Citation decay
Citation decay is how a page gets cited less and less by AI answers over time, as newer pages take its place.
Citation decay is the way a page that AI answers used to cite gets cited less as time goes on. A new article might be linked in lots of answers in its first weeks, then fewer each month, until newer pages have taken its place.
Knowing how quickly that happens tells you how often you need to publish, refresh or earn new coverage to stay in the answers.
Why citations fade
A few things push a page out over time:
- Newer pages on the same subject appear, and the platforms prefer recent ones for many questions
- The page's facts go out of date, or its dates make it look old
- The page drops in the search results the platforms read
- The site changes its address, removes the page or blocks bots
Some pages hardly decay at all. A well-kept guide, a directory entry or a reference page can be cited for years. News coverage and trend pieces usually fade fastest.
An example
Kestrel Roasters gets a feature in a food magazine about the best coffee subscriptions. In the first month, the article is linked in 40 answers to Kestrel's prompts. In the second month, 25. By the fourth month, 6, while a newer roundup from a rival magazine has taken over.
Kestrel now knows that one feature buys it a couple of months. Staying in those answers means another piece of coverage every quarter, or asking the magazine to update the article.
What to do about it
For your own pages, update them when the facts change, and show the date you last did. For coverage elsewhere, keep track of when each important source started to fade, and plan new coverage before it's gone.
In AnswerOrbit
The Movers tab in Sources shows sources that are new this week, or used more or less than the week before. To follow a source over time, click the star next to it and you'll find it in the Watched tab.