Key Takeaways
- Know what a source card is. It is the small linked tile an assistant shows beside or beneath its answer to say where a claim came from, usually a page title, a site name and a small icon.
- Earn the card with one quotable passage. A card appears when an assistant leaned on your page to write a sentence. The page needs one plain, self-contained answer to the question, near the top.
- Fix the title on every page. A page titled "Home" or "Services" produces a card that tells a buyer nothing. Give every page a title that says what it is and who it is for.
- Set your site name and icon once. Both are read from your home page. Without them a card shows a raw web address and a generic globe, which looks like nobody in particular.
- Treat the card as a second chance. Even when an answer names someone else, a card with your page on it is a link a buyer can click. A clear card is worth clicking; a blank one is not.
Ask an AI assistant a question and the answer often arrives with a row of small tiles beside it or beneath it. Each tile names a web page and links to it. Those tiles are source cards, and they are the only part of an AI answer that sends a buyer to a website.
So what is a source card in AI answers, and how do you earn one? A card appears when an assistant leaned on your page to write part of its answer. What the card then shows, and whether anyone clicks it, depends on things your website controls.
Below is what a source card is, how it differs from being named, how a page earns one, what each part of the card shows and where it comes from, and how to fix yours this week.
What is a source card?
A source card is the small linked tile an AI assistant shows beside or beneath its answer to show where a claim came from. It usually carries the page title, the site name or web address, and a small square icon. Clicking it opens the page.
The layout differs from tool to tool and changes often. Perplexity numbers its sources and lists them with the answer. ChatGPT, when it searches the web, can show links inline and a list of sources. Google describes its AI Overviews and AI Mode as showing links to supporting pages alongside the generated answer. The names differ; the tile is recognizably the same thing.
A source card is the visible form of a citation. For why the citation itself matters more than the click, see what a citation in an AI answer is. This post is about the card: the few words and the small icon a buyer actually sees.
How a source card differs from being named
Being named means the answer says your business. Earning a source card means the answer drew on your page. The two often travel together, but not always, and knowing which one you have tells you what to fix.
An assistant can name a business from what it learned during training, with no page fetched and no card shown. It can also cite your blog post about how to choose a coach and then recommend three other coaches in the text. In that second case you earned the card and lost the recommendation, and the card is still a link a buyer can click.
That is why the card deserves attention on its own. A buyer who reads an answer naming someone else, then sees your page among the sources with a clear title, has a reason to look. A buyer who sees a card titled "Home" from a web address they do not recognize has none.
How you earn a source card
You earn a source card when an assistant searches, finds your page, and uses a passage from it to support a sentence in its answer. To earn one, a page has to be reachable by the tool's search, and it has to contain a plain, self-contained sentence that answers the question being asked.
Reachable means the page is public, is not blocked from the crawlers that feed these tools, and is indexed by the search the tool draws on. Usable means the answer sits near the top, in words a buyer would use, and still makes sense when lifted out of the page. The Princeton study on generative engine optimization found that adding statistics, quotations and cited sources to a page raised its visibility in AI answers by up to 40 percent, with results that varied by subject.
Each tool chooses its sources a little differently. For how one of them does it step by step, see how Perplexity chooses its sources, and for Google's version, see how AI Overviews choose their sources.
What a source card shows, and where each part comes from
A source card shows up to four things: an icon, a site name or web address, a page title, and sometimes a short passage. Each one is read from your own website, so each one is something you can set rather than something that happens to you.
Left to fall back
Home
and that is why, as I always say to anyone who asks...
Every field set
Career coaching for mid-career changers in Denver
I coach mid-career professionals through a job change, typically over 12 weeks.
-
Icon
Read from: The small square icon linked from your home page
Fallback: A generic grey globe
Set: Your own square mark
-
Site name
Read from: Your home page: site name markup, its title and headings
Fallback: summitcareer-llc.com
Set: Summit Career Coaching
-
Title
Read from: The cited page: its title element and main heading
Fallback: Home
Set: Career coaching for mid-career changers in Denver
-
Passage
Read from: The sentence on the page the answer leaned on
Fallback: and that is why, as I always say to anyone who asks...
Set: I coach mid-career professionals through a job change, typically over 12 weeks.
Same page, same card, same four slots. Nothing was added to the card and nothing was removed. On the left every slot fell back to whatever the tool could find; on the right the page set all four.
The coach, the web address and both versions are illustrative, made up to show the difference rather than taken from a real client. Nothing about the page's quality changed between the two cards. The left one simply left every field for the tool to guess.
Google documents where two of these fields come from. Its guide to site names in Google Search says the name is generated automatically from your home page and references to it across the web, that it considers WebSite structured data, the og:site_name tag, the title and headings, and that the structured data matters most if you want to state a preference. Its guide to title links asks for a descriptive, concise title element on every page.
| Part of the card | Usually read from | What happens if you leave it | What to set |
|---|---|---|---|
| Icon | A square icon linked from your home page | A generic globe or blank square | A square icon larger than 48 pixels |
| Site name | Home page markup, title and headings | Your raw web address | One business name, used the same way everywhere |
| Title | The cited page's title element and heading | "Home", "Services" or a template default | What the page is, and who it is for |
| Passage | The sentence the answer leaned on | A fragment that means nothing alone | One plain answer near the top of the page |
How to fix your source cards this week
Fix your source cards by setting the four fields on your own site: a square icon, one consistent site name, a clear title on every page, and one plain answer near the top of each page that matters. None of it needs new content, and most of it takes an afternoon.
Start with titles, because they are the part a buyer reads first. Open each important page and check what its title says. Replace "Home", "About" and "Services" with what the page is and who it is for. Then check your home page carries your business name the same way in its title, its main heading and its site name markup, so the card does not fall back to your web address.
Next, add a square icon if your site has none; Google's guide to favicons in search results asks for a square image at least 8 pixels wide and recommends larger than 48. Last, read the opening of each key page and ask whether its first sentence answers the question the page exists for. If it opens with a welcome, it has nothing to lend a card.
The damaging admission: a better card does not make an assistant choose you. The fields decide what the card looks like once your page is used; whether it gets used depends on the passage, on what else is written about you, and on the tool. Fixing the fields is cheap and worth doing, and it is not the same as being recommended.
If you want to know whether ChatGPT names you today, start with the free check. It asks ChatGPT 25 real buyer questions from your niche at $0 and emails a plain-English readout: your score, who got named in your place, and the one fix to start with. It runs as soon as you ask for it, and the report lands within the hour between 7am and 5pm Central, or by 10am the next morning outside those hours.
Questions we hear the most
What is a source card in an AI answer?
A source card is the small linked tile an AI assistant shows beside or beneath its answer to show where a claim came from. It usually carries the page title, the site name or web address, and a small icon, and clicking it opens the page.
Is a source card the same as a citation?
A source card is how a citation looks on screen. The citation is the fact that an answer drew on your page; the card is the clickable tile that displays it. Some tools show a numbered marker in the text and the card below; others show only the card.
Can AI mention my business without showing a source card?
Yes. An assistant can name a business from what it already learned, with no page fetched and no card shown. It can also show a card for your page without naming you in the answer. Being named and being cited are separate outcomes.
Why does my source card say "Home" as the title?
Because the page it cites is titled "Home", or has no clear title at all. Give every page a title element that says what the page is about and who it is for, and a main heading that agrees with it.
Can I choose the icon on my source card?
You can supply it, though each tool decides whether to show it. Google reads a square icon linked from your home page, at least 8 pixels square and preferably larger than 48, and other tools usually take the same icon from your site.
Will the free check show whether ChatGPT cites my pages?
The free check shows whether ChatGPT names you. It asks ChatGPT 25 real buyer questions from your niche at $0 and emails your score, who got named in your place, and the one fix to start with. Being named is the outcome a source card supports.
Does the $500 audit cover more assistants than ChatGPT?
Yes. The audit runs 125 checks across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews, keeps the answers so you can read them, and lands by this time tomorrow, so you can see what each assistant says and who it names.
Your buyers are already asking. Find out what AI tells them.
The free check asks ChatGPT 25 real buyer questions about your niche and sends you the report within the hour, at $0. If it shows you are already getting named everywhere, we will say so in plain words.
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