Scrunch recommends tracking citation influence—the share of AI answers that cite a source, multiplied by how many different prompts it shows up for—to identify the types of pages AI is most likely to cite in a category.

Example

For example, imagine a Scrunch user at a project management software company wants to understand which sources are most influential for prompts like, "What's the best project management tool for remote teams?"

Step 1: Check Influence Score

The user views the most influential sources for that prompt in Explorer based on Influence Score.

Step 2: Review high-performing sources

The user reviews sources with high influence to understand why the content performs well. For example, a competitor's page might feature structured comparison tables, clear use-case headers, and detailed pricing information that AI platforms find easy to reference.

Follow-up question: What criteria matter most when deciding whether to replace an existing cited source?

Scrunch recommends weighing impact versus effort when deciding whether to replace an existing cited source. Determine whether replacing the cited source is worth the time and resources for that specific prompt.

If it is, start with “easy-to-beat” sources, like pages that are light on substance or that have obvious discrepancies between the content of the page and its title and description.