AI Citation Cluster — User Guide
NordicPulse AI tool for building content clusters enriched with real AI citation data.
What is AI Citation Cluster?
Traditional topic clustering groups keywords by semantic similarity — but doesn't tell you who is actually cited in AI answers. AI Citation Cluster goes a step further: for each keyword in the cluster, we check Google AI Overview (via Serper) and Perplexity (via real API calls) to map which domains are cited. You get a complete picture of who owns each topic area in AI search.
Cost: 100 credits per run
How to use the tool
1. Fill in the form
- Main topic — The seed keyword (e.g. "search engine optimization")
- Your domain — The domain you want to analyze (e.g.
example.com) - Brand name — Your company name
- Competitors — Up to 5 competitor domains (optional)
- Number of clusters — Choose 8, 10 or 12 clusters
- Search market — Norway (nb-NO) or USA (en-US)
2. Start the analysis
Click "Build citation clusters". The tool runs 5 phases with real-time progress:
| Phase | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1. Expand keywords | Gemini generates keyword variants per cluster topic |
| 2. AIO scanning | Serper checks each keyword for AI Overview and cited domains |
| 3. Perplexity check | Real Perplexity API calls for top gap keywords |
| 4. Clustering | Gemini groups keywords into thematic clusters |
| 5. Scoring | Gap score and content recommendations per cluster |
Total time: approximately 40-60 seconds.
3. Read the results
Understanding the results
Summary cards
- Clusters found — Number of thematic clusters generated
- Total keywords — Number of keywords analyzed
- AIO trigger rate — Percentage of keywords with AI Overview
- Average gap score — Mean gap score across all clusters
- Keywords with gap — Number of keywords where competitors are cited but you're not
Source type distribution
Visual bar showing the distribution of source types:
| Source type | Color | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Brand-friendly | Green | AI cites business sites — you CAN rank here |
| Media-only | Blue | AI cites only major media outlets — requires PR/outreach |
| E-commerce | Amber | AI cites product platforms — requires product data |
| Mixed | Gray | Mix of source types — adapt strategy per keyword |
Topic clusters
Expandable cards sorted by gap score (highest first):
- Priority badge — critical (red), high (amber), medium (blue), low (gray)
- Dominant source type — What type of sources AI prefers for this topic
- Gap score — 0-100, higher = bigger opportunity
- Keyword table — AIO status, brand citation, competitor citations, buying intent
- Content recommendation — Specific strategy adapted to source type and gap
Competitor leaderboard
Table ranking competitors by total citations in AI search:
- Domain, total citations, average position, top clusters
Data integrity
| Badge | Source | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Serper — Live (green pulse) | Serper API | Real Google AIO data and citation sources |
| Perplexity Sonar — Live (green pulse) | Perplexity API | Real citation verification |
| AI Analysis (cyan) | Gemini | Clustering, scoring and content recommendations |
Tips
- Start with broad topics to get a complete picture of the citation landscape
- Focus on clusters with high gap score AND source type "brand-friendly"
- Ignore clusters where source type is "media-only" — unless you have PR capacity
- Use content recommendations as briefs for the content team
- Run the analysis quarterly to track changes in citation patterns
Related tools
- Trending AI Search Volume — Discover keywords with growing AI search volume
- AEO Topic Opportunity Finder — Find content gaps with a 4-part content strategy
- Content Silo Planner — Build content silos based on semantic structure
- Pillar Content Gap Mapper — Identify missing pillar content
Last updated 2026-03-19