How do I see which websites AI answers cite?
On this page
Open Analytics, then AI Visibility, then the Sources tab. Where the AI gets its answers lists the websites and pages that AI answers cited for your questions, how often, and whether each one is your site, a competitor, a community, a reference site or press. Getting mentioned on the pages that are cited most is one of the most practical ways to be named more often.
Which answers include sources
Today, Perplexity is the assistant in our checks that names its sources, so the Sources tab is built from its answers. The others answer our checks with text alone, so they never appear here. The tab covers the last eight weeks of checks. If the tab is empty, wait for the next weekly check that includes Perplexity.
For Google's own AI answers, the report you import from Search Console lists Pages Google answers with: which of your pages appear in AI Overviews and AI Mode. See import your Google AI report.
The labels
| Label | What it means |
|---|---|
| Your site | A page on your own website |
| Competitor | A site on your Competitors page, or one matching a competitor named in Setup |
| Community | Places where people talk, such as Reddit, Quora and YouTube |
| Reference | Directories, wikis, review sites, and government or education sites |
| Press and blogs | Everything else, which is mostly news sites, magazines and blogs |
What to do with it
Each source is marked Best chance, Worth a go or Long shot, and sources are sorted so the best chances come first. A source cited when a competitor was named and you were not is the best place to start.
- Get listed here (on community, reference and press sites) adds a task to your to-do list with the steps: find who looks after the page and ask to be included, saying in one line who you serve and why their readers would want you there. On community sites such as Reddit, the steps are to answer the same questions people are asking, as yourself, with a link only where it helps.
- Write the post answering this (on a competitor's page) opens the question the competitor was cited for with the usual actions: add it to your blog plan, write the post (Entrepreneur and Enterprise) or add it to your to-do list.
To ask a site that already mentions you for a link, use Ask for a link on the Web Mentions tab.
Questions people ask
Why are none of my own pages cited?
Usually the questions are answered from other sites that cover them more directly. Check can AI answers use your site for anything blocking AI crawlers, and answer each buyer question directly on a page of your own.
How far back does the Sources tab go?
It covers the last eight weeks of checks, so a site that stops being cited drops off over time.
Do I need a paid plan for Sources?
Sources come from the weekly AI visibility checks, which are on Entrepreneur and Enterprise and their trials.