Sources & citations
Source authority & risk
Not all citations are equal — every source gets an authority score and a risk assessment, so you know which mentions to chase and which associations to avoid.
Two numbers per source
Every source in your citation data carries two assessments, visible in its detail panel (see citation entities for the panel itself):
- Authority score (0–100) — how much weight the source carries: domain strength, how consistently AI engines return to it, and the kind of content it publishes. High-authority pages are the ones whose mentions actually move AI answers.
- Source risk — a scored band (low / medium / high) flagging quality concerns: thin or templated content, aggressive affiliate patterns, misleading claims, or spam signals. A risky page citing your brand is not a win — engines increasingly discount those sources, and the association can cut against you.
How to use authority
Authority is your outreach prioritizer. When several pages cite competitors but not you, rank the list by authority and work down:
Sort your gaps by authority
A mention on one authority-85 review page beats ten mentions on authority-20 blogs. The high-authority gap list is short and high-yield.
Check who's on the page and how
The entity layer shows every brand already mentioned and the framing of each — so you know whether you're pitching an addition, a replacement, or a correction.
Match the content type
If the engines in your category trust reviews and comparison listicles, chase placements there; if they lean on documentation and guides, publish those.
How to use risk
Risk is your quality filter, in both directions:
- Sources citing you. Scan for medium/high-risk pages carrying your brand. You can't always control who mentions you, but you can avoid amplifying those pages — and prioritize earning trusted citations that outweigh them.
- Sources you're tempted to chase. A page that cites competitors heavily but scores high-risk is usually not worth outreach; its influence tends to be shallow and its association costly.
Volume without quality backfires. A citation profile dominated by low-authority or risky sources reads as manufactured — both to engines and to buyers who click through. Aim for fewer, stronger sources.
The questions this answers
- "Which three pages should we chase mentions on this quarter?" — highest-authority pages citing competitors but not you.
- "Is this citation worth celebrating?" — check the source's authority, risk band, and how the mention is framed.
- "Why is a competitor's visibility so durable?" — often: their citations sit on high-authority pages that every engine trusts.
You can also run this analysis conversationally — the MCP server exposes source evaluation, so you can ask Claude "is this URL worth chasing a mention on?" and get the verdict with reasons.