The most important question in AI search isn't "is my page indexed?" — it's "does the AI mention my brand when a buyer asks the question that matters?" Ranking pages have value. Citations have revenue.
The ChatGPT Citation Checker runs your brand through 10 buyer-intent queries tailored to your category — "best alternatives to X", "cheapest tool for Y", "tool that does Z" — and reports which queries trigger an ALI mention, which queries cite competitors instead, and what description the AI uses when it does cite you.
Why citations matter more than rankings
In Google's classical SERP, ranking #4 still gets you 7–10% of clicks. In ChatGPT's answer, being mentioned at all gets you visibility; not being mentioned gets you nothing. The "long tail of organic ranking" is collapsing into a winner-take-most pattern: the brands cited in the AI answer get the consideration; the brands not cited might as well not exist for that query.
Bain's 2025 enterprise search study found that only 12% of ChatGPT citations overlap with Google's top 10 for the same query. Ranking well on Google does not automatically translate to AI citations. They're different games with different inputs.
What you'll learn
- Citation rate — what percentage of buyer-intent queries in your category trigger a mention of your brand
- Description accuracy — what the AI says about you when it cites you (often surprising)
- Competitor citation share — which competitors are cited more often, and on which queries
- Citation source patterns — which sites the AI references when it cites you (your homepage, G2, Reddit, etc.)
Pair this with our AI search visibility checker to fix the underlying technical signals that drive citations. Read our Reddit citation playbook for the highest-leverage off-site lever.