Features / Ghost Citations
Ghost Citations · All plans
Find unlinked brand mentions in AI answers
Ghost Citations are mentions of your brand in an AI answer without a link to your website. AEO Pal, the AEO & GEO platform, detects these unlinked mentions on every plan so agencies and SEO teams can distinguish brand visibility from a citation to the brand’s own content.
First 99 customers get 3 months free · card required
The problem
Why is a mention different from a citation?
An answer can name your brand while sending the reader to someone else’s page. Counting that appearance as a website citation would hide a useful distinction. Ghost Citations identify the gap between being mentioned in the answer and having your own content linked as a source.
For an agency, that distinction changes the client conversation. A brand may be part of an answer, yet the source credited for the information may be a directory, publisher, or another domain. Review the saved answer and its links before describing what the brand earned from that appearance.
Definition reference: Ghost Citations in the AEO glossary.
Follow the evidence
What does Ghost Citations look like?
Illustrative example · Fieldnote
Illustrative answer · Fieldnote
Fieldnote appears in the answer
The sample answer names Fieldnote when discussing agency reporting tools. That is a brand mention. The name alone does not tell the team whether fieldnote.example is linked or whether the answer credits another page for its information.
A brand can be visible in an answer without receiving a link to its own site.
The mechanics
How does Ghost Citations work?
01
Start with a captured answer
Live Capture records the consumer-interface answer in the selected location, including the full text, citations, and mentions. Starter and Agency refresh daily. That observation supplies the evidence for reviewing how a brand appears rather than relying on a hypothetical answer or a separate API output.
02
Separate the name from the destination
Check whether the answer mentions the brand and whether it links to the brand’s own website. Ghost Citations identifies the mention-without-link case. This keeps the interpretation specific: a brand was named, but a link to its own content was not present in that captured answer.
03
Inspect the cited sources
Source Map shows which third-party URLs and domains AI engines cite for your prompts. Citation Gaps highlights sources where competitors appear and you do not. Use these views alongside Ghost Citations to understand whether the next question concerns your own page, another source, or the topic coverage.
04
Turn the finding into a website review
Inspect the relevant page for missing facts, unclear definitions, weak direct answers, or other audit findings before choosing a change. Fix Queue proposes website fixes that the user approves or authorizes for auto-publishing.
Put it to work
How can your team use Ghost Citations?
Agencies: report the distinction
Explain that a client was mentioned without describing the appearance as a linked citation. Use the captured answer and source context in the reporting conversation.
In-house teams: write a specific brief
Use the prompt and cited sources to frame a focused content brief. Review which facts and direct answers the brand’s own page could explain more clearly.
SMBs: understand what was credited
Inspect the answer and its sources before choosing a website task. Distinguish recognition of the business from a link to its own information.
The bigger workflow
How do Ghost Citations connect to source analysis and fixes?
Ghost Citations answers whether the brand is named without a link. Source Map answers which third-party sources were cited. Citation Gaps looks at sources where competitors appear and the brand does not. Keep those questions separate so the next action follows the evidence rather than an assumed reason for the missing link.
AEO Audit and Content Studio support work on the brand’s own pages. Fix Queue organizes proposed changes for approval or authorized publishing through WordPress, Shopify, or Webflow. These changes improve the information the site presents; they do not guarantee a future citation or create control over an external publisher’s page.
Plan availability
Which plans include Ghost Citations?
| Plan | Ghost Citations | Engine coverage |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | Included | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot, Gemini |
| Agency | Included | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot, Gemini |
| Enterprise | Included | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot, Gemini, Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Grok, Claude |
See brand allowances, response volumes, and location options on the AEO Pal pricing page.
FAQ
Ghost Citations questions
Ghost Citations are mentions of your brand in an AI answer without a link to your website. AEO Pal detects these unlinked mentions on every plan. They help distinguish being talked about from being cited, alongside Source Map and Citation Gaps, which show the sources cited for your prompts and where competitors appear.
AEO Pal runs your prompts through the live consumer AI interface from the country, state, or city you choose. Live Capture stores the full answer, chat history, citations, brand mentions, and competitor mentions. Every plan refreshes daily. The method records the interface buyers use rather than relying on developer API output.
The Answer Archive stores each captured answer with its full chat history, citations, brand mentions, and competitor mentions. It is included on every plan and is searchable over time. The archive lets your team examine the evidence behind monitoring findings instead of relying only on a summary of brand visibility or sentiment.
Fix Queue turns findings into proposed website fixes, including meta descriptions, JSON-LD, FAQ schema, direct-answer blocks, heading hierarchy changes, content updates, and new content. It is included on every plan. You approve each fix or authorize auto-publishing, and AEO Pal publishes through your connected WordPress, Shopify, or Webflow site.
Starter and Agency track ChatGPT, Perplexity, Microsoft Copilot, and Gemini. Enterprise tracks all eight engines, adding Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, Grok, and Claude. Starter and Agency refresh daily; Enterprise supports daily or custom refresh arrangements. The pricing comparison separates the four self-serve engines from the additional Enterprise coverage.
Put Ghost Citations to work for your brand.
First 99 customers get 3 months free · card required