Glossary
Citation share
Citation share is the fraction of an answer engine's citations that go to a given domain or brand across a set of queries — the emerging visibility metric of AI search, where being cited replaces being ranked.
The metric is measured two ways. Third-party tools sample queries at scale and count who the engines cite — the approach behind the published rankings of most-cited domains. And the engines themselves have begun shipping first-party numbers, which replaces estimation with measurement wherever it is available.
Its caveats are structural. Citation share is engine-specific: the same content earns different shares in different engines. It is model-sensitive: results shift when the engine swaps the model underneath. And methodology varies by measurer — query sets, geographies, and counting rules differ, so numbers from different sources rarely reconcile cleanly.
Common questions
What is citation share?
Citation share is the fraction of an answer engine's citations that go to a given domain or brand across a set of queries — the emerging visibility metric of AI search.
How is citation share measured?
Two ways: third-party tools sample queries at scale and count who the engines cite, and Bing Webmaster Tools reports it first-party in preview. Numbers from different measurers rarely reconcile — methodology, query sets, and the engine's model all move them.
What is a citation share metric?
A per-engine percentage: of all sources an AI engine cited for a query set, the share belonging to one domain. It is observational — a citation is not a click.
The record: AhrefsSemrushMicrosoft Bing
See also: AEOGEOZero-click searchAI visibilityGhost citation