Diagnosing a Visibility Drop
Key Concepts
Visibility-Citation Gap (Inverse): A situation where your citation share is healthy or growing, but your visibility is declining. This signals that the problem is platform-specific, not content-wide. The global citation number may be masking a supply chain gap on one or more individual platforms.
Root Cause Statement: The end product of a full diagnostic. Not "visibility went down," but a specific, actionable explanation: which topic dropped, on which platforms, due to what change in the citation supply chain, and what your options are. This is what separates reading data from diagnosing problems.
Quick Reference
The Diagnostic Sequence
When you spot a meaningful visibility drop on a topic you should be winning:
1. Start at the Topics list
- Filter to your platform set
- Scan for significant movement on high-priority topics
- Don't skip drops on topics where you're ranked #1 - losing altitude at the top still matters
2. Drill into Prompts
- The topic average blends everything together. Always go to the prompt level.
- Read the prompt text on the ones dropping vs. the ones that are stable
- Look for patterns in the language - are the declining prompts clustered around a specific platform, feature, or angle?
- This gives you your first hypothesis
3. Check the Platforms page
- Filter by the affected topic
- Compare visibility trends across platforms individually
- Determine whether the drop is uniform or split (e.g., three platforms down, one up)
- The topic aggregate will blend a split into a moderate-looking decline - don't trust it
4. Go to Citations
- Check your global citation share and rank first
- If global citations are healthy but visibility is dropping, the gap is platform-specific
- Filter citations to the problem platform
- Look for: your citation rank on that platform, who owns the top of the supply chain, any new sources that surged recently, and the category mix (earned, institutional, social, competitive, owned)
5. Produce a root cause statement
A complete diagnosis answers:
- What dropped (which topic, which prompts)
- Where it dropped (which platforms, not just the aggregate)
- Why it dropped (what changed in the citation supply chain)
- What to do about it (get into the sources that platform prefers, double down where you're winning, or both)
Recognizing Common Patterns
- Prompt-level clustering: Drops concentrated around prompts mentioning a specific platform or feature suggest a platform-specific problem, not a content quality problem
- New source entering the supply chain: A domain that surged in citation share recently likely published new content that the engine picked up. This is often the smoking gun.
- Strong globally, weak on one platform: Your content may be fine. It's just not in the places that specific engine looks when building answers.
Strategic Options After Diagnosis
- Earned media play: Get mentioned in the sources that dominate the problem platform's supply chain
- Content format match: Create content that fits what the problem platform prefers (e.g., institutional/publisher-style content for a platform that favors Wikipedia and news outlets)
- Prioritize your strengths: Double down on platforms where you're already winning and treat the problem platform as a longer-term project
Meet your mentor
Josh BlyskalHead of Education