GEO & AI search glossary
Cite-backed evidence
What is cite-backed evidence, and why does it matter to AI?
Hard statistics and named authorities included in the body of a page with their sources attached. In the KDD 2024 GEO study, adding statistics, citations and quotations raised a page's visibility in generated answers by up to 40%.
Cite-backed means the number and its origin travel together: the figure, who produced it, and a link. A statistic with no source is a claim the model has no way to verify, so it stays out of the answer.
Statistics Addition was the single strongest optimization measured in the KDD 2024 study, producing a 41% increase in position-adjusted word count inside generated answers. This site follows its own rule — every figure published here names a source you can open.
Related terms
- Information gainHow much genuinely new information a page adds compared with everything already published on the topic. Content that only restates what ten other pages say gives a model no reason to cite it; proprietary data and a unique angle do.
- LLM citationA mention of a source, brand or URL inside an AI-generated answer. Citations are the visibility currency of generative search: if the model does not cite you, the user never learns you exist.
- Quotable expertA named, attributable person from your business who says something specific and repeatable in your content. Models anchor trust to real entities, and a named expert gives them a person to attribute a claim to.
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