Citation Research1

Citation audits · Citation building · Original research

Earn the sources AI already trusts.

Answer engines build their answers from a small set of pages. We find the ones that matter for your buyers’ questions, and earn you a place on them by hand.

01 Services

Three services, one method.

The research tells us which pages answer engines trust. The client work puts you on those pages. Both run on the same protocol.

  1. Citation audit

    We ask the questions your buyers ask, across every major answer engine, and record who is cited, where and why. You get the gap: the pages AI trusts that do not mention you.

    Scope
    Your buyers’ questions, agreed with you, across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Gemini, Claude and Copilot
    You receive
    A source map of your category, your share of citations against rivals, and a ranked list of pages to win
    Then
    The same questions re-run on a schedule, so progress is measured, not asserted

  2. Citation building

    We earn mentions on the pages answer engines already cite for your questions: lists, comparisons, reviews and data roundups. Every pitch is written by a researcher who has read the page.

    How
    One editor at a time, by name, from outreach@citationresearch.com
    What we offer editors
    Facts they can check: current pricing, product details, data, an expert to quote, a correction to an out-of-date line
    You receive
    A log of every page approached and every placement earned, and the citation share before and after

  3. Original research

    We help you publish data worth citing: studies, benchmarks and indexes that journalists and answer engines return to. Designed, run and written to the same standard as our own studies.

    Formats
    Studies, benchmarks, recurring indexes, open datasets
    Standard
    Sample, dates and method stated on every number; limitations published with the findings
    You receive
    The study, its data files, and outreach to the publications that should cite it

02 An engagement

From baseline to placement.

Every engagement starts with measurement and ends with the same measurement, repeated.

  1. Agree the questions

    We draft the questions your buyers ask, from search data and your sales team, and agree them with you before anything is measured.

  2. Measure the baseline

    Every question across the engines, repeated, from your markets. Who is cited, and which pages carry the citations.

  3. Pick the pages

    The pages engines already trust for your questions that do not mention you, ranked by how often they are cited.

  4. Write to the editors

    A researcher writes to each editor, by name, with something worth adding. No templates sent in bulk.

  5. Measure again

    The same questions, on schedule. You see the change in citation share, with sample sizes.

Step 5 feeds step 2The full protocol →

03 Principles

What we will not do, for any client.

  • No paid links dressed as editorial. If a placement is paid, it is labelled as paid, or we do not take it.
  • No automated outreach. No sequences, no mail-merge blasts, no lookalike domains.
  • No fake reviews or self-written “independent” lists. We do not create the sources we then ask engines to cite.
  • No hiding who we work for. An editor who asks who a pitch is for gets an answer.

Read our outreach policy, or write to with a question.

Notice to recipientsOutreach policy

All client outreach comes from one named address. If you received a message from us and want to know who it was for, write to us and we will tell you.

outreach@citationresearch.com

Sent by a person on our team. Never from a lookalike domain, never on a schedule.

Want to know where AI cites your category?

We will run 50 of your buyers’ questions across four engines and show you who gets cited.

Talk to a researcher →
Research
research@citationresearch.com
Outreach
outreach@citationresearch.com