Owned vs Earned
Before you ask which of your pages AI cites, ask how much of what it cites is yours at all. Almost none of it is. The vast majority of citations about a brand point to the web talking about it, not to the brand’s own site. This is the owned-versus-earned split, and what each side is worth.
Almost none of it is yours
Start with the share you’d expect to be large and find it is not. Of every citation AI makes about a brand, the slice pointing to the brand’s own domain against the slice pointing at the rest of the web.
Roughly 98 of every 100 citations about a brand point to someone else’s page, not its own. The slice you control is a rounding error in the total, which is why what the rest of the web says about you matters more than what you publish.
Wikipedia gets cited about you more than you do
For most brands the citation you’re losing isn’t to a competitor, it’s to the encyclopedia. Wikipedia’s share of all citations against the share your own domain earns, on the same scale.
Both are shares of the same pool of citations. A single encyclopedia page is the most-cited source most brands have, which is why a thin or missing Wikipedia presence quietly caps how often AI can reach for you.
What AI quotes, from you versus about you
The two sides aren’t made of the same pages. When AI cites your domain it reaches for your blog and homepage; when it cites the web about you, a slab of it is the encyclopedia, a page you don’t control.
Share of citations by page type within each side, the catch-all bucket aside. The encyclopedia exists only on the earned side: there is no owned equivalent, so the only lever is being worth an entry.
The slice you own is the warmest
Small does not mean worthless. When AI cites your own page it also speaks better of you than when it cites the web, and your homepage is the one citation it keeps coming back to.
Sentiment is scored 0 to 100 on how the citing answer portrays the brand; owned citations run 18 points warmer. And the homepage is the stickiest page you have: once AI cites it, it returns about 35× versus 8× for other owned pages, so it’s the first page worth making AI-readable.
Every citation URL across 337K citations and 882 brands is classified as brand-owned or third-party, then each side is broken down by page type and scored for sentiment. Owned is a small base (6,205 citations), so read its sentiment as a clear signal rather than a precise point. Wikipedia’s share and the owned share are both measured against the same citation pool.
Common questions
How much of what AI cites about a brand is the brand’s own site?
Very little. Across 337K citations, only about 1.84% point to a brand’s own domain. The other 98% are third-party pages: reviews, listicles, encyclopedias and editorial that talk about the brand. AI mostly cites the web about you, not you.
Does AI cite Wikipedia more than my own website?
For most brands, yes. Wikipedia alone is around 9.6% of all citations, roughly five times the share that a brand’s own domain earns. The encyclopedia, not a competitor, is usually the page standing between you and the citation.
Is it worth getting AI to cite my own pages?
The slice is small but it is the friendliest slice. When AI cites a brand’s own content, sentiment averages 76 out of 100 versus 58 for third-party citations, an 18-point lift. Owned citations don’t just add visibility, they improve how AI describes you.
Which of my own pages does AI come back to?
The homepage. Once AI starts citing a brand’s homepage it averages about 35 repeat appearances, versus 8 for other owned pages. If you make one page AI-readable first, make it the homepage.