# Getting Cited by Claude

> Claude is reported to lean on Brave Search as its retrieval backbone when it browses, so a clean, well-structured page in a privacy-first index can earn a Claude citation — an association to verify against a primary source at build.

## How Claude chooses sources

Claude, when it searches the web to answer, is reported to draw on Brave Search as its retrieval backbone. We flag this clearly: the Claude<->Brave association is *reported*, not primary-confirmed by Anthropic, and must be verified against a primary source at build. As of 2026, the current Claude line includes Claude Fable 5; the retrieval-source attribution is a working hypothesis, not a vendor-confirmed fact.

The practical implication is robust even if the named index shifts: get indexed by a high-quality independent web index, present a clean crawl path, and structure the page so a model can lift a precise, well-sourced answer. Do not assume Bing or Google ranking alone carries you here — broad indexability matters.

## What to prioritize for Claude

Prioritize the substance signals — accurate, well-structured, well-attributed content does disproportionate work:

- Be indexable by independent web indexes, not just the dominant search engines.
- Lead with a precise, liftable answer and back it with named statistics and dates.
- Attribute content to a credentialed author with Person schema.
- Keep a clean crawl path and serve content without a render wall.

## Time-to-citation, hedged

Reported time-to-citation for Claude (and trust-weighted surfaces like AI Overviews) is on the longer end — roughly two to six weeks for a new domain. This range is *not* primary-sourced; the safer claim is the ordering: Perplexity in days, ChatGPT in weeks, trust-leaning engines like Claude longer as a new domain accrues signals. Original data, community co-citation and answer-first structure compress the window.

Related: [the GEO pillar](/geo) · [the 8 citation signals](/geo/citation-signals) · [getting cited by ChatGPT](/geo/chatgpt) · [getting cited by Perplexity](/geo/perplexity) · [the search-index crawlers that feed answer engines](/crawlers/search) · [build the citation signals as content readiness](/agent-readiness/content) · [audit your site](/services)