how is ai citation rate calculated?
AI citation rate is the percentage of queries in a defined panel where your domain appears as a cited source in the AI engine's answer. OnyxRank divides cited queries by total queries per engine per day, weights by query commercial intent, and aggregates across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, and Google AI Mode. A panel of 100 prompts gives a stable rate at plus or minus 3 percent. Healthy brands track between 8 and 25 percent depending on category competitiveness and content depth.
Evidence and detail
- Citation rate = (queries where domain cited / total queries in panel) per engine per day.
- Panels under 50 prompts produce noisy rates; we recommend 100 to 500 prompts for stable baselines.
- Commercial-intent queries are weighted 2x in OnyxRank's composite citation rate because they directly drive measurable buyer revenue.
- Top decile brands hit 20 to 25 percent citation rate in their category; median sits near 8 percent.
Related reading
Other buyer questions
- how do i get my site cited by chatgpt search in 2026?
- what are the ranking factors for perplexity in 2026?
- what sources does claude actually cite when it answers questions?
- how does google ai mode decide which sources to show?
- why does bing matter so much for ai search optimization?
- what is the difference between llms.txt and llms-full.txt?
- how should i configure robots.txt for ai bots in 2026?
- what schema markup do i need for ai search citations?
Browse all buyer questions → Industry playbooks → Competitor comparisons →