Source metrics
Usage rate, ungrounded answers, and how a source's AI citations relate to its search rankings.
Sources are the web pages AI chatbots draw on when answering your prompts. A chatbot can cite them directly in its answer, or only use them while searching the web to prepare the answer. Where to find them in the app is covered on Cited Sources.
| Metric | The question it answers | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Usage rate | How often is this domain or page cited? | 0–100% |
| Ungrounded answers | How often do assistants cite nothing at all? | 0–100% |
| AI citations vs search rankings | Is a cited page also ranking in my tracked searches? | Four states |
| Sources per answer | How many web sources does one answer cite? | 0 and up |
Usage rate
The share of AI answers in the period that cite a domain or a page.
usage rate = answers citing the domain ÷ all answers for your brand in the period × 100
Next to it you see two counts: unique mentions (how many answers cited the domain) and, in brackets, total mentions (citations across all of the domain's pages — one answer can cite several pages of the same domain).
The Cited Sources page counts answers from all your prompts by default. Use the prompt-type filter to look only at brand-profile prompts or only at visibility prompts.
In search mode, the same table shows each domain's appearance rate — the share of your tracked search runs in which it appeared — and its average best position in the runs where it appeared.
Ungrounded answers
Answers that cite no web source at all. The rate is ungrounded answers ÷ all answers in the period. Cited Sources lists the prompts with the most such answers.
AI citations vs search rankings
On a prompt's detail page, each cited domain is compared with how it ranks for the search queries linked to that prompt.
The column in the app is AI / Search. The state names are:
| State | When |
|---|---|
| Strong search support | Usage rate is at least 20% and average search position is 10 or better |
| Without search support | Usage rate is at least 20% and it is not in the top 10 of your tracked searches |
| Strong search, no citation | It is in the top 10 and usage rate is below 5% |
| Low visibility | Every other combination |
These states only appear when the prompt has linked search queries — see AI search queries.
Cited sources that don't name you
On a prompt's detail page, sources cited in answers that don't name you are listed separately. Citation X-ray compares those pages with the prompt.