{ "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://www.initiumstrategies.com/glossary/citation#webpage", "name": "Citation", "description": "A named or linked source supporting a claim — in AI answers, the reference that shows where a statement came from.", "url": "https://www.initiumstrategies.com/glossary/citation", "inLanguage": "en", "dateModified": "2026-09-18T14:13:00.454Z", "datePublished": "2026-09-18T14:13:00.454Z", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://www.initiumstrategies.com/#website" }, "publisher": { "@id": "https://www.initiumstrategies.com/#organization" }, "mainEntity": { "@type": "DefinedTerm", "@id": "https://www.initiumstrategies.com/glossary/citation#term", "name": "Citation", "description": "A named or linked source supporting a claim — in AI answers, the reference that shows where a statement came from.", "url": "https://www.initiumstrategies.com/glossary/citation", "inDefinedTermSet": { "@id": "https://www.initiumstrategies.com/glossary#termset" } } }
A citation is an attribution to a source that backs a statement — a URL, document, or named publisher. It is useful when readers or systems need to verify a claim instead of trusting fluent wording alone.
Whilst citations look like proof, in practice models can cite the wrong page or a generic source that barely supports the claim. For example, an answer links your homepage while quoting a competitor’s spec. We often recommend claim-dense answer pages and checking citation gaps on a fixed prompt set — presence of a link is not the same as winning the answer.