How to use the AI Citation Checker
- Enter a brand name or domain, such as your product name or your company's website.
- Run the check. Results come from our archive, so they appear straight away.
- If your brand is tracked, review the AI Visibility Score, your rank, the per-engine breakdown and the questions where you appear.
- Read the quoted snippets to see exactly how AI answers describe you, and note which competitors are named alongside you.
- If your brand is not in the index yet, request tracking.
Understanding your results
AI Visibility Score. A score from 0 to 100 that summarizes your brand's visibility in the AI answers we archive. The full formula is published on our methodology page, so you can see exactly how it is calculated.
Rank. Where your brand stands among all tracked brands. The full ranking is published as the AI Visibility Index.
Per-engine breakdown. Your results for each AI model we query, so you can see whether some models name you while others do not.
Questions where you appear. The real buying questions whose archived answers name your brand, with your position in each answer. Being named first in a list of recommendations is different from being mentioned last.
Quoted snippets. Word-for-word extracts from archived answers. These show the context: what the AI says your product does, who it recommends it for and how it compares you with others.
Competitors named alongside you. The other brands that appear in the same answers. This gives you a practical view of who AI models see as your alternatives.
Brands not in the index. If your brand is not tracked, we tell you plainly that it was not named in the answers we archived. That is a statement about our archive, not a verdict on your brand. The index currently focuses on SaaS and software categories, so brands outside those categories are unlikely to appear. You can request tracking for your brand.
How this tool works
Every day, NewBacklink asks AI models a large set of real software-buying questions, the kind a person asks when choosing a tool, for example which project management app suits a small team. We record which brands each answer names and in what position, and we store the answers in the AI Citation Index.
When you run a check, we look your brand up in that archive. No live AI call happens at the moment you check. This matters for two reasons. First, AI answers can change from one day to the next, so a single live question tells you little, while a daily archive shows patterns over time. Second, the archive is a record of what AI models actually said on each day. It cannot be recreated after the fact, so the history for any question only goes back to when we started asking it.
The score, the ranking and what we measure are documented on the methodology page, so you can judge the numbers for yourself.
Tips
- Search both your brand name and your domain if they differ.
- Read the quoted snippets closely. An outdated or inaccurate description of your product can matter more than a low score.
- Look at the questions where competitors appear and you do not. They show the buying situations where AI answers do not yet connect your brand with the need.
- Make sure your own site clearly explains what your product does, who it is for and how it compares, in text that crawlers can read without running JavaScript.
- Check that your robots.txt is not blocking the AI crawlers you want to reach your site.
- Read how brands get cited by AI for practical ways to improve how AI answers describe you.
- Watch the trend over several weeks rather than reacting to a single day.
Frequently asked questions
What is AI visibility?
AI visibility describes how often, and how prominently, AI models name a brand when they answer questions. For a software company, it shows whether AI assistants recommend your product when someone asks for tools in your category.
Does the checker ask ChatGPT or other AI models live?
No. Results come from our archive of daily AI answers. We ask the questions on a schedule, store what each model says, and the checker searches that archive.
Why is my brand not found?
Either your brand was not named in the answers we archived, or it falls outside the categories we currently track, which focus on SaaS and software. You can request tracking for your brand.
How is the AI Visibility Score calculated?
The formula and its inputs are published on our methodology page. We publish it so the score can be checked and compared, not treated as a black box.
Can I see results from before my brand was tracked?
Only where your brand was already named in answers we archived. Past AI answers cannot be recreated, so the archive only covers questions from the day we started asking them.
How can I improve my AI visibility?
Publish clear, accurate information about your product, make sure crawlers can reach your key pages, and earn genuine mentions from reputable sources in your category. Then track your results over time.