Microsoft's Clarity adds Citations tool to track how AI engines cite brands

August 29, 2026 · mediapost.com

Citations, a new feature inside Microsoft's Clarity analytics platform, shows companies how their web content surfaces in AI-generated answers from Copilot and other large language models. The dashboard reports how many pages from a domain were cited during a chosen period, the percentage of total citations a domain earned within a set of queries where it appeared, and the share of site traffic that arrived through AI referrals. It also lists the specific queries AI systems used to evaluate a page before generating an answer, and it shows trendlines for cited pages over time. Microsoft first released Citations in preview, then revised the metrics after publishers and brands asked for clearer ways to interpret citation patterns across queries and pages.

Tracking citations gives marketing teams a concrete way to measure a channel that previously offered almost no visibility into performance. Agencies advising clients on AI search optimization can now cite an exact percentage of citation share, replacing anecdotal claims with a measurable number. Brands can identify precisely which pages earn placement in AI-generated answers, and attribution teams can fold AI referral sessions into existing site measurement since Clarity reports that traffic alongside standard analytics.