The method behind the pilot index at this site. Three buyer questions per brand, one logged-out run on 4 Nov 2026; every citation traced to its hostname.
Ask a set of buyer questions to an AI answer engine in logged-out sessions, record whether the brand is mentioned, whether its own website is cited, and which domains are cited instead. Repeat the same questions on different days to see stability, and trace every citation to its source page.
A mention means the AI answer names the brand. A citation means the answer links to a page that supports the claim. Being mentioned without being cited leaves the brand exposed to whatever third-party page the engine chooses as evidence.
AI answers vary between runs. A single answer is a sample, not a verdict. Three runs across three days separate a stable pattern from a one-off generation.
For each question we record the mention, the citation, and the pages that won the citation. That list is the working document: it shows which comparison pages, docs pages or review pages the engine trusts, and what the brand should publish to own the citation.
It is adjacent to SEO but measured differently. Rankings measure a link position on a search results page. This measures whether an AI answer includes the brand and which sources it cites. The content work overlaps; the measurement does not.