AI Search Vocabulary & Metrics [Very Important]
Let's understand what we're actually looking at when we track AI search.
Here's a typical ChatGPT interface with the key components labeled:
Orange box (Prompt): The question a user types - "what are the best project management tools".
Red box (Answer): The AI-generated answer listing tools like Asana and Trello.
Yellow highlight (Mention): Where brands get mentioned within the answer.
Green box (Citations): The sources AI references, sometimes with clickable links. These are of 2 kinds - ones shown on the "Citations" side panel as well those shown in-line in the answer itself.
Core Terms: From SEO to AI Search
Traditional SEO has keywords, rankings, and SERPs. AI search has its own vocabulary. Let's translate what these terms mean and why they matter for your strategy.
| SEO Term | AI Search Term | What It Actually Means |
|---|---|---|
| Keyword | Prompt | The conversational questions users type into AI platforms. Instead of "CRM software," think "what CRM should I use for my 10-person startup?" |
| SERP | Answer | The synthesized answer AI creates from multiple sources. Not a list of links, but a complete answer. |
| Ranking Position | Mention Position | Where you appear within the AI's answer - 1st paragraph, 2nd, or buried at the end. |
| Organic Traffic | AI Visibility | How often your brand appears across all AI answers. Measured as a percentage, not visits. |
| Backlinks | Citations | When AI references your content as a source. May include a link, or just mention your brand. |
| Click-Through Rate | Citation Click Rate | How often users click on your citations when provided. Usually much lower than traditional CTR. |
| Domain Authority | Citation Authority | How trustworthy AI considers your domain based on who else cites you. |
Additional AI Search Terms
Answers Mentioned
The total count of AI answers where your brand appears. Different from visibility percentage - this is the raw number.
Answer Variations
When the same prompt gives different answers across platforms or time. Normal volatility can be 30%+ daily.
Query Fan-Out (Google AI only)
When one search becomes 20+ sub-queries behind the scenes.
Mention Sentiment
Whether AI describes your brand positively, negatively, or neutrally in its answer.
Source Type
Classification of citing domains:
- Your brand (your own website's pages)
- Competitor (direct competitor sites)
- Third party (independent sources)
Citation Gap
Website sources that mention your competitors but not you - your biggest opportunity.
Key AI Search Metrics Explained
Now let's understand the numbers that actually matter in AI search.
Visibility Score
What it measures: The percentage of tracked answers where your brand appears.
How it's calculated:
- Answers where you're mentioned ÷ Total answers tracked × 100
- Example: Mentioned in 57 out of 100 answers = 57% visibility
What good looks like:
- 🟢 Excellent: Above 70%
- 🟡 Good: 40-70%
- 🔴 Needs work: Below 30%
Why it matters: If you're not mentioned, you don't exist in AI search. This is your most fundamental metric.
Answers Mentioned
What it measures: The absolute number of AI answers that include your brand.
Example from dashboard: 354 responses mentioned Canva
How it relates to visibility:
- 354 responses mentioned ÷ 604 total responses = ~57% visibility
This raw count helps you understand volume, while visibility percentage shows coverage.
Mention Position (Rank Distribution)
What it measures: Where you appear in AI answers when mentioned.
| Position | What It Means |
|---|---|
| 1st rank | You're the primary recommendation |
| 2nd rank | You're an alternative |
| 3rd rank | You're also considered |
| 4th+ rank | You're in the list |
| Not mentioned | You're invisible |
Sentiment Score
What it measures: How positively AI talks about your brand.
How it's calculated:
- Positive mentions ÷ Total mentions × 100
- Example: 82 positive out of 100 total = 82% sentiment
What good looks like:
- 🟢 Excellent: Above 85
- 🟡 Good: 70-85
- 🔴 Concerning: Below 60
Why it matters: Being mentioned negatively is worse than not being mentioned at all.
Market Share (Share of Voice)
What it measures: Your brand mentions compared to all competitor mentions.
How it's calculated:
- Your visibility ÷ Sum of all tracked brand visibility
- In the image above for Canva: 34.2% market share in AI responses
Citation Metrics
Total Citation Pages
- All unique URLs cited when your brand/topic is discussed
- Shows the breadth of website sources (domains) AI considers authoritative
My Pages Cited
- The number of your website/blog pages that AI references
Total Domains Cited
- Unique domains AI references for your topics
Sites Mentioning Me
- Third-party websites that talk about your brand
- Higher number = stronger authority signal to AI
Your Domain Rating
- This is a traditional SEO metric from Ahrefs
- Shows quality score of your domain (0-100)
Citation Authority Score
- Quality rating of domains citing you (0-100)
- Based on trust, relevance, and freshness of citing domains
Platform-Specific Metrics
Platform Visibility Breakdown
Different AI platforms will show different visibility:
- ChatGPT: 60%
- Perplexity: 45%
- Claude: 52%
- Google AI: 58%
This variance is normal - each platform has different:
- Index sources
- Ranking algorithms
- Content preferences
- Update frequencies
Metrics That Don't Matter (Yet)
Some traditional SEO metrics don't translate to AI search:
- Keyword density - AI understands context, not repetition
- Meta descriptions - AI writes its own summaries
- Page speed scores - Important for crawling, not for citations
- Number of pages - Quality over quantity in AI search
Now that you speak AI's language, let's dive into what separates keywords from prompts - and why this distinction changes everything about your content strategy.
Updated 2 days ago