Factuality: Evidence and Citations AI Can Trust

How evidence and citations prove your claims are trustworthy to AI systems.

What it measures

Factuality measures how well your content backs up its claims with verifiable evidence. It combines outbound citation density and semantic cohesion — are your claims supported, and does your content stay on topic?

Why it matters for AI

AI search engines strongly prefer content that cites sources, includes statistics, and links to authoritative references. Pages with outbound citations to credible sources signal that your content is well-researched and trustworthy.

How to improve

Add links to your sources — Every statistic should link to its origin
Include specific statistics with attribution — "According to Gartner (2024)..."
Use blockquotes for expert quotes — Attributed quotes carry extra weight
Reference published studies or reports — Primary sources beat secondary coverage

💡 Quick win

Add at least 3 outbound links to authoritative sources in your article body.