How Do I Create a Third-Party Content Strategy? – Gumshoe

A third-party content strategy is how you get your brand referenced on the outside sites that AI models already trust, so the models are more likely to mention you when they answer questions in your category. This is Gumshoe's External Influence lever, the counterpart to the work you do on your own site. Your Visibility Audit (formerly known as a report) shows you which outside sites matter, in your Citations (formerly the Sources page).

How do I find the right third-party targets?

Open your Citations (formerly the Sources page). On the Pro plan the same area is labeled Citation Audit and adds more detail, described below. Your Citations list every domain AI models cite when they answer questions in your category, so it is the map of where your brand needs to show up. Look for three patterns:

• High-citation domains where your brand does not appear. These are trusted sites shaping the answers without you in them.
• Domains where competitors are cited but you are not. Those placements are helping competitors earn mentions.
• Domains that appear repeatedly across models and topics. A site that keeps showing up is a strong influencer, even when it is not about you directly.

On the Pro plan, the Citation Audit scrapes each cited page and shows the author or publisher, the publication date, and which brands are mentioned on the page. That lets you see who is being recommended alongside or instead of you, and point your outreach at the exact pages and people that matter.

What placements should I pursue?

Once you have a target list, focus on the kinds of placements the models are already citing:

• Pitch guest articles or expert commentary to the publications and news or media sites AI cites in your category.
• Get your brand onto the "best of" and "top X" lists, directories, and review sites that keep appearing in your Citations.
• Where forums and community sites (for example, Reddit or Quora) are cited, make sure a credible voice from your team is contributing genuinely useful answers rather than promotional posts.
• Build relationships with the repeat influencer domains so future coverage comes more naturally.
• Encourage your users to post reviews on influential review sites.

How do I prioritize my outreach?

Do not chase every domain at once. Start with the single highest-citation domain where your brand is absent, then work down from there. One strong placement on a site AI already trusts does more than a dozen on sites that never get cited.

How do I know it is working?

Give the models time to pick up new coverage, then watch the shift in Gumshoe:

• Your own domain's citation count should climb in your Citations over time.
• The Competitive Leaderboard shows you closing the gap with competitors.

If you land a placement on a high-authority site and later see that site cited in answers about your category, that is a clear win: the model has picked it up, and your brand is more likely to come along with it.

Pro tip: Sort your Citations by the domains with the highest citation counts where your brand is missing. That list, highest impact first, is your outreach priority order.