How Sources Work
Sources are the domains and web pages the AI models cite when they answer — the content that shapes what they say about you and your competitors.
| # | Source | Type | Mentions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | industry-review.com/best-crm-tools | Editorial | YouCompetitor ACompetitor B |
| 2 | community-forum.com/t/which-crm | UGC | Competitor ACompetitor C |
| 3 | your-brand.com/pricing | You | You |
| 4 | competitor-a.com/features | Competitor | Competitor A |
| 5 | guide-site.com/how-to-choose-a-crm | Reference | YouCompetitor A |
Why sources matter
AI models don't invent their answers from nothing. When they respond, many models retrieve and cite web pages, then synthesize an answer from them. Those cited pages are your sources. If you understand which sources the models lean on for your category, you understand the levers behind your Visibility, Sentiment, and Position — and where to focus to change them.
How Vosapio organizes sources
Every time a model cites a page, Vosapio records it and rolls it up three ways:
- Domains — the websites cited, aggregated. See how often each site is retrieved, how heavily it's cited, and what type of site it is.
- URLs — the individual pages cited, so you can see exactly which article or listicle is shaping answers.
- Gap analysis — the sources that cite your competitors but not you, ranked by how much opportunity they represent.
Gap analysis
Gap analysis turns your sources into a to-do list. It finds the sources that already shape your category's answers but leave your brand out — your clearest opportunities to earn new mentions.
A source is flagged as a gap when, across the answers Vosapio checks, your brand is not mentioned on it while one or more of your tracked competitors are. It's a page the models already trust for your topics that simply hasn't mentioned you yet. You can view gaps grouped by domain, host, or URL, and choose how many competitors must appear before a source counts as a gap.
Each gap is ranked by a gap score, so the biggest opportunities rise to the top:
gap score = how often the source is retrieved × the number of distinct brands mentioned on it
A source that is cited often and names several competitors scores highest — it's both influential and clearly relevant to your space, yet it's missing you.
You'll find gap analysis in two places: as its own view alongside Domains and URLs, and as a Content gap toggle on the Domains and URLs tables that filters them down to just the gaps. See Gap Analysis for the full breakdown.
Metrics tell you where you stand; sources tell you what to do about it. Winning more citations from the domains that drive your category is the most direct way to move your metrics.