In short: to check whether ChatGPT cites your site, ask it the questions your customers ask, with web search on, and look at the sources it links under the answer. Do it several times, on several assistants, and write down the results, because answers change from one run to the next. To see the trend instead of a snapshot, track a fixed list of questions on a schedule and look at which domains are cited when you are not.

What does “ChatGPT cites my site” actually mean?

When ChatGPT searches the web to answer a question, it shows the pages it used as sources, with links. If one of those links points to your site, your site was cited. That is different from being recommended: a recommendation is when the answer names your business as the one to choose. A citation is the first step, because an assistant tends to recommend the businesses it can read and verify.

Perplexity always lists its sources. Claude and Gemini show sources when they search the web. Google’s AI Overviews show links too, but Google offers no public way to check them automatically, so they can only be checked by hand.

How do I check by hand, in ten minutes?

1. Write down five to ten real questions. Use the words your customers use: “best boutique hotel in Kigali for a business trip”, “which payroll software works in Kenya”, “eyewear shop in Lagos that does home eye tests”. Avoid your brand name: you want to know whether the assistant finds you on its own.
2. Ask each question with web search turned on, in a fresh conversation, so earlier messages do not steer the answer.
3. Open the sources listed under or beside the answer. Note whether your domain appears, and which domains appear instead.
4. Repeat on another day and on another assistant. The same question can return different sources each time, so one check proves very little.
5. Keep a simple log: date, assistant, question, cited (yes or no), domains cited instead. After a few weeks this log tells you more than any single answer.

Can my analytics show visits from ChatGPT?

Partly. When someone clicks a source link in ChatGPT, the visit usually arrives with chatgpt.com as the referrer or in the UTM source, so it shows up in Google Analytics 4 under traffic acquisition. Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot visits can be found the same way by their domains.

This tells you that people clicked, not how often you were cited. Most people read the answer and never click, so a site can be cited often and still see few visits. Use referral visits as a sign of interest, not as your citation count.

How do I track it every week without doing it by hand?

A dedicated tool runs your list of questions on a schedule and keeps the history. This is what Amaso does inside WordPress:

• You add the searches you care about, and Amaso asks them to ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity with your own API key, so you see what each assistant says.
• Each check records whether your domain was cited, and keeps the answer so you can read it yourself.
• It lists the domains cited when you were not, which shows you who wins those answers and what kind of pages they have.
• It shows the websites the assistants consulted, which is often where to get mentioned next.

Checks on demand are free in Amaso Lite on WordPress.org. Scheduled checks and email alerts when an assistant starts or stops citing you come with the paid plans, from $35.99 a year. Either way, the AI provider bills the API usage directly to you.

What should I do when ChatGPT cites a competitor instead?

Open the competitor page that was cited and compare it with yours, question by question:

• Does their page answer the question in the first lines? Assistants quote clear, direct answers. Put the answer near the top of the section, under a heading phrased like the question.
• Does their page state facts you leave out? City, prices, opening hours, services, delivery areas: specific facts are easier to cite than general claims.
• Is their business described the same way everywhere? A consistent name, address and description across your site and your profiles helps an assistant trust that you are a real business.
• Is their page marked up with schema? Structured data tells machines what a page is about. Our JSON-LD guide shows where to start.
• Are they mentioned on sites the assistant already trusts? Directories, press, partners and reviews count. Paid links do not.

Then check the same questions again a few weeks after your changes. Our explainer on citation rate shows how to turn those checks into one number you can follow over time.

What are the limits?

• No one can guarantee a citation. The AI companies decide what their assistants say, and their models change often.
• Answers vary. Location, language, the exact wording and the day all change the result. That is why a fixed list of questions, checked repeatedly, matters more than one screenshot.
• A citation is not a sale. Watch the enquiries and bookings that follow, not only the citations.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to pay to check whether ChatGPT cites my site?

No. You can check by hand for free, and the free Amaso Lite plugin runs checks on demand with your own API key. The paid plans add scheduled checks, email alerts and Google data.

Why does ChatGPT cite my site one day and not the next?

Assistants pick sources each time they answer, and small changes in wording, location or model change the pick. Look at the share of checks that cite you over several weeks, not at a single answer.

Does ranking on Google mean ChatGPT will cite me?

Not necessarily. The two overlap, but a page can rank well on Google and still be left out of AI answers. Our guide GEO vs SEO explains the difference.

Does Amaso check Google’s AI Overviews?

No. Amaso checks ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity. Google offers no public way to read AI Overviews or AI Mode automatically, so check those by hand.

Can someone do this for me?

Yes. If you would rather not run the checks and the fixes yourself, our team and our partner agency Vatam can do it for you, starting with a free consultation. See AI visibility, done for you.

Read more: What Is AI Visibility (GEO)?