Sources tracking across AI answer engines
Source panels are the full reference set an AI engine attaches to an answer, which is usually broader than the inline citations. Tracking sources separately from citations tells you what the engine consulted versus what it chose to credit.
How it differs by engine
A drawer, right-hand panel or grouped list rendered next to or beneath the answer.
Google AI Overviews sources
An expandable panel behind the 'show more' control beneath the summary.
google_ai_overviews
Google AI Mode sources
A persistent right-hand source panel grouped loosely by sub-question.
google_ai_mode
ChatGPT sources
An expandable list beneath the answer, collapsed by default.
chatgpt
Perplexity sources
A numbered source list rendered under the answer.
perplexity
Microsoft Copilot sources
The numbered footnote list beneath the answer.
copilot
Gemini app sources
A drawer behind the sources control, wider than the inline chip row.
gemini
DeepSeek sources
A reference block beneath search-enabled answers.
deepseek
Qwen sources
Inline sources plus, where present, an expanded reference set.
qwen
Doubao sources
The complete card set behind the answer, with platform tagged.
doubao
Kimi sources
A document-level reference set with passage grounding.
kimi
Baidu ERNIE sources
The complete link set behind the SERP AI answer.
baidu_ernie
Naver sources
The complete reference set behind the answer, with corpus tagged per source.
naver
Sampling
What the API returns
{
"engine": "google_ai_overviews",
"field": "sources",
"prompt": "best ai visibility tracking tool",
"country": "GB",
"language": "en",
"n": 30,
"sources": [
{
"url": "https://nostimates.com/docs",
"domain": "nostimates.com",
"inline": true,
"sample_frequency": 0.7
},
{
"url": "https://example.org/report",
"domain": "example.org",
"inline": false,
"sample_frequency": 0.23
}
]
}Response fields
| Key | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| url | string | Source URL from the panel. |
| domain | string | Registrable domain. |
| title | string | null | Panel title as rendered. |
| inline | boolean | Whether this source was also cited inline. |
| sample_frequency | float | Share of n samples containing this source. |
Sources FAQ
- What is sources tracking?
- Source panels are the full reference set an AI engine attaches to an answer, which is usually broader than the inline citations. Tracking sources separately from citations tells you what the engine consulted versus what it chose to credit.
- How is sources sampled?
- Source panels are wider and more stable than inline citations, so they reach a usable confidence interval at lower n.
- What does sources cost?
- Included in the base collection wherever the engine exposes a panel.
Get sources on your prompt set
Track it in the dashboard or pull it in through the API. Send us the prompts, the brands and the markets, and we'll come back with a per-engine coverage plan and the credit arithmetic behind it.