Being mentioned and being cited are different. A mention names your brand; a citation attributes a claim to your site, often as a clickable source. Citations drive referral traffic and signal to the engine that your content is trusted for the topic.
Citation rate is a leading indicator of GEO health. To raise it, publish the specific, verifiable, well-structured content that engines prefer to attribute (original data, clear definitions, step-by-step answers) and earn the authority that makes a model comfortable pointing to you.