When you ask an AI like ChatGPT or Google's Gemini a question, it sometimes includes sources — links or references that back up its answer. Citation Percentage measures how often those sources point back to your official website.
Think of it this way: every time an LLM answers a question related to your brand and includes any kind of source, there's a moment of truth — does it credit your website, or does it point somewhere else? Citation Percentage captures how often you're winning that moment.
Where can I find the Citation Measurement in the Bonafide application?
Visibility Module -> Citation Measurement (drop down)
How is it calculated?
Citation Percentage is calculated per feature and product combination. The formula is straightforward:
Citation % = LLM responses that cited your official website ÷ LLM responses that cited anything at all
In plain English: out of every AI response that included a source, what share of them pointed to your domain?
A few important things to know about how it works:
First, only responses where the LLM actually provided a citation count. If an AI answers a question without citing any source at all, that response is excluded from the calculation entirely — it doesn't hurt your score, but it doesn't help it either. The metric is specifically tracking the moments when LLMs are choosing who to credit.
Second, it's calculated at the feature and product level, meaning you can see Citation Percentage broken down by topic area — so you can identify exactly where your website is being credited and where it isn't.
What does a good score look like?
The value is expressed between 0 and 1 (or 0–100%). A score of 0.80 means that 80% of the time an LLM cited something in that category, it cited your official website. The closer to 1, the more consistently LLMs are treating your website as the authoritative source.
Why does it matter?
Citation Percentage is a leading indicator of your brand's authority in the LLM channel. When LLMs cite your website, they're signaling to users — and to their own training — that your content is the trusted source of record. Over time, higher citation rates correlate with more organic referrals: users who are told by an AI to go to your site, and do.
It's important to note that Citation Percentage is a measurement of your LLM channel presence, not the end goal in itself. The goal is to be part of the AI conversation in a way that drives real customer action — bookings, purchases, visits. Citation Percentage helps you track whether that's happening.