Citation.
A citation is an answer engine mentioning a source in the answer it produces, usually with a link to it.
In classic search the unit of visibility was the ranking; in answer engines it is the citation. A page can rank at the top and never be cited, or sit far down and be mentioned every time — industry reports show the link between the two has weakened markedly.
The unit cited is usually the passage, not the page. The model takes the section that answers the question, so the unit of optimisation is the section too. Whether a section can be cited depends on it remaining true and comprehensible on its own once detached from the page.
What increases the chance of being cited fits in a short list, and none of it is magic.
- Let the section’s first sentence answer the question without context.
- Use no back-references — “as we explained above” kills the citation.
- Be concrete — passages carrying numbers, dates, measurements and definitions are selected more often.
- Keep it short — cited passages are usually one or two sentences.
- Match it to a heading — the passage is almost always right below one.
Being cited does not always bring a visitor; the user may take the answer and not click. It has value nonetheless: industry reports show that pages mentioned receive a higher click-through rate, and a brand mention carries a recognition signal independent of clicks.
Measuring citations is done by hand: asking the target questions regularly and recording which sources are mentioned. The most valuable field in that record is the cited passage itself — after a few months it reveals a pattern in which form gets chosen.
And competitor analysis follows from there: who is mentioned on the same questions shows you your real competitors. That list usually differs from the one you drew up yourself, because the model mentions whoever answers the question well.
- The first-sentence rule — let the section’s first sentence answer the question on its own.
- Independence — the passage should stand once detached.
- Concreteness — passages carrying numbers, dates, measurements and definitions are selected more often.
- Brevity — cited passages are usually one or two sentences.
- Heading match — the passage is almost always right below a heading.
What the five have in common is that all of them also count as good writing. What changed in the era of answer engines is the cost and the return of that discipline — not the rules themselves.