When an AI assistant searches the web to answer a question, it usually shows where the information came from: numbered footnotes in Perplexity, source chips in ChatGPT search, link cards in Google’s AI features and Copilot. Those are LLM citations. LLM stands for large language model, the technology behind these assistants.
Mentions versus citations
They’re related but different:
- A mention is when the answer names your business: “Brightside Dental in Austin offers sedation for anxious patients.”
- A citation is when the answer links to a page as a source. That page might be yours, or a review site, a news article or a directory that talks about you.
The best outcome is both: your business named and your own page cited. But being mentioned with a citation to a third-party page (a local news story, a “best dentists in Austin” list) still counts and often carries extra credibility.
How assistants choose sources
When an assistant searches live, it runs one or more web searches, reads some of the results, and cites the pages it used. Factors that tend to matter:
- Being findable in the search engine the assistant uses. ChatGPT search, Copilot and others draw on search indexes, so ordinary SEO helps.
- Being readable by the assistant’s crawler, which often doesn’t run JavaScript and can be blocked by firewalls.
- Having a clear, specific passage that answers the question.
- Being a credible source for the topic.
This is the core of generative engine optimization.
Why it matters
Citations are the closest thing AI search has to rankings. Each one is a chance for a click from someone who wants more detail, and a visible signal that your business is an authority. For Coastline Plumbing, being the cited source when someone asks Perplexity “how much does slab leak repair cost in Austin” is worth more than any generic ranking report.
Citations from Google’s AI Overviews appear in Search Console’s normal Web totals. Citations from other assistants show up, partly, as referral traffic in analytics, from sources like chatgpt.com and perplexity.ai.
How to earn more
- Allow AI search crawlers in robots.txt and your firewall
- Publish pages with specific, quotable facts: prices, timeframes, comparisons
- Keep important text in the HTML, not behind scripts or tabs
- Earn coverage on sites assistants already cite often in your industry, through digital PR and genuine reviews
Common mistakes
- Counting only citations of your own domain and ignoring third-party ones that name you
- Testing once and assuming the result is stable
- Blocking AI crawlers by accident through bot protection
How to track them
RankThat’s AI Visibility checks whether ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude and Google AI Overviews mention or cite your business for questions about your services and area, and compares the results with competitors over time.