Citation sources
The Citation gatekeepers tab in Reports ranks the domains that AI answers cite on your prompts by leverage. It shows which brands those answers name and marks Greenfield domains: cited on several of your prompts, in answers that do not name you yet.
Updated October 18, 2026Markdown
Citation sources are the websites AI engines point to when they answer your tracked prompts. Reports keeps a ranked list of them in the "Citation gatekeepers" tab, plus one page for each domain. Use it when you decide which publishers to pitch. It shows which sites the answers rely on across many of your questions, which brands those answers name, and where you are missing today.
The ranking lives in Internal analysis, your team's side of Reports. It stays in the app. Clients never see it on a share link or in a PDF.
Where to find it
- Open Reports, press "Internal analysis", then open the "Citation gatekeepers" tab.
- In a period briefing, a domain listed under "Top movers" links to its source page.
- Some pages Spot names in its answers link to their domain's source page.
The window selector at the top sets the period: 7d, 30d or 90d. The tab opens on 7d. Your choice stays the same when you switch between the Internal analysis tabs.
What the ranking shows
The list holds the 25 domains with the most leverage in the window, highest first. Leverage is a relative score. It only sets the order and is not a percentage. It says how much a placement on this domain could be worth to you.
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Domain | The domain. Click it to open its source page. The icon beside it opens the site in a new tab. |
| Leverage | The relative score the list is ordered by. |
| Prompts | Tracked prompts with at least one answer citing the domain in the window. |
| Models | How many AI engines cite the domain. |
| Brands | How many brands are named in the answers that cite it, yours included. |
| Own brand | Answers citing the domain that also name you, out of all answers citing it, for example "3 / 12". |
| Sample prompts | Up to three of the prompts the domain is cited on. |
Hover over the Leverage, Prompts, Models, Brands and Own brand headers to see what each one means.
Greenfield domains
A "Greenfield" badge next to a domain means it is cited on several of your prompts and none of those answers mention you. Its "Own brand" column reads 0. A placement on a Greenfield domain could put you into answers you are absent from today. That makes these domains a good place to start when you plan outreach.
Who a source names
The ranking counts the brands named in the answers that cite a domain, and the source page names them. You can tell whether a site is one where you already appear or one where other brands appear instead of you.
- Brands in the ranking counts every brand named in those answers, yours included.
- Own brand shows how often you are among them.
- Brands cited alongside on the source page lists the twelve brands named most often over the last 30 days, with how many citing answers name each one.
The source page
Each domain has its own page. The domain is the title, with an "open" link to the site beside it, and a line reading "Last 30 days · N responses cited this domain."
The tiles across the top:
- Citation timeline (30d): how many answers cited the domain each day. With too little history it reads "Not enough days yet."
- Models citing: each AI engine, with how many of its answers cited the domain in the last 30 days.
- Domain rank: how strong the publisher's domain is, from 0 to 1000, with its estimated monthly visits from Google search. This tile appears only after the domain has been measured.
- Opportunities on this domain: how many pages from this domain are opportunities in your project, counted across all time.
- Brands cited alongside: how many brands the citing answers name, counting up to the twelve most frequent.
Below the tiles:
- Brands cited alongside: the twelve brands named most often, each with its count. When there are none it reads "No co-mentions detected."
- Opportunities on this domain: up to 20 pages, each with its title or address and its priority, then "+ N more". The priority runs from 0 to 100 and orders the pages for outreach. It is a planning estimate, not a measured result. A page that has not been scored yet shows no priority.
- Recent AI responses citing this domain: the ten most recent answers, each with the engine, the date, the prompt and an excerpt of the answer.
Press "← Citation gatekeepers" to return to the ranking. It opens on 7d again.
How to choose a source to pitch
- Open Reports, press "Internal analysis", then open "Citation gatekeepers".
- Pick 30d or 90d to include more answers.
- Among the top rows, look for Greenfield badges and a low "Own brand" share.
- Open a domain. See which engines cite it and which brands its answers name, and read a few recent answers.
- Check "Opportunities on this domain". Then open Opportunities, set the analysis window to "All time" and type the domain in the search box to find those pages. Review them and promote the ones worth pitching. See The queue, views and filters and Bulk actions and promoting to outreach.
Good to know
- Measured size is separate. Domain rank is an authority rank from 0 to 1000. It cannot be compared with other authority scores. Search traffic is estimated for the United States in English only, so a publisher whose audience is elsewhere reads low. A missing tile means the domain has not been measured yet. It never means zero.
- An empty list. "No citations yet in this window." shows until AI answers with citations arrive in the daily data update. If a short window is empty, try a longer one.
- Not in client reports. Citation gatekeepers and the source pages are not on the share link or in the PDF. To show a client the placements you won, see Wins and verification.