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Citation gaps: where AI cites others and not you

When AI assistants answer a question one of CitedSEO's articles covers but cite other sites, it suggests an update that makes the article easy to quote.

Written By Damian

Last updated About 2 hours ago

A Citation gap card means AI assistants answer one of the questions CitedSEO tracks for you, one of the articles it wrote covers that question, and the assistants cite other sites instead of yours. When you approve the card, CitedSEO updates the article so it's easy for an assistant to quote: the answer said plainly near the top, in the question's own words. These cards aim for AI assistants citing you, never for clicks.

The numbers behind a citation gap: the question, each assistant, none citing you yet, what ChatGPT gets wrong about the site, and the sites cited instead

Where it comes from

Each week CitedSEO asks ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI the questions in AI visibility. Each day it looks at the latest answers for questions where at least one assistant answered citing other sites and not yours, whether or not it named you. An assistant still waiting, or one that couldn't answer, doesn't count either way.

A question becomes a card only when an article CitedSEO wrote covers it: either an assistant already cites that article for it, or the article answers the question closely enough. That decides which card a question goes on:

  • No page of yours answers it: it rides on a content gap card for the searches it asks about, so CitedSEO writes a new article.
  • One of CitedSEO's articles answers it: it's a citation gap, and that article is updated.
  • Only a page of your own answers it: no card, since CitedSEO only changes articles it wrote.

A question nobody is cited for isn't raised, since there's no one to beat. Citation gaps wait until your first article is live. They don't need Search Console.

You get one card per article. When an article covers several questions, the card leads with the one the most assistants cite others for, and the plan covers the others too. Its title is Get cited when AI is asked “…”.

What the card shows

  • The question, and each assistant that answered it, with a tick on those that cite you. Press an assistant to read its saved answer, with the sources it used.
  • Cited instead: the sites the answers cite, your competitors first.
  • Aim: assistants citing you: how many cite you now and the aim, out of the assistants that answered. The aim is half of those citing others, at least one more: with four citing others, "If 2 more assistants cite it". It's an aim, not a forecast: AI answers change week to week, so CitedSEO checks again each week.
  • How sure CitedSEO is. A citation gap starts at Low confidence until CitedSEO has measured how its updates do.

Pressing ChatGPT on the card opens ChatGPT's saved answer to the question, with the sources it used

When an answer gets you wrong

CitedSEO also reads each sentence of the answers that names your site, and checks it against what your own site says. When an answer clearly states something about you that your site contradicts, the card shows it, for example "ChatGPT gets you wrong", what the answer says, and what your site says under Your page. CitedSEO only flags one when it's quite sure, since saying an assistant gets you wrong when it doesn't would be worse than saying nothing.

A wrong answer is never a card of its own. It's evidence on the question's citation gap, and the plan then adds a step that states the fact the way your site gives it. Without a wrong answer, the plan doesn't touch how assistants describe you.

What happens when you approve it

Approve lets CitedSEO make the change, check it and publish it on its day: "Approving lets me make this change, check it and publish it on its day. You can undo it." Before writing, it reads the pages the assistants cite for the question. Then it:

  1. Updates the article, changing only the sections the steps under What we'll change name. Every other section stays word for word.
  2. Checks the updated article, including that it does each step, before anything goes live.
  3. Publishes the update at the next daily slot, at the same address.

Once the card is scheduled, the question on AI visibility shows Fix queued, linking to the card. With Page updates on in Autopilot, citation gaps are scheduled without waiting for your OK. Once it's live, you can undo it from Opportunities › Shipped, and after it ships CitedSEO follows whether more assistants cite the article in the weekly checks.

What it never does

  • It never changes a page CitedSEO didn't write.
  • It never claims clicks for a citation gap.
  • It never raises a wrong answer as a card of its own.

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