Plain words.
One meaning each.
Eighteen terms used on this site, at checkout and in the PDF, each defined once with the wording from the methodology and the sample report. If a number in a report needs explaining, start with the word it counts.
These definitions describe how Top of Answers counts and labels sampled answers. They are not claims about how any engine chooses a business.
- Answer engine
An AI product that answers a question in prose and may cite sources. We sample available answer engines through their APIs, label the source explicitly, and retain the sampling information with each run. The checkout page confirms the sources configured for new audits before payment.
- API-based sampling
Sending each question to an answer engine through its API and recording the returned answer and citations. This research uses API-based samples with web search. It is not a recording of the consumer ChatGPT app or what every person sees, and results can differ between products, locations, and runs.
- Mention
An answer names your business. A mention records a supported name occurrence, not an endorsement. An answer can name your business without citing or mentioning its site, so mentions and citations are counted separately.
- Citation
A source an answer points to, recorded as a bare domain and, where retained, a page path. A site citation means the answer's citation metadata or text includes your supplied website domain. A business mention and a domain match are different, and this count does not verify the contents of a source page.
- Mention rate
The share of answered questions in which your business was named. A rate describes the sampled answers, not the share of customers who will see your business. Discovery and branded questions are counted separately, and missing answers are excluded from both rates.
- Citation rate
The share of returned answers whose citation metadata or text includes your supplied website domain. It combines all question types and does not verify the contents of a source page.
- Discovery question
A question that does not supply your business name, such as who can fix a burst pipe in your city. Discovery answers show whether an engine names you without being prompted. Recognizing a supplied name is different from naming a business without it.
- Branded question
A question that names your business directly, such as what services your business offers in your city. Branded answers measure recognition of a supplied name, so they are kept outside the discovery denominator. At most one in five planned questions names the business.
- Money question
A buying-intent question from a local buyer: who to hire, what a job costs, who can come out today. The first twelve questions of every plan are money questions. When an answered money question names other businesses and not yours, the fix list records it as a finding.
- Question plan
The set of 40 to 60 buyer-style questions an audit runs, built from your business category, city, state, optional services and competitor names. You can preview the planned set at checkout before paying, and the plan you preview is the plan that runs. These questions are generated from the details you provide. They are not a claim about measured search volume.
- Coverage gap
A question an engine did not answer because the engine was unavailable, a request failed, or the run was skipped by a cap or the configuration. That does not count as an answer that omitted your business. Coverage gaps are reported separately, and a coverage gap does not establish a problem with your site.
- No answer returned
The engine was asked and produced no answer. No answer returned is different from an answer that leaves you out: the first is a coverage gap, the second is an answered question without a mention. Missing answers are excluded from mention and citation rates and disclosed separately.
- Retained evidence
The partial answer excerpts and source identifiers kept with each sampled answer. The evidence appendix pairs selected questions with the engine that answered them. It includes partial answer excerpts and retained source domains and page paths. Query strings and fragments are omitted; some sources identify only a domain. Excerpts and selected sources are limited, and missing details are labeled.
- Fix list
The prioritized list of findings at the end of the report, tied to sampled answers. Recommendations identify things to investigate or improve; they are not verified explanations of an engine's internal decision. Our guarantee is on this list: at least ten specific, named findings, or a full refund.
- Finding
One entry in the fix list. Every finding names the engines involved, states the evidence it rests on, and carries an action; where a specific answer exposed it, the finding points to that question and engine in the evidence appendix. Findings distinguish observed answers from suggested actions: an omission does not establish a website defect, cause, or missing service.
- Directory domain
A cited domain that belongs to a directory or review platform rather than to a business, such as yelp.com or business.google.com. The source domain summary marks each cited domain as your site, a directory or review site, or another site. A directory citation records a citation, not verified membership or the reason an engine selected a business.
- Service-area business
A business that travels to its customers instead of serving them at a storefront, such as a plumber or a mover. Its public information should state the places it serves and any practical limits on availability. Every planned question names one city, so choose the city where you most want to be found; the audit does not test every place you serve.
- Repeat variance
The same question can return a different answer when it is asked again. Answers can vary between requests, models, locations, and products, so a single audit cannot establish a trend, a cause, market share, or future leads. If you run another audit, compare the question sets and coverage before comparing percentages.
Know what appeared.
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One business. One US city. A $149 one-time PDF audit.