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    Definition

    Cited Sources

    Cited Sources are references that AI engines list separately from the main text to show where the information in an answer came from.

    Why Cited Sources Matters

    • Cited sources do three things:
    • 1. **Visibility:** your domain is seen as evidence, not just marketing.
    • 2. **Trust:** citations signal credibility to users.
    • 3. **Traffic potential:** citations can be clickable, sending visitors directly to you.
    • **Cited vs. Inline sources:**
    • **Inline sources** guide navigation inside the answer
    • **Cited sources** act as attribution/evidence

    Key Factors

    • Number of authoritative sources mentioning your brand
    • Relevance and authority of source domains
    • Recency and accuracy of source content
    • Diversity of source types (reviews, publications, directories)

    Action Steps

    • **How to earn more cited sources:**
    • Publish pages that read like **references** (definitions, statistics, "how it works" explainers).
    • Add **clear authorship and date updates** for trust.
    • Use **tight, factual paragraphs** that can be quoted without losing context.
    • Win mentions from authoritative sites that already appear as citations in your niche.
    • **Find out where you're cited (and where competitors are) via BeRecommended.com.**

    Frequently Asked Questions