Frequently Asked Questions

Outercite tracks when and where AI search engines cite your business, verifies every mention with a two-model pipeline, and surfaces actions to help you improve. These are the questions we hear most often.

What you'll learn

• What core Outercite concepts mean (citations, confidence scores, visibility)
• How the platform works at a high level
• Where to go for help or more detail

What is a citation?

A citation is when an AI search engine mentions or recommends your business in a response to a user's prompt. Outercite runs prompts across six AI engines, then uses a two-model verification pipeline to confirm each mention. Only citations both models agree on are counted, which keeps false positives near zero.

Citations also carry a tier: FEATURED_RECOMMENDATION, LISTED_ALTERNATIVE, CONTEXTUAL_MENTION, or PASSING_REFERENCE. Stronger tiers carry more weight in your visibility score.

Which AI engines does Outercite track?

Outercite tracks six engines: ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google AI, Grok, and DeepSeek.

Here is how citation rates compare across the engine set:

The aggregate rate across all six is 48%.

How often does Outercite run checks?

Outercite runs verification checks continuously. The frequency for any given keyword depends on your plan and the keyword's configured check interval. Your dashboard shows the last checked timestamp for each keyword, so you always know how fresh the data is.

Why is my citation rate different from a competitor's?

Several factors drive differences:

• Content depth. AI engines cite sources they find authoritative and detailed. Thin pages rarely get featured.
• Domain authority. Newer or lower-authority domains start at a disadvantage.
• Engine mix. Some engines are harder to win. Google AI cites at 38%; Perplexity at 58%. A competitor skewed toward Perplexity will appear to outperform one focused on Google AI, even if the underlying content quality is similar.
• Keyword targeting. Different keywords trigger different citation patterns.

Use the competitor threat score to understand whether a gap is worth acting on.

Is my data private and secure?

Yes. Each workspace is fully isolated. Outercite does not share your keywords, citations, or competitive intelligence with other customers. For full details on data handling, infrastructure, and compliance, see the Trust and Security overview.

Can I track competitors?

Yes. Go to /competitors to add competitors manually, or let Outercite's auto-discovery surface them from your existing citation results. Each competitor gets:

• A threat score (0-100): a composite of how often they appear where you do not
• A threat level: a plain-English band derived from the score
• A share of voice percentage: their citation share versus yours across the same keyword set

What is a confidence score?

The confidence score runs from 0 to 100 and reflects how strongly the two verification models agreed that your business was genuinely cited. A score of 84 or 90, for example, means both models found clear, unambiguous evidence. A lower score suggests the mention was vague or indirect.

Does Outercite support agencies?

Yes. Agency accounts get:

• A parent organisation with isolated client workspaces
• Portfolio health buckets: Needs Attention, Monitoring, On Track (based on the last two weeks of citation activity)
• White-label reports for client delivery
• Wholesale billing managed from /agency/billing

See the Agencies section of the knowledge base to get started.

How do I get support?

Use the in-app support chat available from any page. Agency customers also have a dedicated account manager. For more detail on what to include in a support request, see Contact Support.

Try this in Outercite

Check your current citation rate and visibility score across all six engines on your dashboard.

Related