# What is Citation? AI Citation, explained > Being the source the model links to. An AI citation is a link or attribution that a generative engine — ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews — surfaces alongside a synthesized answer. Citations are the GEO win condition: not just being read by the model, but being credited to the user. ## How Citation differs from GEO, AEO, LLMO A backlink lives in the HTML of another site. An AI citation lives inside an AI-generated answer — surfaced as a footnote, hyperlink, or source pill in the chat UI. ## How Mentionwell handles Citation - Every claim tied to evidence (statistic, quote, primary source) so the model has something concrete to cite. - Stable canonical URLs so citations don't decay over time. - Markdown mirrors so generative engines can ingest a clean version of the source. ## Frequently asked questions about Citation ### What's an AI citation? A link or attribution shown next to an AI-generated answer pointing back to a source page. ChatGPT Search, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Copilot, and Gemini all surface them. ### How do I get cited by AI engines? Tie every claim to evidence, lead with the answer, ship clean Markdown mirrors, keep canonical URLs stable, and publish original data the model cannot find elsewhere. Mentionwell does all of this by default. ### How are AI citations measured? Citation rate — the share of AI answers about a topic that include your domain as a source. Princeton's GEO study (2024) is the canonical methodology. ## See also - [GEO — Generative Engine Optimization](https://mentionwell.com/geo): Be the cited source. - [AEO — Answer Engine Optimization](https://mentionwell.com/aeo): Be the answer. - [LLMO — LLM Optimization](https://mentionwell.com/llmo): Be reachable, parseable, ingestible. --- Canonical URL: https://mentionwell.com/citation Live HTML version: https://mentionwell.com/citation Site index for AI ingestion: https://mentionwell.com/llms.txt Full reference: https://mentionwell.com/llms-full.txt