Citation Rate
Definition
Citation rate is the share of AI answers or prompt runs in which a brand’s URL or named source is explicitly attributed.
By Vinespire Editorial Team, Editorial ·
This term is part of the full AI search glossary.
Full definition
Unlike a bare brand mention, a citation ties the answer to a source—inline link, footnote, or citation card. Citation rate divides cited runs by total eligible runs in a prompt battery or logged sample.
High mention volume with low citation rate can mean the model knows the brand name but is not grounding on owned pages. Improving crawlable docs, third-party corroboration, and extractable facts often targets this gap.
Report citations separately from recommendations and from sentiment. See Citation, Citation Card, and Answer Share.