Link citation audits are systematic reviews of which URLs AI platforms cite inside generated answers. Because engines like Perplexity and some Google surfaces expose citations, auditing source patterns reveals what content earns inclusion—and where to improve.
Why citation audits matter
- Authority map: Understand which domains and pages AIs trust for your topics.
- Content ROI: Identify pages that consistently earn citations and replicate patterns.
- Gap analysis: Spot competitor URLs being cited where yours are absent.
What to collect
- Platform: Perplexity, Google AI Overviews/Mode, Copilot, others where visible.
- Prompt tag: Topic, product, use case, campaign.
- URL + domain: Full path and host; canonicalize where needed.
- Position: Earlier citations (1–3) vs later—weight by prominence.
- Date: Trend analysis over time; freshness effects.
How to analyze
- Concentration: Top domains and pages by platform and tag.
- Content attributes: Structure, freshness, author credibility, original data.
- Competitive share: Your citation share vs competitor domains.
Using LLM Pulse
- Captures full answers with citations by platform and prompt.
- Tracks citation frequency and position over time.
- Filters by tags and competitors to prioritize content updates.
Actions from audits
- Scale winners: Expand patterns from pages that earn early citations.
- Refresh contenders: Update pages that appear but in low prominence.
- Close gaps: Create pages that mirror winning structures in missed topics.
Audit cadence and scoring
Cadence: monthly for most categories; weekly during launches or volatile periods. Scoring: weight early citations more heavily and normalize by platform. We also score by page type so we can see whether tables, FAQs, or research charts correlate with prominence.
Reporting the results
We include a top domains table, a top URLs table per platform, a position distribution chart, and a short commentary on why certain pages are winning. We end with three actions tied to specific URLs and a timeline to implement, then we annotate those actions on our dashboard to close the loop.
Case example
An “email deliverability guide” earned frequent but late citations. We added a TLDR, a dated update note, and a compact comparison table. Two weeks later the page moved into earlier citation positions and assistants reused the phrasing from the new summary. We replicated the pattern on two adjacent guides with similar results.