An AI citation is a visible link or source reference attached to a claim in an AI-generated answer. It gives a reader a path to the page that supported the answer, rather than asking them to trust the model without evidence.
A citation is more meaningful than a brand mention. An answer can name a company without linking to it, or it can cite a company’s page without recommending that company as the best option. Those are three different outcomes with different business value.
What makes a page more likely to be cited?
AI systems tend to need a clean, supportable passage: a direct answer, clear attribution, and evidence that is easy to verify. That does not guarantee a citation, but it gives a system something specific to use. GEO is the broader work of making those signals consistently available.
How should a business measure AI citations?
Track the buyer questions that matter, the engine used, the page cited, and whether the citation was accurate. A raw citation count is not enough: one citation for a high-intent comparison can matter more than many citations for broad informational queries.