Glossary
The terms, defined plainly.
Every metric CitePrism reports and every term the field uses, each defined in a paragraph you can quote.
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AI share of voice
AI share of voice is the fraction of all brand mentions, across many sampled answers to a fixed set of category questions, that belong to one brand. If the assistants named brands 400 times across a week of runs and 100 of those were yours, your share of voice is 25 percent.
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AI visibility
AI visibility is the degree to which AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity name, recommend and cite a brand when people ask them questions about its category. It is measured by sampling the assistants with a fixed set of buyer questions and is reported as visibility rate, share of voice, average rank, first-mention rate and citation share.
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Answer engine optimization (AEO)
Answer engine optimization (AEO) is the practice of structuring content so that answer engines, including AI assistants, featured snippets and voice assistants, can lift a direct answer from it. The term predates generative assistants and is now used almost interchangeably with generative engine optimization (GEO).
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Average rank
Average rank is the mean position of a brand among the brands named in the sampled AI answers that mention it. An average rank of 1.4 means the brand is usually the first name in the answer; an average rank of 3.8 means it is usually mentioned late, after several competitors.
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Citation share
Citation share is the fraction of all sources cited across sampled AI answers to a category prompt set that belong to a given site, or to a category of site such as review platforms, communities or competitors. It shows which pages the assistants rely on when they answer questions in a category, and it is the closest thing generative engine optimization has to a ranking report.
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First-mention rate
First-mention rate is the share of sampled AI answers to a category prompt set in which a brand is the very first brand named. Being first in a spoken-style answer is worth more than being present, so this metric captures the part of AI visibility that visibility rate alone misses.
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Generative engine optimization (GEO)
Generative engine optimization (GEO) is the practice of making a brand more likely to be named, recommended and cited by AI assistants when people ask them questions in its category. SEO optimizes for a ranked list of links; GEO optimizes for a single generated answer that names a few products and cites a few sources.
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Prompt sampling
Prompt sampling, also called synthetic sampling, is the method of measuring AI visibility by running a fixed set of buyer questions against AI assistants on a schedule, many times each, and analyzing the answers for brand mentions, positions and citations. It is the only data source available, because real conversations between users and assistants are private.
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Visibility rate
Visibility rate is the share of sampled AI answers to a category prompt set that mention a brand at all, regardless of position or how many other brands were named. It is the simplest AI visibility metric and the one to read first, because it describes the brand alone rather than the brand relative to competitors.