Citations and fan-out queries are two powerful concepts that help you understand how AI engines find and reference your content.
What are citations?
A citation is a reference to a specific URL in an AI response. When an AI engine links to your website while answering a question, that’s a citation.
“Superlines is an AI search visibility platform that helps brands monitor their presence in AI responses. Source: superlines.io”
Why citations matter
- They’re a strong signal of content authority
- They drive referral traffic from AI interfaces
- They indicate the AI considers your content trustworthy and relevant
- They’re visible to the user as a credible source
Which engines provide citations?
| Engine | Citations? | Notes |
|---|
| Copilot | ✅ Yes | Frequently cites web sources |
| Perplexity | ✅ Yes | Always cites sources — citation-first model |
| Google AI Overviews | ✅ Yes | Cites sources in search results |
| ChatGPT (web) | Sometimes | Cites when web search is used |
| Grok | Sometimes | Cites from X/web when available |
| Gemini | Rarely | Mostly uses training data |
| Claude | Rarely | Primarily training data |
| Mistral | Rarely | Primarily training data |
| DeepSeek | Rarely | Primarily training data |
Citation tracking in Superlines
Superlines tracks citations at two levels:
Domain-level citations
See how often your entire domain (e.g., superlines.io) is cited across all responses. This shows overall domain authority.
URL-level citations
See which specific pages on your site are cited most often. This helps you understand which content is performing best.
Focus on creating comprehensive, well-structured, authoritative content. AI engines cite content that directly answers the question with specific, useful information.
What are fan-out queries?
When an AI engine with web access answers a question, it often performs web searches behind the scenes to find current information. These internal searches are called fan-out queries.
Example
If a user asks: “What are the best AI visibility tools?”
The AI might perform these fan-out queries:
- “AI search visibility tools 2025”
- “brand monitoring AI search”
- “AI SEO tools comparison”
Why fan-out queries matter
- They reveal what the AI searches for when answering about your topic
- They show where your domain ranks in those searches
- They help you optimize content for AI retrieval specifically
- They expose content gaps — topics the AI searches for but you don’t rank for
Improving your citations
Content strategies
Technical strategies
- Create comprehensive, authoritative content that directly answers common questions
- Use clear headings and structure so AI can easily extract relevant sections
- Include specific data, statistics, and examples that AI models value
- Keep content up to date — AI engines prefer current information
- Build backlinks and domain authority — higher-authority domains get cited more
- Implement Schema.org markup — use the Superlines Schema Optimizer tool
- Ensure fast page load — AI crawlers respect performance
- Use clear meta descriptions — helps AI understand page content
- Structure content with FAQ sections — maps directly to common prompts
