Monitoring Citations

When an AI system like ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Claude answers a question using your content, that's a citation — the AI equivalent of a search ranking. Monitoring citations helps you measure your GEO effectiveness and understand your influence in the AI-powered web.

What counts as a citation?

• Named source: "According to web4agents.org…"
• Inline link: A clickable source link in the AI answer.
• Referral click: A user clicking through from an AI answer to your site.
• Training influence: Your content shapes an answer without explicit attribution (hard to measure).

Manual spot-checking

The simplest starting point: ask AI systems directly about your topic and check if your site is cited.

ChatGPT / GPT-4

Ask questions where you expect to rank:

"What is llms.txt?"
"How do I optimize my website for AI agents?"
"What is GEO?"

Enable web browsing (GPT-4o with browsing) to see live retrieval citations.

Perplexity

Perplexity is the most transparent about sources — it always shows numbered citations. Check:

1. Go to perplexity.ai.
2. Ask a question in your domain.
3. Check if your site appears in the sources panel.

Claude (Anthropic)

Claude doesn't browse by default but Claude.ai Pro has a web search feature. Test with questions in your niche.

Bing Copilot

Bing Copilot cites sources clearly. Search via Bing for queries where you want to appear.

Perplexity referral traffic

Perplexity sends HTTP referrer headers. In your analytics, filter by source:

• perplexity.ai — Direct referrals from Perplexity answers.

Track this monthly. An increase indicates your content is being cited more often.

SearchGPT / ChatGPT Search

OpenAI's search product (SearchGPT) sends traffic with referrers from chatgpt.com or openai.com. Monitor these in GA4 or your server logs.

Branded search volume

When your site is cited by AI systems, more people search for your brand directly. Monitor branded search volume in Google Search Console:

1. Go to Search Console → Performance → Search results.
2. Filter by Query containing your brand name.
3. Track impressions and clicks over time.

A rise in branded searches after AI citations is a measurable proxy for AI visibility.

Mention monitoring tools

These tools track brand mentions across the web, including AI-adjacent content:

• Google Alerts — Free. Email alerts for your brand name or key phrases.
• Brand24 — Tracks mentions in social media, news, and increasingly AI-generated content.
• Mention.com — Similar to Brand24.

Set up alerts for:

• Your domain name (web4agents.org)
• Your brand name (Web4Agents)
• Your key coined terms (e.g., agent-ready web)

Tracking llms.txt effectiveness

After publishing llms.txt, check if AI systems use it:

1. Ask an AI system: "What does web4agents.org do?" — does the answer reflect your llms.txt description?
2. Check your server logs for requests to /llms.txt.

grep "llms.txt" /var/log/nginx/access.log | awk '{print $1, $4}' | sort | uniq -c

Building an GEO metrics dashboard

Combine these data sources into a monthly report:

• AI crawler hits (server logs)
• AI referral traffic (analytics)
• Branded search volume (Search Console)
• Manual citation spot-checks (Perplexity, ChatGPT, Claude)

This gives you a rounded view of your AI visibility — even before dedicated GEO analytics tools become mainstream.