Citation Share measures how often AI search names your business as the authoritative source in generated answers. Most businesses have never checked. The ones that have are often surprised by what they find.
When a potential customer searches for what you do, Google increasingly generates a direct AI answer at the top of the results page. That answer names specific sources. It cites specific businesses. And it shapes decisions before a single link is clicked. Making your business that direct answer is the job of answer engine optimisation. Citation Share measures how often it is working.
Your Citation Share is the proportion of those AI-generated answers where your business is the source named. For most businesses, that number is zero. Not low. Zero. For their most commercially important queries, AI is answering on behalf of a competitor.
Your position in the ranked blue link results. Where you appear in a list that a growing proportion of searchers never reach, because AI has already answered their question above it.
How often your business is named as the authoritative source in AI-generated answers. The commercially relevant question is not where you rank. It is whether AI recommends you or a competitor.
"Citation Share is the metric that captures your AI search visibility. Most businesses have a Citation Share of zero for their most important queries and have no idea. That is the gap the free Snapshot is designed to reveal."
The Citation Share Snapshot is a human-delivered written report. Not an automated score. Not a dashboard access request. A Digitalhound analyst manually checks your Citation Share across the four AI platforms that now determine search visibility and returns a clear, actionable document within 48 hours.
We run each of your three target queries across Google AI Overviews, Google Gemini, ChatGPT and Perplexity. For each query we record whether your business is cited, what position it appears in if so, and which competitors are being named in your place.
Not all AI platforms use the same sources. A business may appear in Google AI Overview and be completely absent from ChatGPT and Perplexity. The Snapshot shows you the full picture across all four, not just the most visible one.
We identify the most likely reasons your business is absent: missing entity connections, content structured for human reading rather than machine extraction, off-site presence gaps. A prioritised action list tells you what to address first.
A written report in plain English. No jargon. No vanity metrics. An honest read of where you currently stand and what closing the gap would involve, with no obligation to take it further.
Want to understand the methodology before claiming your Snapshot? Our Citation Share blog post covers everything in depth.
Across Digitalhound and our client GetCarHire.com, more than 30 pages now hold first-page rankings and AI search citations. The Citation Share Snapshot is delivered by the same team. Below is a selection, every one live and verifiable at time of publication.
32,400 Bing AI citations recorded between July and October 2026, rising from effectively zero at the start of the programme. Read the case study.
Position 1 organic. Google AI Overview active. Original map graphic appearing at the front of the Overview carousel. Above TripAdvisor, Saga Holidays and Lonely Planet.
Position 1 organic. Google AI Overview confirmed. Same methodology as Malta applied to a second destination. Systematic and repeatable, not a one-off.
Page one organic. Google AI Overview active. Third consecutive travel destination producing first page rankings using the same content methodology.
Positions 1 and 2 simultaneously: The Drum republication at position 1, the Digitalhound blog at position 2. Funnel graphic in the Google AI Overview visual carousel since 2020.
Position 1 organic above Search Engine Land. Google AI Overview active. Zero link building. Methodology and entity authority only.
Position 1 organic above Search Engine Land. Google AI Overview active. Two separate coined keyphrases both ranking at position one simultaneously.
Position 1 organic for both "citation share" and "what is citation share". Digitalhound cited twice in the Google AI Overview for the head term, with a featured snippet for the long-tail. The methodology demonstrating itself in real time.
The same structural approach that placed our content above Search Engine Land, TripAdvisor and Lonely Planet is what we apply from day one of every engagement. The methodology behind these results is the same one we apply for law firms.
Submit your business details and three target queries. Digitalhound checks your Citation Share across Google AI Overviews, Gemini, ChatGPT and Perplexity and returns a written report showing where you stand and where the gaps are.
✓ Received. Your Citation Share Snapshot will be with you within 48 hours.
That is what Citation Share makes possible. The Snapshot tells you honestly how far away you are right now and what stands between you and it. Free. Delivered within 48 hours. No obligation.
Claim your free Snapshot →