Citation source outreach

Purpose

When AI answers in a category keep citing the same handful of sources and the brand is not in them, the fix is to get into those sources. This skill ranks the sources by their real effect, asks each one for the right thing, and checks that each placement changed the answers.

When to use

• The citation analysis shows which sources feed category answers, and the brand is absent from them.
• A team wants a get-listed plan built from those sources.

Route elsewhere when:

• The question is which content to create. Use answer-engine-citation-drill-down.
• The question is measuring visibility. Use answer-engine-visibility-tracking.

Inputs

• The list of sources cited in the category answers, and the questions each one fed.
• For each source: its page, whether it mentions the brand today, and its type.
• The human contact or submission route for each source.
• The brand's facts that a source could use: specifics, numbers, comparisons, and proof the brand can stand behind.

Procedure

1. Rank by answers fed. Order the sources by how many category answers each one fed. Domain authority, traffic, and prestige can mislead. A modest directory that feeds nine answers outranks a well-known publication that feeds one.
2. Match the ask to the source type:
   • a directory or listing: a submission or a claimed profile;
   • a comparison or review page: inclusion with evidence, meaning real differentiators, pricing, and proof, not a pitch;
   • a community thread: an honest answer from a real account, or no action;
   • a publication: the data or story its page is missing. Write each ask so the person who maintains that page can act on it in one sitting.
3. Track each target as a row: source, page, answers fed, whether the brand is mentioned today, ask type, human contact, and status.
4. Work the top of the list first. Small placements land quickly and compound.
5. Re-measure after each placement. Re-ask the questions the source was feeding and compare the answers before and after. Use the sampling and recording rules in answer-engine-visibility-tracking.
6. If the answers do not move, check two things before adding new targets. The source may have mattered less than its count suggested. Or the mention may lack the specifics that engines quote. Fix the mention first.

Output

• The ranked list of target sources, each with the answers it fed.
• The ask for each source, matched to its type.
• The tracker, with status for each row.
• For each closed row, the before-and-after answers for the affected questions.

Quality bar

Targets are ranked by answers fed. Each ask matches its source type. Every closed row has a re-measured answer pair. Watch for generic link-building outreach re-sent with new wording, sources ordered by authority, and placements never re-measured.

Rules

• Never post in community threads as if from an independent person.
• Never present a paid placement as an organic mention.