The 2026 AI Citation Playbook: Entity Density, Freshness, and the Death of Rank-Based Citation

AI Overview citation has decoupled from organic rank in 2026 — only 38% of citations now come from top-10 pages, down from 76% a year earlier. Entity density, structured data, and freshness now predict citation probability better than backlinks. Sourced stats on all four, plus why cross-engine optimization requires separate strategies.