Citation velocity
Citation velocity is how fast a page or website gains, or loses, citations in AI answers over time.
Citation velocity is how quickly a page or website gains citations in AI answers over time. A page cited in 5 answers last week and 20 this week is moving fast. A page cited in 20 answers every week for months is steady.
There's no agreed formula. Some tools count new citations a week, others measure the rate of change, so check what a number means before you compare it across tools.
Why it's worth watching
Speed tells you something a total doesn't. A new comparison article that's picking up citations quickly is about to shape the answers in your category. It's also easier to get included early, while the author is still updating it. A page that's losing citations fast may have been replaced by something newer.
For example, Kestrel Roasters publishes a guide to office coffee machines. In its first week it's cited in 3 of your answers. In its second week, 11. If the guide names Kestrel and not you, that's a page to look at now, before it settles in as the place the platforms go for that question.
Your own pages
The same idea works on your site. After you update a page, watch whether its citations rise, and how quickly. A slow climb over a few weeks is normal. Platforms find and reread pages at their own pace, so one quiet week after a change doesn't mean it failed.
In AnswerOrbit
The Movers tab in Sources shows sources that are new this week, or used more or less often than the week before. To follow a domain or page over time, click the star next to it, and you'll find it in the Watched tab.