AI 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 → describes how visible a brand is in the answers of AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude and Microsoft Copilot, and in AI Overviews are AI-generated answer boxes from Google that appear above the classic search results. They summarize information from the web and can change click distribution.Open glossary entry →. Classic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) covers all measures that help a website become more visible in unpaid (organic) search results.Open glossary entry → focuses on ranking in a search engine result list. AI Visibility, often also called Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) covers measures that improve the chances of a brand or website being found, understood, extracted, classified and used as a source by generative AI answer systems. GEO extends classic SEO rather than replacing it.Open glossary entry → or Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) optimizes content for direct answers such as featured snippets, FAQ answers or voice assistants. It focuses on answering frequently asked questions clearly and in an extractable way.Open glossary entry →, is about being named and linked inside the generated answer itself.
Why it matters #
More research journeys now end inside an AI answer without a click on a traditional search result.
AI answers often mention only a small selection of brands. If you are missing, you may not exist in that decision phase.
The selection depends on sources and signals that you can influence in part.
How RankScan helps #
RankScan sends your prompts to several AI assistants. It shows whether your brand is named, which competitors are named and which sources the answers cite. It then turns the findings into concrete measures.