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Understanding the Citations Tab in Scrunch

This guide contains a breakdown of the Scrunch Citations tab and how to leverage data on what models are saying and why they’re saying it.

Updated over a month ago

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 "Source"?

A source is any 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)


Source 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 source 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 sources 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 Source Topic (New)
Groups sources 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 sources 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 sources cover other subjects.

  • Source Topic: Cloud Security – All cited pages whose content is about cloud security, even if the prompt wasn’t cloud-security related.

When to Use Source 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 Source

Clicking any URL or domain opens a detailed view showing:

  • Which prompts the source 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 sources rank and model your content accordingly

  • Track topical performance – Combine Source Topic with Owner filters to see exactly where you’re winning or losing in a category


Export & Share

Export your Sources data in two formats:

  • Detailed – Prompt-by-prompt breakdowns

  • Summary – Matches the UI, ideal for sharing externally

Example:
Sources > 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 Source Topics to help you analyze at the content level, not just the prompt level.

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