What You’ll See
Each row in the Citations tab represents a cited URL - a page that appeared in at least one AI-generated response to your monitored prompts.
You can explore the data in two main ways:
Group by Domain (default) – See which publishers or sites (as a whole) are most frequently cited across your prompts.
Group by URL – View specific cited pages and drill into their prompt-level performance.
What is a "Citation"?
A citation or "source" is any page/URL that was cited by an AI assistant (e.g., ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Gemini) when answering one of your tracked prompts.
Each time Scrunch collects a response, we scan for:
The full list of URLs cited
Which pages contributed to the AI model’s answer
Whether your brand (or a competitor’s) appears on those pages
Which topics the page content relates to (based on your Key Topics)
Citation Metrics
Influence Score
Scrunch’s proprietary influence score, calculated as:
Influence Score = Citation Consistency (%) × Number of Prompts
It reflects how frequently, consistently, and prominently a citation is cited across your tracked prompts.
Higher scores = greater influence on AI answers
Use it to prioritize which URLs or domains to protect, improve, or target
Presence (Yes/No)
Indicates whether your brand is actually mentioned on the cited page itself.
Yes = Your brand appears in the page content
No = The page was cited, but your brand isn’t mentioned
Note: This does not indicate whether your brand was mentioned in the AI’s answer—only on the cited page.
Filters You Can Use
Filter by Platform
Each AI assistant uses its own and ranking logic. Filtering by platform shows you which sources each assistant pulls from, and whether your brand shows up consistently across them.
Filter by Owner
Segment citations by ownership:
Owned – Pages you control and can update
Competitor – Pages controlled by competitors (good for monitoring)
Third Party – External sites worth pitching, partnering with, or monitoring for influence
Filter by Prompt Topic
Groups citations based on the topic of the prompt that led to their citation. Prompt Topics are assigned automatically based on your Key Topics and the semantic fit of each prompt.
Use this to see all citations tied to prompts in a given topic, even if the cited pages cover multiple subjects.
Filter by Citation Topic
Groups citation based on the topic of the page content itself, not the prompt. Scrunch reads each cited page, analyzes its content, and assigns topics based on semantic relevance to your Key Topics.
Use this to see only citations tied to citations in a specific topic—regardless of what the original prompt was about.
Example:
Prompt Topic: Cloud Security – All prompts about cloud security, even if the cited citations cover other subjects.
Citation Topic: Cloud Security – All cited pages whose content is about cloud security, even if the prompt wasn’t cloud-security related.
When to Use Citation Topics:
Measure content-level coverage for a topic
Spot topic gaps where influential pages don’t mention your brand
Monitor whether optimized pages are being cited in the right topical areas
Digging into a Citation
Clicking any URL or domain opens a detailed view showing:
Which prompts the citation was cited for
Citation frequency over time to track rising or falling influence
Actions You Can Take
Use the Citations tab to:
Identify citation opportunities – Find third-party pages citing competitors but not you
Prioritize updates or outreach – Focus on domains AI consistently pulls from
Spot content gaps – See why top citations rank and model your content accordingly
Track topical performance – Combine Citation Topic with Owner filters to see exactly where you’re winning or losing in a category
Export & Share
Export your Citations data in two formats:
Detailed – Prompt-by-prompt breakdowns
Summary – Matches the UI, ideal for sharing externally
Example:
Citations > Filter by Owner = Third Party > Group by Domain > Export (Summary) → Produces a clean, prioritized PR or partnership target list.
Common Use Cases
Refresh old blog posts currently being cited to ensure accuracy and brand context
Analyze competitor citations to reverse-engineer their approach
Build media pitch lists based on sites AI already trusts
Share third-party performance with executives, agencies, or content teams
The takeaway:
If you’re not spending time in the Citations tab, you’re missing the clearest clues into how to grow your AI visibility—now with Citations Topics to help you analyze at the content level, not just the prompt level.