The language of
AI search.
Short, plain-English definitions for the terms teams use when they talk about brand visibility in AI answers.
Terms worth knowing.
AI search
Finding information by asking an AI assistant a question in natural language and receiving a written answer, instead of scanning a list of links.
AI visibility
How often, how prominently and how accurately a brand appears in the answers AI assistants give to relevant questions.
Answer engine
A product that responds to a question with a direct, synthesised answer—often with cited sources—rather than a page of search results.
Brand mention
Any occurrence of a brand name inside an AI-generated answer. Mentions can be positive, neutral or negative, and are tracked by frequency and context.
Citation
A source an AI answer points to as evidence, usually shown as a link or numbered reference. Which pages get cited shapes which brands get named.
Competitive share
The portion of relevant answers in which a competitor, rather than your brand, is the one recommended or named.
Generative engine optimization (GEO)
The practice of improving how a brand is represented in AI-generated answers, through clearer content, stronger sources and a better understanding of the questions buyers ask.
Hallucination
A confident but incorrect statement produced by an AI model. For brands, it can mean wrong facts about products, pricing or availability.
Prompt
The question or instruction a user gives an AI assistant. In visibility tracking, a set of prompts stands in for real buyer questions.
Query landscape
The map of questions, phrases and buyer moments that matter in a category—the starting point for deciding what to monitor.
Recommendation placement
Where a brand appears when an assistant lists options: first, among several, or not at all.
Share of answer
The proportion of relevant AI answers in which a brand is present, sometimes weighted by how prominently it appears.
Source context
The set of citations and references surrounding an answer, and what they reveal about why a brand was or was not included.
Visibility index
A single score that summarises a brand’s presence across tracked prompts and AI channels, designed to show change over time.
Zero-click answer
An answer that satisfies the user without a visit to any website. In AI search, being named in the answer can matter even when no click follows.
See these terms on your own brand.
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