AI citation tracker for source links and competitor gaps.
See the exact pages exposed by ChatGPT Search, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity. Keep each URL attached to its prompt, provider, controls, and history, then compare your citation gains and losses with mentions, recommendations, and competitor answers.
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Current public benchmark
Start with observed source patterns, then open the product workflow
The current privacy-filtered index contains 48,422,016 citation appearances, 2,602,557 unique URLs, 529,165 domains, and 1,643 tracked brands. It combines monitored citation appearances and cannot support provider market-share claims or provider-by-provider source preferences.
48.4M
citation appearances
2.60M
unique cited URLs
529.2K
unique cited domains
1,643
tracked brands
Source pattern
A broad long tail, not one dominant domain
YouTube, English Wikipedia, and Reddit lead the combined domain table, yet the top three hold only 7%. 86.75% remains outside the current named source taxonomy, which is a classification limit rather than a quality judgment.
Open the sortable source indexPersistence
A citation win can disappear quickly
In Trakkr's separate decay study, 73.5% of citations were one-and-done, the mean URL lifespan was 6.8 days, and average brand presence halved in 31 days. Those findings make first-seen, last-seen, and repeated observations core fields, not optional history.
Read the persistence studySafe gap example
Owned 4, competitor 11, observed gap 7
If the same fixed prompt set exposes 4 owned links and 11 competitor links, the observed gap is 7 for that set and period. Inspect the exact competitor pages and source types. Do not call the gap a ranking factor or claim the cited page caused the answer.
Use the citation-gap workflowFollow the evidence chain
Prompt
best running shoes for marathon training
Observed answer
Nike recommended · Adidas mentioned · Nike first
Cited URL
nike.com/running · exact page saved
Provider and controls
Google AI Overview · US · English · exact run date
Illustrative product record using demo values. It is not customer data, a live scan, or a performance claim. Provider-aware source URLs currently cover ChatGPT Search, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity.
- First seen
Owned page gains a citation
The prompt record exposes an owned URL in ChatGPT Search for the first time.
- Provider gain
Perplexity cites the same page
Provider coverage expands while the saved prompt and market controls stay fixed.
- Lost
Review page takes one slot
The owned URL drops from one observed answer while the brand remains mentioned.
- Gap found
Competitor wins the comparison prompt
A competitor is recommended and a publisher comparison becomes the exposed source.
Illustrative citation history showing first seen, provider gains, losses, and a competitor gap. Each event describes an observed answer only and does not claim why the source changed.
Measurement glossary
Five signals that should not be merged
- Mention
- The brand name appears in the observed answer, with or without a link.
- Recommendation
- The answer presents the brand as a suitable choice, not merely as a named example.
- Citation
- A source link the AI surface exposes beside or within the observed answer.
- Cited URL
- The exact linked page, kept with its domain, prompt, provider, and run date.
- Referral
- A later visit recorded after a click. It is a separate downstream metric.
Mentions and source links answer different questions.
Mention tracking records whether your brand appears in an answer. Citation tracking records the exact links a surface exposes beside that answer, including the domain, page, prompt, provider, and run date. A model may mention you without a link, or link to your page without recommending your brand.
When an answer names a competitor and exposes a review, comparison, or community page, that page becomes evidence worth inspecting. It may reveal a missing fact, weak owned page, or third-party coverage gap. It does not prove that the link caused the answer.
Trakkr runs the same prompt set across all 8 platforms. Its provider-aware citation table normalizes source URLs from ChatGPT Search, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity; the remaining platforms still contribute answer, mention, rank, and competitor evidence.
Mention tracking vs citation tracking
Prompt-to-citation workflow
Keep the evidence attached to the prompt
Freeze the prompt controls
Save the exact prompt, surface, market, language, and run date so the next result is comparable.
Capture the answer
Record the full response, named brands, their order, and whether the surface exposes any source links.
Normalize each source
Store the exact URL, domain, prompt, provider, first-seen date, and last-seen date for every exposed link.
Classify and recheck
Separate owned, competitor, publisher, review, and community sources, assign one action, then rerun the same controls.
The answer is what buyers see.
The source links are what you can investigate.
Cited domains
Every source domain exposed by the supported citation surfaces, ranked by observed link count across the controlled prompt set.
Your citation share
What percentage of observed source links point at pages you control, tracked over time without treating correlation as causation.
Competitor citations
The exact pages linked beside answers that name competitors, ready for a page-level source-gap review.
Page-level performance
Which of your URLs are linked, on which prompts, and by which citation-capable surfaces, so you can choose what to investigate.
Source-type mix
Whether observed source links point to reviews, communities, publishers, or brand domains. Use the mix to frame the next investigation.
Citation alerts
Notifications the day you lose a citation slot, win a new one, or a new source starts speaking for your category.
Source-link coverage and answer coverage are not the same
Trakkr normalizes exposed URLs from three citation-capable surfaces. The broader model set still supplies answer, mention, recommendation, rank, and competitor evidence.
Add your brand
Enter your domain. Trakkr generates a buyer-intent prompt set for your category and identifies your competitors automatically.
Collect answers and source links
Trakkr runs the fixed prompt set across all 8 models. The citation table normalizes exposed source URLs from ChatGPT Search, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity.
Win the slots that matter
Citation gaps become a ranked to-do list: pages to fix, sources to earn placements on, and alerts when a slot changes hands.
One plan covers every AI model
Trakkr doesn't charge extra per model. Visibility, alerts, and historical data across every AI model are included from $100/mo.
Growth
Every AI model includedFor founders and growing brands
- Track 1 brand daily across all 8 AI models
- 50 buyer-intent prompts per brand
- Daily AI visibility score + alerts
- Citation, competitor, and sentiment tracking
Scale
For agencies and multi-brand teams
- Track 10 brands daily
- Unlimited team seats
- White-label client portals
- API + MCP access for custom workflows
AI citation tracking means monitoring the source links an AI surface exposes when it answers questions in your category: which domains, which pages, and how often yours appear in the controlled prompt set. Those links are observable evidence, but they do not reveal every retrieval candidate or prove why a model produced an answer.
Mentions show whether your brand appears in an answer. Citations record the source links exposed alongside that answer. You need both: a mention can appear without a link, and a linked page can appear without a brand recommendation. Keep the two measures separate before deciding what to fix.
Source behavior varies by surface. Perplexity normally exposes numbered references, Google AI Overviews show supporting links, and ChatGPT can expose links when web search is active. Other models and modes may show no links or links that need separate interpretation. Trakkr's provider-aware citation table currently normalizes source URLs from ChatGPT Search, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity; all eight platforms still contribute answer and mention evidence.
Run a fixed set of plausible buying questions with web search active, save the exact answer and cited URLs, then repeat with the same controls. Trakkr runs the tracked prompt set daily and aggregates the observed domains, pages, first-seen and last-seen dates, provider split, and changes between reports.
Yes. Trakkr records linked sources across the controlled answer set, not only links to your domain. If an observed answer names a rival and exposes a comparison page or review site, you can inspect that exact page and decide whether the gap belongs to owned content, technical access, or third-party coverage. The link is evidence for that run, not proof of causation.
Publish a clear page that answers the prompt, support claims with evidence, keep visible facts and structured data consistent, and make an intentional crawler policy. Then rerun the same prompts and record whether the exposed source links change. No markup, crawler rule, or page format guarantees a citation.
Citation share is the percentage of observed source links in your controlled prompt set that point to pages you own. It helps compare your source presence with competitors and third parties over time. It is descriptive and does not prove that a cited page caused a mention or future recommendation.
No. A citation is an exposed source link in an observed AI answer. A referral is a later site visit after someone clicks a link. Not every cited link is clicked, and not every surface preserves an identifiable referrer, so citation tracking and referral analytics should be reported separately.
It opens a setup preview rather than running a no-signup citation scan. Full daily citation tracking starts with Trakkr's 14-day trial, which requires a card, and then moves to a paid plan unless cancelled.
See who AI cites in your category.
Enter your domain to preview a controlled prompt setup. Full daily citation reports start after you begin the trial.
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