Diagnosis
For every topic cluster, Sitefire runs a diagnosis agent that analyzes why certain content gets cited by AI engines and yours doesn’t. The output is a structured report that ends with one clear recommended action.
What the Agent Analyzes
1. Visibility vs. Citations
The agent starts by mapping who gets mentioned and who gets cited. These are different signals:
- Visibility means an AI engine talks about your brand when answering a question
- Citation means it links to your content as a source
A brand can have high visibility (AI engines mention it frequently) but zero citations (they never link to its pages). This is common - and it’s the gap Sitefire closes.
2. Citation Landscape
Who owns the citations for this cluster? The agent classifies every cited URL:
| Classification | Example |
|---|---|
| Corporate | Company blogs, agency sites, SaaS review pages |
| Editorial | TechRadar, Forbes, industry publications |
| UGC | Reddit threads, Stack Overflow, community forums |
| Competitor | Direct competitor pages |
| Own | Your own content |
The distribution matters. If editorial sites own 50% of citations, the strategy is different than if corporate blogs dominate.
3. Top-Cited Content (3C Classification)
The agent classifies every top-cited page along three axes to identify the winning formula:
C1: Content Type
The most important signal. AI engines overwhelmingly cite the same type of page for a given query. If every cited result is a blog post, your product page won’t break through - regardless of how good it is.
| Content Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Blog Post / Article | Editorial content - guides, comparisons, listicles |
| Product / Feature Page | Marketing page for a product, feature, or pricing |
| Category / Listing Page | Collection or directory of items |
| Landing Page | Focused conversion page for a service or tool |
| Video | YouTube or video-dominant result |
| Interactive Tool | Calculator, checker, generator, playground |
| Documentation | Reference docs, API docs, knowledge base |
| Forum / Discussion | Reddit, Stack Overflow, community Q&A |
C2: Content Format
How is the content structured? A how-to guide and a comparison article serve fundamentally different intents - even though both are blog posts. Format mismatches are the most common missed opportunity.
| Content Format | Signals |
|---|---|
| How-to Guide | Step-by-step instructions |
| Listicle | Numbered list - “10 best…”, “top N…” |
| Definitive Guide | Long-form, “complete guide”, “everything you need” |
| Comparison | X vs Y, head-to-head evaluation |
| Review | Single product or service evaluation |
| Opinion / Thought Piece | Perspective, argument, commentary |
| Roundup | Curated from multiple sources or experts |
| Statistics Post | Aggregated data - “N statistics about…” |
| Checklist | Actionable verification list |
| Case Study | Real-world implementation with results |
C3: Content Angle
What is the hook? The winning angle tells you how to position your content against what already gets cited.
| Angle | Signals |
|---|---|
| Freshness | Current year in title, “2026”, “updated” |
| Speed / Ease | ”quick”, “easy”, “in 5 minutes” |
| Cost | ”free”, “cheap”, “budget”, “open-source” |
| Audience-specific | ”for beginners”, “for enterprise”, “for developers” |
| Depth | ”complete”, “ultimate”, “everything you need” |
| Niche Specificity | Narrow use case or industry vertical |
| Authority | ”expert-tested”, “we reviewed N products”, data-driven |
4. Your Existing Content
Finally, the agent looks at what you already have. Does your site have a page that matches the winning C1 + C2 profile? If so, how does it perform compared to the top-cited content?
The 4 Actions
Based on the diagnosis, Sitefire recommends one of four actions:
| Diagnosis finding | Action | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| C1 or C2 mismatch | Create content | You don’t have the right type or format of page. No amount of optimization will fix a product page competing against listicles. |
| C1 + C2 match, low citations | Improve content | You have the right page - it just underperforms. Sitefire scores it with the GEO Score and generates specific improvements. |
| UGC dominates citations | Engage UGC | AI engines cite Reddit threads and forum answers, not corporate content. The strategy is to participate where citations happen. |
| Editorial dominates citations | Editorial coverage | AI engines cite publications like TechRadar or Forbes. The strategy is to earn coverage from the outlets that get cited. |
The key principle: when C1 or C2 don’t match, you need new content - not optimization. Only when your content type and format already match the cited results does page-level improvement make sense.