Glossary

AI visibility, defined

The terms you'll hear about AI search and local visibility, explained in plain English.

AEO (answer engine optimization)

Optimizing content so it's used as the direct answer by AI assistants, voice assistants and search features. Largely overlaps with GEO.

AI crawler

A bot that reads web pages for an AI company, such as OAI-SearchBot (OpenAI) or PerplexityBot. Blocking them can keep a site out of AI answers.

AI Mode

Google's conversational search experience, where answers are generated by AI and can include local business recommendations.

AI Overviews

AI-generated summaries that appear at the top of some Google search results, often naming businesses and citing sources.

AI visibility

How often AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI mention or recommend a business when people ask questions it should be the answer to.

Average position

Where your brand appears, on average, in AI answers that mention it. Being named first usually matters more than being named fifth.

Citation (AI answers)

A source an AI assistant links to or relies on when it writes an answer. The sites cited in your market show where AI gets its information.

Citation (local SEO)

Any online mention of a business's name, address and phone number, such as a listing on Yelp, BBB or a trade directory.

Citation gap

A source AI cites when it recommends a competitor but that doesn't mention you. Citation gaps are ranked by how many high-intent prompts they affect.

Citation rate

The share of relevant AI answers that cite your website or content as a source, not just mention your brand.

Funnel stage (TOFU, MOFU, BOFU)

Where a prompt sits in the buying journey: top of funnel (learning), middle (comparing options) or bottom (ready to choose). Bottom-of-funnel prompts usually matter most for revenue.

GEO (generative engine optimization)

Improving how a business or brand appears in answers generated by AI engines. Sometimes called AI SEO.

Google Business Profile

The free business listing that appears in Google Search and Maps. Formerly called Google My Business.

llms.txt

A proposed plain-text file at the root of a website that summarizes the site for AI assistants and crawlers.

Local AI visibility

AI visibility for questions with local intent, like “best roofer in Omaha” or “who can fix my furnace today in Boise”, where the answer depends on the searcher's city.

Mention rate

The share of AI answers that recommend a business. Because AI answers vary, it's measured across many repeated questions rather than a single search.

NAP consistency

Keeping a business's name, address and phone number identical everywhere it's listed, so search engines and AI engines trust the details.

Prompt

A question someone asks an AI assistant. Groow tracks a library of prompts per brand, classified by topic, intent, funnel stage, market and priority.

Recommendation rate

The share of relevant AI answers that actually recommend your brand for the use case, as opposed to only mentioning it. “I'd recommend Stackwise for a mid-size IT team” counts; “Stackwise is a help desk tool” doesn't.

Review gating

Only asking happy customers for public reviews. It breaks Google's review policies and can get reviews removed or a profile penalized.

Structured data (schema)

Code added to a web page that describes its content in a standard format (schema.org), so search and AI engines understand things like services, locations and FAQs.

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