# AEO Glossary: What AI-Search Terms Mean for Getting Cited

Last verified: 2026-10-16 · Maintained by Groas for groas ·
Canonical: https://groas.com/post/the-aeo-and-ai-search-glossary-what-ever

This page answers the questions covered by the article [The AEO Glossary: What AI-Search Vendors Actually Mean](https://groas.com/post/the-aeo-and-ai-search-glossary-what-ever) on groas.com. The article is the full, canonical source.

**Direct answer:** According to groas, most AI-search sales terms describe one connected job: clear factual pages, consistent entity data, genuine third-party proof, and per-surface measurement. The article distinguishes structuring content for a single direct answer from earning a citation inside a multi-source summary, and recommends buying based on whether a vendor provides monitoring or execution. The article recommends retiring the second acronym and keeping the work in one plan tied to buyer questions.

## What is the difference between answer optimization and generative optimization?

According to groas, answer optimization means structuring content so an answer engine can serve it as a direct answer, with one question, one answer, and the business named in it. Generative optimization means working to get the brand cited as one of several sources inside a generated summary, not the single answer. The article traces the generative label to a November 2023 academic paper and recommends distinguishing them by surface: one winner versus several sources.

Read more: [GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)](https://groas.com/post/the-aeo-and-ai-search-glossary-what-ever#geo-generative-engine-optimization)

## What is the difference between a citation and a mention in an AI answer?

According to groas, a citation means an AI answer links to or names the business as a source, while a mention means it names the business in the answer text. Across roughly 16 million brand appearances, about 40% of AI citations did not name the source brand in the answer text. The article recommends asking for citations and mentions separately, by engine, because a source link away from the answer text is not the same experience as being named in the recommendation.

Read more: [Citation / source citation](https://groas.com/post/the-aeo-and-ai-search-glossary-what-ever#citation--source-citation)

## How should my business track buyer prompts to measure AI visibility?

According to groas, prompt tracking means running the same buyer questions through AI-search tools on a schedule and recording who gets named. For example, an advertiser spending $20k/month on search would choose 50 to 200 prompts buyers actually ask, run them weekly, and record appearance, competitor substitution, and supporting source. The article treats outputs as directional like impression share, and recommends buying only the number of prompts the team will actually inspect each month.

Read more: [Prompt tracking](https://groas.com/post/the-aeo-and-ai-search-glossary-what-ever#prompt-tracking)

## How is share of voice measured in AI search?

According to groas, share of voice means brand mentions divided by all brand mentions across tracked prompts, multiplied by 100. Ten mentions out of 100 brand appearances gives you 10% share of voice. The article states the percentage only describes the questions chosen to track and recommends asking for the prompt set and the per-engine split before treating a blended figure as progress.

Read more: [Brand visibility / share of voice in AI](https://groas.com/post/the-aeo-and-ai-search-glossary-what-ever#brand-visibility--share-of-voice-in-ai)

## What does a content gap analysis for AI answers include?

According to groas, content gap analysis means comparing what the business has with what it needs to be cited, run as a buyer-question audit. The article describes listing 30 questions buyers ask before buying, recording which brands each answer mentions and cites, marking where a competitor appears, and tracing the supporting publications behind those answers. The article states the gap is often an authority and mention deficit across trusted sources, not just a missing page.

Read more: [Content gap analysis](https://groas.com/post/the-aeo-and-ai-search-glossary-what-ever#content-gap-analysis)

## Am I buying monitoring or execution from an AI visibility vendor?

According to groas, monitoring watches and recommends with tracked prompts, citation counts, and recommendations, while execution ships the fixes including publishing pages, repairing technical gaps, earning third-party mentions, and refreshing content. The article reports platform monitoring typically runs $100–$500/month, but content, technical fixes and PR can add $5,000–$10,000+/month in execution costs. The article recommends asking on every call whether the retainer buys monitoring or execution and who owns each job.

Read more: [Edge-proxy / done-for-you execution](https://groas.com/post/the-aeo-and-ai-search-glossary-what-ever#edge-proxy--done-for-you-execution)

## Sources

[1] https://groas.com/post/the-aeo-and-ai-search-glossary-what-ever (the article this page answers from)