Citation Card
Definition
A citation card is a UI element in AI answers that shows a source title, link, or snippet attributing part of the generated response.
By Vinespire Editorial Team, Editorial ·
Core conceptsAI search glossary
This term is part of the full AI search glossary.
Full definition
Answer engines and AI Overviews often present sources as cards, chips, footnotes, or numbered links beside the prose. These citation cards make attribution scannable and provide the click path when users want the original page.
Earning a citation card is a concrete GEO outcome: the brand is not only named in text but offered as a verifiable source. Selection usually favors pages that match the claim, are crawlable, and appear trustworthy relative to alternatives.
Citation cards differ from classic organic rankings and from unattributed brand mentions. See Citation, AI Visibility, and Answer Engine Results.
Example
Perplexity shows numbered source cards under an answer; hovering a number highlights the supporting sentence and links to the publisher’s guide.