Most AI answers list the sources they used. The Citations section in the sidebar shows every source the engines cited in your scans, which brands those sources name, and which prompts and answers cited each one. Use it to find where AI gets its information in your category, and where you could be mentioned next.
Overview
The Citations section has five views:
| View | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Citations | Every cited page and domain, ranked, with share and position. |
| Offsite Mentions | What the cited pages actually say: which brands they name, what kind of page each is, and pages outside your site that name you. |
| Cited threads and the subreddits they come from. | |
| YouTube | Cited videos with their channels and stats. |
| Cited posts and articles and their authors. |
Community Signals sits in the same section. It finds questions people ask in communities where you could earn a citation by answering; see Community Signals.
The Citations, Reddit and LinkedIn views come straight from the answers your scans already collected, so they fill in as soon as a scan finishes. Offsite Mentions and the YouTube details need Stride to read the cited pages and videos themselves, which happens automatically after each scan (see How pages are read).
When to use it
- Before writing content. See which sites and page types AI trusts for your prompts, then write the page that would belong on that list.
- When a competitor outranks you. Open Offsite Mentions to see which cited pages name them and not you. Those pages are your outreach list.
- To plan community and video work. The Reddit and YouTube views show which threads, subreddits and channels AI keeps citing in your category.
How to use it
- In the sidebar, open Citations.
- Pick a model and a date range at the top right (last 7, 30 or 90 days, or all time). Every view in the section uses the same filters.
- Read the Top cited domains chart and the Citation share list beside it. Use the menu on the share list to show 7, 14, 21 or 28 domains; the chart follows.
- In the cited URLs table, search or sort, then open a row for its detail.
- Open Offsite Mentions to see which brands the cited pages name and what kind of pages they are.
- Open Reddit, YouTube or LinkedIn for those sources on their own.
- If you've just published something or a scan has finished, click Refresh sources to read newly cited pages now instead of waiting.
Citations
The chart shows the most-cited domains, lowest to highest, with each site's icon as its label. Over time switches to citations per scan for the same domains. Your own site is highlighted in yellow, and every other domain keeps its own colour.
The table lists every cited page with the engines that cited it, its citation count, share, and average, best and worst position. Once Stride has read a page, its title appears in place of the bare link. Open a row to see:
- Position over time for that page, per scan;
- the prompts whose answers cited it;
- the responses themselves, with where the page appeared in each; and
- Page: the page's title, a short excerpt, its kind, and which brands it names, once Stride has read it.
Offsite Mentions
Brands on the pages AI cites counts, for each brand, how many of the cited pages Stride read name it. It covers you, your tracked competitors, and the untracked brands AI names most. Only pages on other sites count; your own cited pages are left out. A brand named on many cited pages is one AI keeps reading about. Share of cited pages is a brand's pages over all brand-and-page pairs, so a page that names one brand five times still counts once.
Cited pages by kind sorts the read pages into Product page, Article, Guide, Listicle, Comparison, Review, News, Forum, Video and Social post, and shows how many of each name you. If listicles and comparisons dominate and few name you, that's where to focus outreach.
Pages that mention you lists pages outside your own site that name your brand, found with a Google search for your brand name and the main thing you sell. These aren't necessarily cited by AI yet; they're places where you're already discussed.
The table below lists every cited page Stride read, with its title, its kind, and the brands it names.
Reddit, YouTube and LinkedIn
Each view shows only links AI answers actually cited, never a general list of posts in your category. Share there is each link's part of that site's citations.
- Reddit shows each thread with its subreddit and the Reddit icon, so you can see which communities AI reads.
- YouTube shows top videos with thumbnails, top channels with their avatar and subscriber count, and an overview of total citations, unique videos and channels. The table adds each video's views, likes, comments, length and publish date, plus the channel's subscribers. These numbers come from YouTube when Stride last looked the video up, not live.
- LinkedIn shows each post or article with its author.
How pages are read
After each completed full scan, Stride reads the pages AI cited:
- up to 80 pages per scan, most-cited first;
- up to 300 cited YouTube videos per scan, with their details from YouTube;
- one Google search a week for pages that mention your brand.
Reddit, LinkedIn and other social sites block automated reading, so Stride doesn't open those pages. Their views use what the link itself shows, and they are marked as not read in Offsite Mentions.
A page that was read is checked again after 30 days. A page that couldn't be read is retried after 7 days.
Refresh sources runs the same read immediately, without a scan and without using a scan credit. You can use it once a day per site; the button shows when it's available again. New pages appear within a few minutes. The weekly Google search still runs at most once a week.
Definitions
- Citation. One source URL in one AI answer. If an answer repeats the same URL, it counts once; two different pages on one domain count twice.
- Share. A page's or domain's citations divided by all citations in the selected range (in the Reddit, YouTube and LinkedIn views, all citations of that site).
- Position. Where the answer listed the source, in the order the engine returned it. Position 1 is the first source.
- Read. Stride opened the cited page and saved its title, a short excerpt, its kind and the brands it names.
- Names you. Your brand name, or a spelling of it, appears on the page.
- Kind. Stride's best guess at the page type from its address and title: for example, a title with "best" or "top 10" is a Listicle, and one with "vs" or "alternatives" is a Comparison.
Links that differ only by tracking tags (such as utm_source) or www. are
treated as the same page.
Best practices
- Start from the listicles and comparisons. These pages often decide which brands AI recommends. If they name your competitors and not you, ask to be added.
- Match the source AI trusts. If guides dominate your prompts, a guide is more likely to be cited than a product page.
- Use the YouTube channels list for partnerships. Channels AI cites repeatedly are worth reaching out to.
- Refresh after a scan, not before. Refresh sources reads what the latest scan cited; it doesn't run a new scan.
Plan & limits
| Item | Limit |
|---|---|
| Pages read after each scan | Up to 80, most-cited first |
| YouTube videos looked up per scan | Up to 300 |
| Google search for pages that mention you | Once a week per site |
| Refresh sources | Once a day per site; not available on client seats |
| Scan credits used | None |
FAQ / Troubleshooting
Why does Offsite Mentions say pages aren't read yet? Pages are read after each completed full scan, up to 80 at a time. A site with many cited pages fills in over several scans. Click Refresh sources to read more now.
Why couldn't some pages be read? Some sites block automated reading or require a login. Stride retries them after 7 days, and never counts an unread page as not naming you.
Why doesn't the YouTube view show views or subscribers for a video? The video may be private or removed, or YouTube didn't return its details. It still counts as a citation.
Why is a brand I don't track listed on cited pages? Offsite Mentions also checks for the untracked brands AI names most often, so you can see rivals you haven't added yet. Add them under Brand → Competitive.
Why doesn't Pages that mention you show anything? Google found no pages outside your site that name your brand together with what you sell. If your brand name is a common word, results that aren't about your business are left out on purpose.
Why is the Refresh sources button greyed out? It was used in the last 24 hours for this site; the note beside it says when it's available again. Client seats don't see it.