AI citation

By Dinesh Gahlot Updated

An AI citation is a page that ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity or Grok read while writing an answer, then listed as a source. Being cited is different from being named.

Your page can be cited in an answer that names three competitors. The reverse also happens. Your business can be named in an answer that cites none of your pages.

Example

This example is made up. A buyer asks Perplexity: "Which software company in Dubai is good for a delivery app?" Four sources appear under the answer: a directory page, a news article, a comparison blog and one company's own page. Those four pages are the citations. The companies named in the answer text are the mentions. A company wants both.

Each platform reads different websites. On 7 October 2026, Perplexity cited LinkedIn in 55 answers. ChatGPT cited YouTube in more answers than any other site. Gemini often cited Reddit, YouTube and Medium. The full counts are in our research on 150 questions to 5 AI platforms.

How to measure it

To measure AI citations, list the pages each platform cites for each question, and check whether any of them is yours. Keep a separate list for each platform. The five do not read the same websites.

The cited pages that are not yours are your target list. Open each one. Does it mention your business?

Answers change between runs, so repeat the count on the same questions. The named.ae report lists the cited pages for every answer on all five platforms, with each answer word for word.

AI visibility · GEO (generative engine optimisation)

Goes deeper: How to get your business recommended by ChatGPT

Sources

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