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

# Citation Share

> How often AI engines cite your domain as a source, relative to all citations collected.

**Citation Share** (formerly Share of Search) measures how frequently AI engines [cite](/metrics/signals#citations) your domain in their responses. Not just mention your brand name, but actually link to your pages.

## How it's calculated

```
Citation Share = Your domain citations ÷ Total citations in all responses × 100
```

Citations are matched by **domain**, not by brand name. If an AI engine links to any page on `sparkasse.de`, that counts toward Sparkasse's Citation Share regardless of the link's anchor text. See [Mentions, Citations & Sources](/metrics/signals) for how citations differ from mentions and sources.

## Grounding context

Citation Share is shown together with the **grounding rate**: the share of responses where the engine actually searched the live web before answering. Citations can only exist in [grounded responses](/metrics/signals#grounded-responses), so the grounding rate is the ceiling for citation opportunity. If engines rarely ground their answers on a topic, a low Citation Share reflects limited opportunity rather than weak content, and content changes will have less short-term leverage there.

## Citation Share vs. Share of Voice

These two metrics measure different things:

|                 | Share of Voice                     | Citation Share                    |
| --------------- | ---------------------------------- | --------------------------------- |
| What it counts  | Your brand name mentioned in text  | Your domain URL cited as a source |
| What it signals | Brand presence in AI conversations | Domain authority as an AI source  |

You can have SoV without Citation Share: AI mentions your brand by name without linking to your pages. You can also have Citation Share without SoV: your pages are cited as a source in a response that doesn't mention your brand directly.

## What it tells you

Citation Share is a **secondary metric** that reflects how much AI engines trust your domain as a reference. Low Citation Share combined with low [Alignment Score](/metrics/alignment-score) usually means your content isn't structured in a way AI systems can confidently cite.

<Info>
  Since zued audits weekly, Citation Share is a directional indicator, not a real-time measurement. It's reliable enough to spot trends and compare engines, but take individual data points with a grain of salt.
</Info>