How the Fix-It Playbook works
Last updated October 12, 2026
What a citation gap is
AI engines often link to the pages they drew on. A citation gap is a site an engine cited when it recommended a competitor for one of your prompts, but never cited when it recommended you for that prompt.
- Your own site and your competitors' sites are never listed. Nobody gets featured on a rival's page.
- Links that are dead or unreachable are left out.
- A bare platform homepage, like youtube.com itself rather than a video on it, is left out. There's nothing on it to act on.
- Each prompt is checked across all of its answers in the run, so one answer that happens to leave out a citation doesn't create a false gap.
How the list is ordered
- Sites that are gaps for the most prompts come first. Among sites tied on prompts, those that helped more competitors come first.
- Each card shows how many prompts, which competitors were recommended alongside it, and the exact pages cited.
- Where to start, at the top, groups the open sites by suggested action, so the list reads as a few steps. The general outreach group always comes last.
Suggested actions
Each site gets one suggested action, based on what kind of page was cited:
| Action | What to do |
|---|---|
| Roundup | Ask the author to add you to this list, and say what sets you apart from the brands already on it. |
| Marketplace | Get your product listed here. Engines cite it as a place to buy in your category. |
| Map listing | Claim your own free listing on this map (Apple Business Connect for Apple Maps, Google Business Profile for Google Maps) and keep your hours, photos, and what you offer up to date. Engines cite these for “near me” questions. |
| Event calendar | Add your classes and events to this calendar. Most have a free “Submit an event” form, and engines cite these pages for things-to-do questions. |
| Press | Pitch the writer of this piece for their next story on the topic. |
| Community | Join the thread as yourself and say who you are. Undisclosed promotion gets removed and can backfire. |
| Review site | Claim your own profile on this site, or create one, and fill it in: photos, hours, and what you offer. Check the site's rules before asking customers for reviews — some, like Yelp, don't allow it. |
| Video | Offer the creator a review unit or a sponsorship. |
| Reference | Check that facts about you are cited here accurately. On Wikipedia, suggest changes on the talk page instead of editing your own entry. |
| Outreach | Email the site's editor or owner, say who you are, and ask to be included on this page. Look for a Contact or Submit link. |
Tracking your progress
- Start marks a site as in progress.
- Mark done once you've acted. A later run confirms it once that site is no longer a gap, or flags it as still a gap.
- Not relevant sets a site aside, and the next gap on the list takes its place.