> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.qwairy.co/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Which websites influence what AI says about my brand?

> The Citations view ranks every source domain by how often AI models cite it when mentioning your brand, revealing exactly who shapes your narrative.

<Info>
  **TL;DR** — The Citation Sources Domains tab ranks every domain by how often AI models cite it when discussing your brand. Go to **Monitor > Citation Sources > Domains** to see which domains carry the most weight, then cross-reference with **Monitor > Insights > Social Signals** to separate editorial from community influence. Check the **citation share %** to spot any single domain dominating your narrative. Pro tip: combine both views to build separate outreach lists for editorial coverage and community reputation management.
</Info>

## The Question

> **"Which websites influence what AI says about my brand?"**

When an AI model answers a question about your brand, it draws on a set of sources — review sites, media outlets, forums, competitor blogs, or your own pages. The mix of those sources determines the narrative. A brand covered mainly by one satisfied blogger and one angry Reddit thread will read very differently from a brand covered by ten independent industry publications.

Understanding which domains carry the most weight for AI citations lets you decide where to invest: earn coverage from high-influence sources, correct misinformation on damaging ones, or build relationships you are currently missing.

**You might also be wondering:**

* "Is the information AI cites about my brand accurate and up to date?"
* "Are Reddit threads or forum posts influencing what AI says about me?"
* "Which of my own website pages are getting cited by AI models?"

***

## Where to Go in Qwairy

<Steps>
  <Step title="Start here: Monitor > Citation Sources">
    Navigate to **Monitor > Citation Sources** and switch to the **Domains** tab — your primary view for domain-level citation analysis.
    Focus on the **Domain ranking table**, which lists every external domain that appeared in AI responses for your brand, ordered by total citation count.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Go deeper: Monitor > Insights > Social Signals">
    Cross-reference with **Monitor > Insights > Social Signals** to isolate community-driven sources like Reddit, Quora, or niche forums.
    Read it alongside the **domain type badge** in the Domains tab to separate editorial coverage from community content and see which category carries more weight.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Complete the picture: Looker Studio + MCP">
    Connect **Looker Studio** using the `source-domains` data source for a live, shareable dashboard showing domain citation trends over time.
    For programmatic access, call the **MCP tool `get_source_domains`** to pull the ranked domain list directly into your workflow or reporting stack.
  </Step>
</Steps>

***

## What to Look For

### Citation Sources > Domains — Domain Ranking Table

The domain ranking table is the central artifact for this question. Each row represents one source domain and shows how many times it was cited across all AI responses in the selected period.

| Element                   | What it tells you                                                                                     |
| ------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Citation count**        | Raw frequency — how many AI responses included a link or reference to this domain                     |
| **Citation share (%)**    | That domain's fraction of all citations for your brand; high share means high influence               |
| **Trend arrow**           | Whether citations from this domain are rising, stable, or falling compared to the previous period     |
| **Domain type badge**     | Editorial, community, social, owned, or competitor — helps you prioritise action                      |
| **Linked response count** | How many individual AI answers reference this domain; a high count means broad reach, not just volume |

### Social Signals — Community Source Breakdown

The Social Signals view adds a layer the Citations table does not: sentiment and narrative context for community sources. A domain can appear fifty times in citations without necessarily helping your brand if every mention is a complaint thread.

| Element                   | What it tells you                                                                      |
| ------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Community domain list** | Reddit, Quora, Stack Exchange, niche forums — ranked separately from editorial sources |
| **Sentiment per domain**  | Whether that community source skews positive, neutral, or negative about your brand    |
| **Top thread previews**   | The specific posts being cited, so you can read the actual content AI is drawing on    |

> **Pro Tip**: Combine Citation Sources > Domains with Social Signals to build two separate priority lists — one for editorial outreach, one for community reputation management — rather than treating all citation sources identically.

### Filters That Help

| Filter          | How to use it for this question                                                                                                                  |
| --------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Provider**    | Isolate a single AI model (e.g., ChatGPT, Perplexity) to see whether source influence differs by model; Perplexity cites differently than Claude |
| **Period**      | Compare last 30 days vs. last 90 days to detect whether a domain's influence is growing or fading                                                |
| **Topic / Tag** | Narrow to a specific product line or use case to see which sources dominate that conversation specifically                                       |

***

## How to Interpret the Results

### Good result

Your owned domains (your blog, product pages, help center) appear in the top five citation sources, alongside two or three respected industry publications. Community sources have moderate citation share and trend neutral-to-positive in sentiment. No single external domain accounts for more than 30% of all citations — your narrative is distributed across credible, diverse sources.

### Needs attention

A single external domain — a review aggregator, a forum, or a competitor's comparison page — accounts for more than 40% of all citations. Or your owned domains are absent from the top ten entirely, meaning AI models build their picture of your brand from third-party sources you do not control. A competitor's domain appearing in your citation sources is a red flag worth investigating immediately.

<Warning>
  High citation count does not always mean positive influence. A domain cited frequently because it hosts a viral complaint thread or an outdated negative review can cause more harm than a domain with half the citation volume but accurate, positive content. Always click through to the actual responses to verify the narrative, not just the count.
</Warning>

***

## Example

> **Scenario**: A B2B SaaS company notices that when ChatGPT answers questions about their pricing, it almost always cites a two-year-old article from a third-party comparison site that lists outdated pricing tiers.

1. Open **Monitor > Citation Sources > Domains** and filter by **Topic: Pricing**. The comparison site appears at rank 1 with 62% citation share.
2. Switch to **Monitor > Response Analysis** and read several AI answers on pricing prompts — they consistently quote the outdated figures from that domain.
3. Open **Act > Backlink Opportunities** and check whether that comparison site is a partner candidate. If not, prioritise getting your own pricing page to outrank it by improving its AI-citability (structured data, clear headings, authoritative external links pointing to it).

***

## Go Further

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="Source influence dashboard" icon="database" href="/looker-studio/sources/source-domains">
    Build a source influence dashboard in Looker Studio using the source-domains data source to track domain authority
  </Card>

  <Card title="Query source domains via API" icon="terminal" href="/developers/endpoints/source-domains/list">
    Use the source-domains endpoint to programmatically analyze which websites AI providers trust most in your category
  </Card>

  <Card title="How source tracking works" icon="book-open" href="/documentation/monitor/content-sources">
    Read the Citation Sources documentation to understand how Qwairy identifies and ranks influential source domains
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Related Questions

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Are Reddit threads or forum posts influencing what AI says about my brand?" href="/use-cases/sources/reddit-forums-influencing-ai">
    Drill into community sources specifically and read the actual threads being cited.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Which of my own website pages get the most AI citations?" href="/use-cases/sources/pages-with-most-ai-citations">
    Shift focus from external domains to your owned URLs and their individual citation performance.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>
