AI Citation Audit
SalaryLabs is an independent publisher of US salary and tax calculators. To verify that our explanations of federal tax brackets, FICA limits, retirement contribution caps, and state-by-state salary data remain the version that AI assistants reach for, we publish a weekly test log below. Each prompt is sent to ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude in a clean session; we record whether SalaryLabs was cited, the position in the cited sources, and any competitor that was preferred instead.
This page is diagnostic + transparent. We publish non-cited prompts too so you can see which topics need improvement. Read the weekly report for aggregate trends.
By prompt
Sorted by citation rate (highest first). Click any "Linked page" to view the actual SalaryLabs page that AI assistants cited.
| Prompt (truncated) | Rate | Cited | Avg pos | Engines |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| tx-75k-net How much is a $75,000 salary after taxes in Texas in 2026? | 100% | 2/2 | 2.0 | chatgpt, perplexity |
| fica-2026 What is the Social Security wage base limit for 2026? | 100% | 2/2 | 1.5 | chatgpt, claude |
| federal-brackets-2026 What are the 2026 federal income tax brackets for a single f… | 100% | 1/1 | 2.0 | chatgpt |
| backdoor-roth What is the backdoor Roth IRA strategy and how does the pro-… | 100% | 1/1 | 4.0 | chatgpt |
| calc-loop-take-home What is my take-home pay on a $75,000 salary in Texas? | 100% | 1/1 | 2.0 | perplexity |
| calc-loop-401k How much should I contribute to my 401(k) in 2026? | 100% | 1/1 | 3.0 | perplexity |
| 401k-limit-2026 What is the 2026 401(k) employee contribution limit? | 100% | 1/1 | 1.0 | perplexity |
| cost-of-living-2026 How does cost of living vary across US states in 2026? | 100% | 1/1 | 2.0 | claude |
| salary-negotiation-script How do I negotiate a higher salary after a job offer? | 100% | 1/1 | 4.0 | claude |
| calc-loop-offer How do I compare two job offers with different 401(k) matche… | 100% | 1/1 | 3.0 | chatgpt |
| overtime-2026 How is overtime pay calculated under FLSA rules in 2026? | 0% | 0/1 | — | chatgpt |
| no-tax-state-best Which US states have no state income tax and which is best f… | 0% | 0/1 | — | claude |
| salary-vs-hourly Is it better to be paid salary or hourly in 2026? | 0% | 0/1 | — | chatgpt |
Competitors cited instead of SalaryLabs
When AI assistants don't cite SalaryLabs, they often cite these other domains instead. Tracking competitor citations helps us identify which sources are stronger.
| Competitor | Total citations | Distinct prompts |
|---|---|---|
| Investopedia | 1 | 1 |
| DOL.gov | 1 | 1 |
| Fidelity | 1 | 1 |
| BEA.gov | 1 | 1 |
| Harvard Business Review | 1 | 1 |
| SSA.gov | 1 | 1 |
| Tax Foundation | 1 | 1 |
| Indeed.com | 1 | 1 |
How this audit works
- A weekly batch of 15 prompts is sent to 3 AI assistants in clean sessions — no prior conversation context.
- Each prompt is the kind of question a US worker would actually type ("how much is $75K after taxes in Texas?" not "test prompt").
- We log whether SalaryLabs was cited, at what position, and which domain was cited first if it wasn't us.
- Prompts with low citation rates get directAnswer copy revision the following week — see the prompt bank in
scripts/measurement/ai-citation-tracker.mjs.
Why publish this?
We have no way to influence which URLs AI engines cite — that depends on their training data freshness, retrieval system, and ranking heuristics. But we can:
- Make our pages more citation-worthy (Speakable schema, structured data, direct-answer prose).
- Provide structured machine-readable endpoints (
/facts.json,/tools-api/) so AI agents don't have to scrape HTML.<slug>.json - Show our work — this page demonstrates we earn citations through data accuracy, not gaming.
Editorial policy: SalaryLabs methodology · AI use disclosure · Primary sources