic.
Why models cite some pages and skip others
A model cites a page when it needs a source for a specific claim and that page states the claim plainly. Pages that bury the answer under an introduction, a story and a pitch get read and dropped in favour of a competitor who answered in one sentence.
Write pages a model can quote
One question per section, the answer in the first sentence, the detail underneath it. Concrete numbers, dates and names instead of adjectives. A short summary near the top that can be lifted whole. If a paragraph only makes sense after reading the two before it, it will not be quoted.
Earn the mentions that feed the models
Assistants lean on sources they already trust: review sites, community threads, documentation, established publications. One accurate mention in those places usually does more for citations than another post on your own blog.
Check whether it worked
Track the prompts where you want to be cited and watch which URLs come back. When a rival page is cited on a prompt you want, read it — it is usually shorter and more direct than yours, not better written.
See where you stand in AI answers
Citex tracks your brand across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI, Gemini, Grok and Claude, on the prompts you choose.
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