# Trace a cited source

> Find the pages AI cited, see who owns them, and follow a citation back to a measured answer.

- Section: Guides
- Updated: 2026-10-07
- Canonical: https://knitknot.ai/docs/trace-a-cited-source/
- Publisher: KnitKnot, the AI competitive positioning platform (https://knitknot.ai)

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## At a glance

1. **Choose the answer set**: Open Intelligence → Sources and choose All cited pages, Visibility cited pages, or Head-to-head cited pages.
2. **Find the page**: Search cited URLs or switch to By domain to inspect a publisher's pages.
3. **Read the evidence**: Open the page detail and its citing answers before deciding what the citation means.

Open [Intelligence → Sources](https://app.knitknot.ai/intelligence/sources) to see pages cited in your measured AI answers. The bar above the table shows the latest run's citation split across your pages, competitor pages, and third-party pages. The three summary tiles count your pages cited across all answers, visibility answers, and head-to-head answers. Choose a tile to narrow the bar and table to that kind of answer; choose it again to clear the filter.

These are citations in the answers KnitKnot measured. They are not a count of every page an AI engine read or every citation a buyer might see.

## Find a page or publisher

The table starts **By URL**, so each row is a cited page. Search for a URL or use the **Owner**, **Mentioned**, and **Engine** filters. **Cited** counts appearances in the selected answer set. **Engines** counts the engines that cited the page, rather than the number of citations.

Switch to **By domain** to group pages by publisher. Open a domain row to see its cited pages, then open a page for its detail. This is useful when several pages from the same competitor or third-party site appear in answers.

**Owner** identifies your company, a tracked competitor, or a third party. If a domain is misclassified, change the Owner from a URL row. That assignment applies to the domain's pages, so check the publisher before changing it. The row menu also lets you set a source type.

## Interpret the signals

**Mentioned** asks whether the cited page names your company. A citation and a mention are different: an AI answer can cite a page that does not name you. When KnitKnot could not check a page's text, treat the mention as unknown. The domain view can show **Blocked** when its cited pages could not be checked.

On URL rows, **Effectiveness** is shown for eligible owned pages; a blank does not mean a score of zero. **Answer sentiment** summarizes positive and negative claims in answers citing the page when there is enough evidence. Neither measure proves the page caused the answer's wording.

For example, if a competitor's comparison page is cited in several losing answers, open the page detail and its **Cited answers** evidence. Read the buyer questions and full answers. Check whether the page itself mentions you and what the answers actually claim before drafting a response. A cited competitor page is a lead for investigation, not proof that it produced the loss.

If the table says **No sources yet**, run benchmark questions first. For a claim that looks inaccurate, use [Investigate a claim](/docs/investigate-a-claim/) to compare the exact answer with approved company facts. For the state of pages you own, use [Content → Your Pages](/docs/review-your-pages/); that inventory has a different purpose from this citation list.