> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.get-ryze.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How Ryze tracks ChatGPT citations

> Ryze runs a set of buyer prompts against ChatGPT on a schedule and records whether your brand was mentioned, which URLs were cited, and which competitors appeared.

Ryze tracks ChatGPT citations by running a defined set of buyer prompts against ChatGPT on a schedule and recording what comes back.

## What is recorded per run

For every prompt run, Ryze captures:

* Whether your **brand was named** in the answer text
* Every **URL cited** as a source, and its domain
* Which **competitor brands** appeared
* **Where** in the answer your brand fell
* The **full answer text**, so results can be re-examined later

Aggregating across prompts and over time produces the metrics in [AI visibility metrics](/ai-visibility/metrics).

## Why prompts, not keywords

Conventional rank tracking checks a keyword and returns a position. That model does not transfer, because there is no ranked list in a generated answer — a page is either drawn in or it is not, and the result changes between runs.

So the unit of measurement is a **prompt**: a full question a buyer would actually type. "best waterproof hiking boots for wide feet" rather than "hiking boots".

## Mention vs citation

Both are tracked because they have different causes.

|              | means                           | driven by                          |
| ------------ | ------------------------------- | ---------------------------------- |
| **Mention**  | ChatGPT named your brand        | training data, brand establishment |
| **Citation** | ChatGPT linked one of your URLs | live retrieval of your pages       |

A citation without a mention means your page was useful but your brand was not the recommendation. A mention without a citation means ChatGPT knows you but read nothing — content work will not move that number. See [why your brand isn't cited](/ai-visibility/not-cited).

## Why results move between runs

ChatGPT decides per-query whether to search, and which results to use. Two identical prompts on the same day can produce different sources. This is expected behaviour, not a tracking fault.

Consequences for reading the data:

* **Never draw a conclusion from one run.** A single citation is not a trend, and a single miss is not a regression.
* **Rate across many prompts over time is the only reliable signal.**
* **Compare like with like** — the same prompt set, run the same way, against the same baseline.

## What this does not capture

Tracking measures what the model returns through the interface Ryze queries. It does not observe:

* Answers inside individual users' private conversations
* Personalised results shaped by a user's chat history or memory
* Traffic attribution — a citation is not a confirmed visit

## Related

* [Perplexity and Gemini tracking](/ai-visibility/other-engines)
* [Prompt monitoring](/ai-visibility/prompt-monitoring)
* [Reading the citations report](/ai-visibility/citations-report)