Glossary: Key RankScan Terms

A short glossary for the most important terms around AI VisibilityAI Visibility describes whether and how visible a brand, website or person is in AI-generated answers. It measures mention, position, description and source linking across multiple platforms and prompts.Open glossary entry →, Search VisibilitySearch visibility describes how present and findable a website is in the organic search results. It is not the same as traffic, but reflects theoretical findability.Open glossary entry → and RankScan.

Glossary #

• AI Visibility visibility of a brand in the answers generated by AI systems.
• Search Visibility visibility in classic search results, including rankings, clicks and impressions.
• Website Health technical state of a website, including crawlingCrawling is the process by which a search engine bot fetches a URL and downloads its content. It is the first step before a page can be indexed.Open glossary entry →, indexability, Core Web VitalsCore Web Vitals are a set of Google metrics that measure real-world user experience in the areas of loading performance, interactivity and visual stability.Open glossary entry →, links and structured dataSchema markup is code that describes a page's content in a structured way, so search engines understand it not just as text but as clearly classified information.Open glossary entry →.
• Property a website or brand in a specific market and language - the top-level unit in RankScan.
• Topic a thematic unit that bundles keywordsA keyword is the search term users enter into a search engine to find information, products or providers. Keywords are the basis against which rankings and visibility are measured.Open glossary entry →, prompts and competitors around one search intentSearch intent is the goal behind a search query: does the user want to learn something, buy something or reach a specific page? Content only ranks well if it matches this intent.Open glossary entry →.
• Prompt an AI question RankScan uses to query AI providers.
• Mention a mention of your brand or a competitor in an AI answer.
• Share of AI Voice your share of all brand mentions for a topic.
• Competitor Gap the difference between your visibility and the competitor average.
• Citation / source a web source that an AI answer relies on.
• AI ReadinessThe AI Readiness Score is a maturity level that shows how well a website is prepared for AI search technically, structurally, in terms of content and trust. It is a scoring model, not an official industry standard.Open glossary entry → a measure of how well AI systems can reach, read and cite your content.
• AI OverviewAn AI answer box is the summarized, directly formulated answer from an AI system that a user sees instead of a classic results list. Brands, products and source links may appear in it or be absent.Open glossary entry → a Google-generated AI answer above classic search results.
• Insight a concrete, prioritized action recommendation based on your data.
• llms.txtllms.txt is a voluntary Markdown file in a website's root directory that gives language models a compact overview of important content. It is a proposal or de facto format, not a binding official web standard.Open glossary entry → a text file in the root directory that signals relevant content to AI systems.