SearchVisibility.wikiVisibility in search and AI answers

Glossary

From Search Visibility Wiki · By the · Published · Last reviewed · How we research

This glossary defines the core terms of search visibility in classic Google and AI answer engines. Each definition links to a full, sourced article.

What do the key terms mean?

AEO (answer engine optimization)
Making content easy for answer engines to retrieve, trust and cite. More
AI Mode
Google’s conversational AI search experience; Labs from March 5, 2025, all US users from May 20, 2025. More
AI Overviews
AI-generated summaries with supporting links on Google results pages; US rollout May 14, 2024. More
AI Performance report
Bing Webmaster Tools report (preview, 2026) of citations in Copilot, Bing AI summaries and select partners. More
AI search visibility
How often pages are cited and brands named in search-grounded AI answers. More
AI visibility
How often a brand or site is mentioned, cited or recommended in AI-generated answers. More
AI visibility score
A vendor metric summarizing AI mentions; calculated differently by each tool. More
Brand mention
The brand name appearing in text, linked or unlinked, on a page or in an AI answer. More
Brand visibility
How often people encounter a brand when searching, including in AI answers and knowledge panels. More
C-SEO Bench
A 2025 benchmark (arXiv 2506.11097) that retested GEO methods using citation rank. More
Citation
A link to a page shown as a source for an AI answer. More
ClaudeBot
Anthropic crawler that collects content that may be used for model training; separate from Claude-SearchBot and Claude-User. More
Digital PR
Earning coverage, mentions and links on other sites through newsworthy stories, data and expert commentary. More
Entity
A uniquely identifiable thing such as an organization, person, product or place. More
Fan-out query
One of several related searches an AI system issues to answer a question. More
Generative AI performance report
Search Console report of impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode. More
Generative engine
A system that retrieves sources and uses a language model to write a cited answer. More
GEO (generative engine optimization)
Improving visibility in generative AI answers; term from arXiv 2311.09735 (2023). More
GEO-bench
The 10,000-query benchmark released with the GEO paper. More
Google-Extended
Robots.txt token controlling Gemini training and grounding uses; does not affect Google Search. More
GPTBot
OpenAI crawler for content that may be used to train its models. More
Grounding
Generating an answer from retrieved documents; Google uses it as a synonym for RAG. More
Impression
In Search Console, an instance of a link to your site being shown to a user. More
Knowledge Graph
Google’s database of entities and relationships, launched May 16, 2012. More
Knowledge panel
Google information box for an entity in the Knowledge Graph; can be claimed by the entity or its representative. More
LLM SEO
Optimizing so large language model products cite and mention you. More
LLM visibility
How often LLM products mention, cite or recommend a brand. More
llms.txt
Proposed Markdown file at /llms.txt that gives AI agents a curated guide to a site; not required by Google’s AI features. More
OAI-SearchBot
OpenAI crawler that governs inclusion in ChatGPT search. More
PerplexityBot
Perplexity crawler that surfaces and links sites in Perplexity search. More
Prompt tracking
Running a fixed set of prompts through AI engines on a schedule to measure visibility. More
Query fan-out
Google’s term for concurrent related queries generated to gather more results. More
RAG (retrieval-augmented generation)
Retrieving documents at query time and generating an answer grounded in them. More
Search visibility
How often and how prominently a site or brand is seen in search results and AI answers. More
Share of voice
Your share of total visibility on a query or prompt set, relative to competitors. More
Structured data
Standardized markup, usually JSON-LD with schema.org vocabulary, that labels page content for search engines. More
Visibility %
Semrush Position Tracking’s CTR-based visibility estimate for a keyword set. More

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a mention and a citation?

A mention is the brand named in text; a citation is a link shown as a source.

What does GEO stand for?

Generative engine optimization, a term introduced in a 2023 research paper.

What is query fan-out?

Google’s term for the multiple related searches its AI features may issue to build a response.

Categories: Reference