AI Citability Checker: Can AI Quote Your Content?

By Linus Li · Updated · Free, runs in your browser

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Paste an article (Markdown, HTML or plain text) and the tool splits it at H2 / H3, then checks each section’s first sentence, length, numbers and sources, references to earlier text and filler. Every suggestion names the research behind it and its evidence grade.

Key takeaways

  • The tool splits an article at H2 / H3 and checks each section’s first sentence, length, numbers and sources, references to earlier text and filler.
  • Every check names its source and evidence grade: Google’s statements are grade A, the GEO paper is grade C and industry studies are grade D.
  • There is no overall score, and following the suggestions does not guarantee that an AI will quote the page.
  • The article is analysed in your browser only; it is not uploaded to a server and no AI model is called.

What is AI citability?

AI citability is whether a passage still works as a complete, checkable answer once it is lifted out of the page. AI search products such as ChatGPT search, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews usually quote a passage from a page and list the page as a source. Because they quote passages rather than whole pages, each section should stand on its own: the heading states the question, the first sentence gives the answer, and the following sentences add conditions, data and sources.

Citability is not the same as ranking. A page has to be crawled and indexed before an AI search engine can pick it; after that, passages that are clearly structured, put the answer first and cite their sources are easier to quote accurately. To confirm that AI crawlers can reach your pages at all, run the AI crawler robots.txt checker first.

What the tool checks

Check How it is judged Source Grade
Direct first sentence The first sentence after the heading is not a question or a lead-in, and is at most 35 words (70 Chinese characters) Search Engine Land answer capsule study D
Self-contained The first sentence does not start with it, this, however or another word that depends on earlier text Same D
No link in the first sentence A note when the first sentence contains a link Same D
Section length 120–180 words is the reference range; a note below 50 or above 300 words; Chinese is converted SE Ranking study D
Numbers and sources Counts figures and their density; suggests a source when a section has statistics (percentages, multiples, large figures) but no link or “according to”; years and ordinals alone get a note GEO paper C (paper)
Quotations Counts long quotations and blockquotes GEO paper C (paper)
Takeaways box Looks for “Key takeaways”, “TL;DR”, “Summary” and similar labels, and whether they sit in the first 30% Kevin Indig’s citation position study D
First 30% Counts numbers, sources and definition sentences in the first 30% of the text Same D
Intro Whether there is an intro before the first subheading, and whether its first sentence is a lead-in Same D
Lists and tables Suggests structure when a long section has no list, table or subheading Writing rule Rule
Heading levels Skipped levels such as H2 straight to H4 W3C accessibility tutorial Rule
Filler and repetition A filler phrase list for English and one for Chinese; repeated sentences and near-duplicate paragraphs Writing rule Rule

Sections headed “References”, “Sources”, “Appendix”, “Further reading” and similar skip the first-sentence, length and source checks.

There is no overall score. Only checks that can be decided clearly are marked “Pass”; the rest are “Suggest” or “Note”. Click any item to see why it matters, how to fix it and a rewrite template you can copy, and to highlight the passage in your text on the left.

How AI search picks passages: what is known and what is not

Google’s documentation says content needs no special optimization for AI, and the GEO paper and industry studies give only directional evidence, so every check in this tool aims at clarity for readers. The evidence behind each check is graded on the scale used across this site: A Confirmed, B Documented, C Patented, D Speculative.

Confirmed: Google does not ask you to write for AI

Google’s AI features and your website page says there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, and no special optimizations are necessary; the same foundational SEO practices apply. In January 2026, Danny Sullivan and John Mueller added on Google’s Search Off the Record podcast that breaking content into bite-sized chunks for LLMs is not something Google’s ranking systems reward.

For that reason every suggestion in this tool assumes the goal is clarity for readers. A direct first sentence, the answer near the top and sourced figures help readers anyway. Splitting a section into fragments and giving each one a question heading is not part of the advice.

Possible: the GEO paper (grade C)

The paper GEO: Generative Engine Optimization by researchers from Princeton and other institutions (KDD 2024) tested nine rewriting methods on its own GEO-bench query set. Citing sources, adding quotations and adding statistics worked best, raising a source’s visibility in generated answers by up to about 40%; keyword stuffing did little.

The study ran on a simulated generative engine rather than observing live ChatGPT or Google, and it measured visibility in the answer, not clicks. On this site’s evidence scale, grade C covers patents and papers: technically feasible, but not proof that a live system works this way. The tool therefore grades the GEO paper C.

For practitioners: the GEO paper's metrics and limits
  • Visibility was measured with two metrics: Position-Adjusted Word Count (how many words of the answer cite the source, weighted by position) and Subjective Impression (a model-rated judgement). Around 40% is the best relative improvement; results vary widely by domain.
  • Each experiment rewrote one source and gave it to the engine alongside unmodified competing sources, with the rewrites done by a language model, so the result reflects a change relative to competing sources.
  • The paper also ran a check on Perplexity, under conditions that differ from real user queries.
  • The tool uses the study only as a directional reason to think that numbers, sources and quotations may help. It never requires figures in every section.

Industry studies: correlations only

The three studies below look at what cited pages have in common. None of them proves cause and effect.

What the evidence does not show

The public material does not show the following, and the tool makes no such claims:

  • That a rewritten passage will be quoted by any particular AI. The page first has to be retrieved, and retrieval depends on indexing, authority and the query itself.
  • That Chinese pages behave like English ones. The samples in the studies above are mostly English.
  • That a question heading earns credit by itself. The studies saw the combination of a question heading and a direct answer, so the tool only marks question headings as a note.
For practitioners: where the thresholds come from
  • English section length: reference range 120–180 words; a note below 50 and above 300 words. The first two numbers come from SE Ranking; 300 is this tool’s own ceiling, and only a section longer than that with no list, table or subheading gets a suggestion to add structure.
  • Chinese section length: reference range 180–360 characters; a note below 80 and above 550. There is no Chinese study, so the tool converts with the rough translation ratio of 1 English word to 1.5–2 Chinese characters. That ratio is the tool’s assumption.
  • First sentence: at most 35 words or 70 Chinese characters. Search Engine Land describes answer capsules as short without a verifiable fixed length, so this ceiling is a rule of thumb.
  • First 30%: position is measured in words (code blocks excluded), matching the bands in Indig’s study. Pages under 600 words (1,000 Chinese characters) do not get the “no numbers or definitions in the first 30%” suggestion.

How to use it

  1. Copy the article. Markdown gives the most accurate result. For a live page, view the page source in your browser and paste the HTML; the tool reads only what is inside <main> or <article> and skips navigation, footers and scripts.
  2. Paste it into the box on the left. The tool detects the format and language and shows results right away. You can also click “English example” first.
  3. Start with the page checks: takeaways box, intro, information in the first 30%, filler and repetition.
  4. Then go through the sections. Sections with suggestions open by default; “Show in text” highlights the whole section on the left.
  5. Click a check to see why it matters, how to fix it and a rewrite template. Templates give a sentence pattern; they do not write the content for you.
  6. Edit the text on the left and the results update as you type. Use “Copy report” to get a Markdown checklist for a colleague.

The article is analysed in your browser only. Nothing is uploaded, and no AI model is called.

How to rewrite: common problems and fixes

The first sentence is a lead-in or a question

The heading already asks the question. Asking it again in the first sentence pushes the answer to the second sentence or later.

  • Before: “Have you ever wondered why your English page shows up for searchers in Germany?”
  • After: “hreflang tells Google which language versions of a page exist, so it can show German searchers the German page.”

The first sentence starts with “It” or “This”

An AI answer quotes one passage. A sentence such as “It works by adding a link element…” means nothing on its own because the reader does not know what “it” is.

  • Before: “It works by adding one link element per language version.”
  • After: “hreflang works by adding one link element per language version to the head of every page.”

Numbers without a source

Figures are the most quotable information and the most in need of checking. Link the source after the sentence with the figure, or write “according to [report] by [organisation], [year]”. If a number has no reliable source, remove it rather than inventing data to raise the density.

A long section with no structure

When a section runs past 300 words with no list, table or subheading, readers struggle to find the answer. If it actually answers two questions, split it under two headings. If it describes steps or a comparison, use an ordered list or a table. If it is a continuous argument, leave it as it is.

The takeaways sit at the end

A closing summary is a common pattern, but the end of a page is the least cited part. Add a “Key takeaways” box near the top with three to five conclusions; keeping or dropping the closing summary is up to you.

How Chinese text is handled

  • Length: each Chinese character counts as one unit and each English word or number as one; punctuation is not counted, and full-width digits and letters are converted to half-width first. So “使用 Google Search Console 检查” counts as 7.
  • Sentences: sentences end at the Chinese stops 。！？ and the English . ! ?; closing quotes and brackets after a stop stay with the sentence. Decimals, abbreviations such as e.g. and initials in names are not treated as sentence ends.
  • References: the Chinese list includes 它, 这, 那些, 其中, 该, 此, 上述, 以上, 前面, 另外, 此外, 同时, 因此 and 但是. 其他 (“other”) and 其实 (“actually”) are not counted.
  • Filler: the Chinese list covers set phrases such as “众所周知” (“as everyone knows”), “随着科技的发展” (“with the development of technology”) and “综上所述” (“in summary”); phrases inside quotation marks are not counted. The lists cover fixed phrases only, so finding none does not prove the text has no padding.

FAQ

Why is there no overall score?

The checks rest on evidence of very different strength: Google’s statements are grade A, industry studies are correlations and the GEO paper is a simulation. Weighting them into a 0–100 score would mean picking weights by feel, which looks precise but has no basis. The tool lists each finding and its source and leaves the priorities to you.

If I fix everything, will AI cite my article?

There is no guarantee. AI search first has to retrieve your page, and retrieval depends on indexing, site authority and the query. In SE Ranking’s study the factor most strongly correlated with citations was the number of referring domains. The tool checks whether your content can be quoted accurately once it is retrieved.

Should every subheading be a question?

No. The studies observed question headings followed by a direct answer. A statement heading followed by a direct answer is just as clear, and Google has said there is no need to rewrite content into Q&A fragments for AI.

Which formats are supported?

Markdown, HTML and plain text. Plain text has no heading markup, so a short line on its own, without end punctuation and followed by a paragraph, is treated as a subheading and marked as guessed in the results. If the guess is wrong, paste Markdown instead.

Can I enter a URL?

Not at the moment. This site’s fetch service only returns structured data and robots.txt, not page text. View the page source in your browser and paste the HTML; the tool skips navigation, footers and scripts automatically.

Does it work for Chinese articles?

Yes. The tool detects the language from the share of Chinese characters and English words, then applies the matching reference list, filler list and length thresholds. Mixed text is handled as whichever language makes up more of it.

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