---
title: "CITATION | Glossary"
description: "CITATION is the standard for a page worth quoting: discoverable, attributed, answer-shaped, evidenced, and actually used. Search eligibility is not a…"
image: "https://lenvanderhof.com/photos/len-portrait-1.jpg"
---

Term

# CITATION

CITATION is the standard for a page worth quoting: discoverable, attributed, answer-shaped, evidenced, and actually used. Search eligibility is not a citation. Ranking in ten blue links is a different job. Answer engines quote the first clean capsule they can verify. Invented FAQ schema is not a shortcut; Google ended FAQ rich results on 2026-05-07. The book that owns this name is still in production; the standard is already how this site is built. A mention without a checkable source is not this standard.

## When to use it

Use it when a page ranks and still never appears in an answer. If crawlers can fetch you and models still never name you, the page is eligible and not citable.

## Do not confuse with

Not a bibliography style, not geographic SEO, and not “getting mentioned.” A citation is a named source a reader or a model can check. The Findability Engine is not for sale yet.

## Essays on this site

- [How answer engines select sources](https://lenvanderhof.com/en/blog/how-answer-engines-select-sources/)
- [How to get cited by ChatGPT](https://lenvanderhof.com/en/blog/how-to-get-cited-2026/)
- [Content architecture that answer engines can lift](https://lenvanderhof.com/en/blog/content-architecture-for-answer-engines/)
- [GEO meaning: generative engine optimization, not geography](https://lenvanderhof.com/en/blog/what-geo-means/)
- [What AEO means: answer engine optimization, not customs](https://lenvanderhof.com/en/blog/what-is-aeo/)

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