Glossary
The vocabulary of AI search visibility.
Plain definitions for the terms we use in audits and reports - so the numbers are never a black box. See the full method on the methodology page.
- Share of model
- The share of qualifying AI answers that name your brand, measured as the median across the five engines with a Wilson 95% CI. Clear Cited's headline metric - it answers "when a buyer asks AI, how often are you in the answer?"
- AEO - Answer Engine Optimization
- Making your brand the one an AI engine names and cites when a buyer asks for the best tool in a category. The successor discipline to SEO for an answer-first world.
- GEO - Generative Engine Optimization
- Often used interchangeably with AEO; emphasises optimising for generative answers across assistants rather than ranked link lists.
- % citing your URL
- KPI 1 of 7 - how often an answer links a claim to a page you own (the most durable, defensible form of visibility).
- % naming your brand
- KPI 2 of 7 - how often the answer names you at all in the category, your floor for being in the conversation.
- Sentiment
- KPI 4 of 7 - whether you're recommended, listed neutrally, or cautioned against in the answer.
- Presence quality
- KPI 5 of 7 - mention depth + source quality + data richness behind a mention. A cited, detailed recommendation beats a passing name-drop.
- Citation share
- The proportion of an answer's cited sources that point to pages you own, versus third parties.
- Wilson 95% confidence interval
- A statistically sound interval for a proportion (well-behaved at small samples and near 0%/100%). We report it on every share-of-model figure so you can tell signal from sampling wobble.
- Non-determinism
- AI answers vary run to run for the same prompt. Why we report a median across 10+ runs and a +/-band - never a single screenshot.
- E-E-A-T
- Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness - the signals engines weigh when deciding whether to trust and cite a source.
See these measured for your brand.
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