Citation share

Citation share only means something against a fixed prompt set: the same buyer-intent questions, run on the same schedule, per engine. For each answer, log every source the engine cites; your citation share is your domain's slice of that total, tracked over time and against competitors. A rising share means engines increasingly treat you as evidence — which tends to precede being named in the answer itself.

The reason to track it separately from mention rate: the two can move independently, and the divergence is diagnostic. Cited but not mentioned usually means your content is quotable but your brand entity is weak — engines use your facts without crediting you as a recommendation. Mentioned but not cited usually means your reputation lives on third-party sources while your own pages aren't worth quoting. Each pattern points to different work.

Example: a SaaS company's prompt set of 40 category questions yields 120 total citations across engines in a monthly run; nine point to the company's domain — a 7.5% citation share. Six months of comparison-page and documentation work later, the share is 18% and mentions have followed. There's no universal 'good' number; the meaningful benchmarks are your own trend line and the competitor next to you in the same report. Tool dashboards often call a related metric share of voice.